Neighborhood cat in my yard

[mycatsmom]

My house has a screened porch that my cats love to hang out on.  It keeps them occupied and out of trouble watching the birds and snoozing in the sun.  90% of the time it is fine, but there is a neighborhood cat of unknown ownership (he has a home because he looks well-fed and has a collar) who clearly believes my yard is his territory.  The problem is that when he is in the yard when the cats are out there, my younger cat redirects aggression to the older one.  When this happens, I separate them for a while and distract them with treats, and so far there has been no lasting damage.  My cats are both neutered males and they are best buddies -- they cuddle all the time.  Yes, they wrestle, and the one who redirects aggression tends to dominate the more passive cat.  But most of the time they hang out together with no problems.  I want to keep it that way.

How can I keep this neighborhood cat out of my yard?  In my neighborhood, people let cats out all the time and do not take kindly to being asked to keep them indoors.  And I don't even know who this cat belongs to.  I need some kind of deterrent or some way to show this cat that my yard is no longer his territory.  Can anyone suggest a way to do this?  Should I empty a trail of used litter from my cats around the perimteter of the yard and along the driveway?  (Won't that get kind of smelly?)  How can I get this cat that is upsetting my cats out of my yard?

 

[Kieka]

I had a similar problem. I live in Southern California so the weather here is fairly nice most of the time. We encouraged the other cat to stay away by shooing him away anytime he was in our yard and spraying him with the water hose.

Now before I get people all up in arms about that, the hose was on shower so not high pressure or anything (much like the name implies it is similar to a home shower spray) and the weather here is nice enough that the other cat dried off without any lasting harm fairly quickly. Most of the time he wouldn't even get wet because after the first time he ran at the sight of the hose. We would just point the hose in his direction and he would be gone before it got within a foot of him. Once in a while he tested us to see if we really would and because we move the water spray fairly slowly his tail or a foot would get misted and he would be gone. So not animal cruelty or anything going on here just negative reinforcement of him being in our yard. And no, I have absolutely no problem with someone spraying my cats with water to get them out of a yard they shouldn't be in assuming they are doing a similar thing and not using a high pressure spray.

Much like in your situation his presence was aggravating our cats and causing us problems.

After a few months of consistent shooing him away and using the water when needed he stopped coming around as often. We still catch him in our yard from time to time but he doesn't stick around once he sees us. As to our cats reaction to this, we are very careful to make sure our cats know the shooing is not towards them and spend some time petting them after to show them they are safe and this is their yard. The hose is never pointed near them and not used if they are between him and us.

 

[mycatsmom]

Unfortunately it is winter here (though I am in the Carolinas so it is not very harsh)...and this cat (I call him "Tough Cat" because when he sees ME he challenges me by staring) does not hang around long enough for me to put on shoes, go outside, turn on the water, unfurl the hose, and spray him.  I DO have a spray bottle and will start going outside with that.

Has anyone had any luck with the plastic spikey carpet runners?  It would be expensive, but I can put it around the edge of the property if necessary.

My kitties were pretty jangled yesterday after this happened (and this was the worst episode they've had).  They were OK by last night though and slept cuddled up together next to me on the bed.  But I'm just afraid that one day I won't be so lucky.  This is the first generation of cats I've had that liked each other and I don't want to risk that.

 

[Kieka]

Brrrr, yeah the water would be a bad idea until it warms up some. 

All I got it consistent negative reinforcement that he is not welcome. I know of people who have installed toppers to their fences that prevent critters (including cats) from going over them. From what I have heard, they can be fairly effective, but expensive, if done right. I don't know how you would do carpet runners but I doubt they would be very effective. Cats are fairly persistent when they want something or somewhere.

In your situation, I would try some natural remedy by either planting lavender around your yards border or some other plants cats avoid. According to a quick web search they don't like lavender or rue plants very much. You could also try lemon peels and crushed pine cones (not ground up but the thorny parts basically) around the edge of you yard which pairs a scent cats don't like with a material they don't like stepping on; it would probably be less expensive and more environmentally friendly.  I would imagine it would have to be as wide as a cat can jump though to be effective. You could make a spray with lemon essential oil and lavender to spray around the boundary to increase the scent barrier (and spray him lightly when you see him, look online for essential oil mixing ratios). When it comes to essential oils though it pays to buy the expensive brands (I like doTerra) as the cheap ones are likely more alcohol than oils.  

In the warmer months you could also set up a motion sensor sprinkler in the area he approaches from or blocking the approach to the screened patio to discourage him. I would imagine that he would learn to avoid the area all together after a while because the motion sensor wouldn't require you to be alert for him so he would constantly be discouraged from going there.  

 

[hbunny]

I have heard mixed results on the spikey-carpet runner barriers (turned upside down with spikes up).  Someone recommended I try it for skunk and raccoon issues, but I haven't done it yet--I'm getting desperate enough to try it though.  We've caught a skunk on our security cameras coming up on our porch for cat food every night the past week or so, and a young trash panda visits regularly as well.  The results I saw posted for cats/dogs was that it didn't work, they will jump it or just walk on it, but it's supposed to be good for possums, raccoons, and skunks.

As to the lavender--I have several plants, and the outside cats love it!!  They act like it is catnip.  They will roll in it!  They smashed down a couple bushes I had doing very nicely in the early summer.  I hope they come back, but I'm afraid they damaged them too badly.  They also chew/play with the pine cones and sleep under our pine trees at the woods-line at the end of the field, and use the areas around the tree trunks as litter boxes, so I don't think the feel of the pieces bothers them too much.  I've had no luck at all with any plant matter trying to deter them.  However, they do NOT like cedar at all.  That might be an option.  Cedar branches maybe? I've about run the gamut trying various things.  My husband's car was damaged to the tune of $4500 this year by a dog that chased a feral kitten up into the fender well, so we have sprayed and sprinkled all sorts of things, none of which have worked.  I'm about desperate to find a good deterrent to use near the car.

I agree about the motion-detection sprinkler, we were going to get one, but it's just too cold and we don't need a hose freezing up--all the ones we found you hook a hose to.

Someone recommended using coyote urine sprayed on the perimeter of the area you want to keep the stray cat away from (you can buy it on Amazon), but the drawback to that is that if it rains, you have to go out and immediately reapply.  Plus, the smell...ugh.  But it is an effective deterrent.  I think you can buy fox urine scent as well.