Cat suddenly nervous after negative encounter with other cat

[aliceneko]

I hope this is the right place to post this - as the title suggests, Toffee recently had an unpleasant encounter with a new neighbourhood cat after the other cat came into our garden (uninvited!). He normally has quite a chilled back, happy go lucky personality but he's become nervous and withdrawn since the encounter with this particular cat. They had a verbal interaction as Toffee doesn't usually physically retaliate when coming into contact with other cats. He's also from a semi feral background and isn't used to other animals around him. Aside from being generally nervous and more skittish than he used to be, he also obsessively watches out for this other cat from our windowsill indoors, and has taken to being very protective of us - he guards our bedrooms and watches out for this other animal.

I was wondering if there were any tips to calm Toffee down and get him back or near enough to his old self? When we first adopted him as a kitten and his brother Fudge, we used Feliways and it seemed to work a treat, so we've been considering in getting some again to see if it helps him now. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ArtNJ]

If he is ever out there unsupervised, I'd check him over carefully for wounds. Maybe keep him in for a few days?

Motion activated sprinklers supposedly work in certain property lay outs to keep unwanted visitors out, though I've not ever seen a post from someone that they worked for and their ratings on Amazon tend to be like 3.5 stars at best. If your cat was indoor only, you could try closing the shades or adding full window decals, but obviously if your cat is indoor/outdoor that wont work.

It doesn't seem severe enough for actual vet provided medication, and I don't personally have experience with OTC calming products. Others will have suggestions along those lines for ya.

 

[aliceneko]

If he is ever out there unsupervised, I'd check him over carefully for wounds. Maybe keep him in for a few days?

Motion activated sprinklers supposedly work in certain property lay outs to keep unwanted visitors out, though I've not ever seen a post from someone that they worked for and their ratings on Amazon tend to be like 3.5 stars at best. If your cat was indoor only, you could try closing the shades or adding full window decals, but obviously if your cat is indoor/outdoor that wont work.

It doesn't seem severe enough for actual vet provided medication, and I don't personally have experience with OTC calming products. Others will have suggestions along those lines for ya.

Thank you! We're keeping him in as often as possible, and are supervising him when we can when he goes outside. He has regular flea treatment and we gave him some today and I didn't notice any wounds, but will be sure to keep my eyes peeled.

A friend who had a similar problem did suggest a non harmful water pistol for children, which did the trick for her, so I'll see if I can ask my cousin for some of her kids spares!

 

[ArtNJ]

If you are out there with the cat all the time, a water pistol is a good try. If you are sort of watching from the glass door in the kitchen and have to get the pistol, open the door, go out and aim, forget about it. The cat will hear the door and just take off until you go back inside. Its like training a cat to stay off the kitchen table -- sometimes what they actually learn is to stay off of it when you are around. Using a squirt gun on an outside cat is similar, but might work if you are always supervising and always have the gun. I've never actually heard a squirt gun based success story before, and certainly my attempts at using water as a deterrent failed miserably. But easy enough to try.

 

[aliceneko]

If you are out there with the cat all the time, a water pistol is a good try. If you are sort of watching from the glass door in the kitchen and have to get the pistol, open the door, go out and aim, forget about it. The cat will hear the door and just take off until you go back inside. Its like training a cat to stay off the kitchen table -- sometimes what they actually learn is to stay off of it when you are around. Using a squirt gun on an outside cat is similar, but might work if you are always supervising and always have the gun. I've never actually heard a squirt gun based success story before, and certainly my attempts at using water as a deterrent failed miserably. But easy enough to try.

Thank you for your help!

 

[aliceneko]

Our Feliway order arrived today and it already seems to be making an impact on Toffee. I don't want to jinx things, but he's only done his "window shutter ritual" once today and has seemed more like his old self.