Neighbor cat staring at my kitties

lucicat

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So my next door neighbor has a cat that's basically an outdoor cat--he has access to her house and she feeds him, but she says he prefers o just be out all day and never snuggles/hangs out with them. They have a dog and another cat too. This isn't about the neighbor though, I think they are good pet owners it's just this male cat prefers to live mostly outside. We often see him walking along our back fence and I have found, 3x now, a dead critter (1 mouse, 1 hummingbird and 1 rat) in the same spot in our yard and I suspect him. No big deal, although I wonder why he leaves them in our yard.

So, we adopted two kittens recently, one is now 6m and the other 3m. Well, it seems the neighbor cat has realized this fact and twice now he has come up to our glass back door and stared in at our kittens for awhile. I'm curious about the behavoir, but also mildly concerned. My kittens are indoor only, but I feel that he is threatening them. . .he comes up and STARES in with his tail all poofed up. So far they haven't cared much, but I don't want this to affect my cats! Do you think he considers our yard part of his territory, since that he leaves his dead prey here?

Any thoughts on how to handle this?
 

ArtNJ

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We have a sliding glass door on our kitchen, and have observed the exact same behavior with multiple cats. Mainly with a neighbors cat, one that I actually helped rescue years ago. Anyway, a visiting cat is exactly as big a deal as your cats think it is. Meaning, maybe a lot, and maybe not at all. I think if your cats were going to get stressed by it, you probably would have seen evidence of it already. That said, come summer when you open the windows and his scent wafts in, there might be another chance for something to go wrong.

Since preventing a cat from visiting is not an easy thing without your neighbors keeping their cat in, and your cats are currently unbothered, I wouldn't worry about this. If it turns out to be an issue at a later date, come back for tips. There is no easy way, but its an issue that has been discussed and solutions such as motion activated sprinklers have been suggested.

So for now, just wait and see. Ignore the cat, wave, whatever. Only things I wouldnt do is make nice or try to chase it away (doesnt work)
 
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lucicat

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I’m thinking that it’s probably good that they get to get used to the cat wandering outside as kittens, as maybe it’ll reduce the chances that they’ll ever be spooked by outside strays.
And I’m pretty sure you live on your neighbor cat’s territory :)
Yeah, I’m thinking this is his yard actually. Lol. As evidenced by dead rodents left here and I’ll have to be ok with it for the most part. And for the most part I am! I do have hopes of having a Catio out there someday and that could be more complicated. But I’ll cross that bridge. . .
 

Tik cat's mum

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I think it probably is part of his territory. I have a least three different cat's come to our back window because my boy saw them when he was a kitten he's used to them. I wouldn't worry unless your cat's are stressed by him.
 
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lucicat

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It’s become a regular thing this week. The kittens and I come downstairs to start breakfast and within ten minutes neighbor cat is at the back door staring in. My 3month old has never noticed (which is probably good as he’s a hisser), but my 6month old knows every time. And they have a 5-10min starting contest and then neighbor cat saunters off. My kitty gets a swishy tail but otherwise just seems curious (she’s a highly intelligent highly curious cat).
my guess is this is the neighbor cats first stop in his morning prowl. Since it’s winter it’s barely sunrise when this happens.
I find it interesting. And I’ll see what develops.
 

Caspers Human

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Casper has been having trouble with an outdoor cat, too.

A female cat comes up on our deck, sits and looks in the patio door.

At first, we thought it was cute that Casper got to have a cat buddy but the other cat has become aggressive. Casper and her have scuffled several times through the screen door. (The screen door is covered with heavy duty, cat-proof screen material.) It's gotten to the point where the other cat comes up on the porch and instigates.

We have become hesitant to leave the patio door open because, every time we do, this other cat comes and starts causing trouble.

I'm going to have to start taking steps to keep this other cat away from Casper's porch.

What do you think about taking some of Casper's dirty cat litter and spreading it around, outside the patio?
 
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