Long story short--one of my cat goes psychotic when she sees a cat outside. I found this out when a cat visited last November. This resulted in redirect aggression, a 4 month separation of my sibling cats and prozac to calm them down. They are still on prozac though I've tapered the dosage and frequency.
Since November, I have had to keep the window blinds at an angle that allows some light in but obscures the cats' vision out. I've also not taken them out on harnesses. I feel that this has resulted in a much smaller and less interesting world for my cats. We live in a 635 square foot apartment, I always felt the window entertainment and harnessed walks made up for the cats having to live indoors in a small space.
I wrote a letter to the neighbor requesting they keep their cat in or supervise his time outdoors. That seemed to work for a couple of months but he's once again out and about. Yesterday I saw him in our apartment lot. My apartment is on the first floor and he would come right up to the window. Coincidentally I saw him yesterday as I was planting some cat deterrent material outside the window. I walked up to him with the bag that contained the material and he reacted. So I know he doesn't like the stuff. Hopefully that will keep him away from the window at least. But he may still walk around the building and be visible to my cats should I open the blinds. I also fear an encounter should I walk my cats.
In other words, there's not a whole lot I can do about this cat or any other cat that visits (there's another outdoor cat in the neighborhood but I haven't seen him/her around my apartment building...yet). Is there anything I can do to desensitize my cats and especially the ultra-reactive one to seeing stranger cats? I try as much as possible to keep my cats' life active and interesting, but after 5 1/2 years together, there's only so much one can do with toys and play time.
Since November, I have had to keep the window blinds at an angle that allows some light in but obscures the cats' vision out. I've also not taken them out on harnesses. I feel that this has resulted in a much smaller and less interesting world for my cats. We live in a 635 square foot apartment, I always felt the window entertainment and harnessed walks made up for the cats having to live indoors in a small space.
I wrote a letter to the neighbor requesting they keep their cat in or supervise his time outdoors. That seemed to work for a couple of months but he's once again out and about. Yesterday I saw him in our apartment lot. My apartment is on the first floor and he would come right up to the window. Coincidentally I saw him yesterday as I was planting some cat deterrent material outside the window. I walked up to him with the bag that contained the material and he reacted. So I know he doesn't like the stuff. Hopefully that will keep him away from the window at least. But he may still walk around the building and be visible to my cats should I open the blinds. I also fear an encounter should I walk my cats.
In other words, there's not a whole lot I can do about this cat or any other cat that visits (there's another outdoor cat in the neighborhood but I haven't seen him/her around my apartment building...yet). Is there anything I can do to desensitize my cats and especially the ultra-reactive one to seeing stranger cats? I try as much as possible to keep my cats' life active and interesting, but after 5 1/2 years together, there's only so much one can do with toys and play time.
