My cat has just been attacked by another in our own conservatory

There are places in Australia where cats are confined so it is possible to do this
DD had to take her cat for a walk on a lead until she moved outside the city.

I think I would be tempted to trap and relocate the vicious cat!

Your poor cat! You can get mesh nets to hang over open windows and doors that are attached by magnets- I have some to stop midges and wasps coming in through the windows- fresh air, no bites (I'm highly allergic!) They make them in all sizes and would allow your little cat to be able to look out and hopefully stop the interloper from coming in. I hope she's okay now?

So sorry to hear you cat is being bullied Nandalot. As others have said keep checking for infected bumps from bites or scratches, and a child's water blaster might help, they're quite powerful but won't hurt the other cat!

When we moved to our present house we adopted the cat that lived there, owner didn't want to move her to a town environment. She was small and very timid and seemed to live under the decking. We soon discovered she was being bullied by neighbouring cats who stole her food, no serious injuries but she was terrified. We gradually gained her trust and she came indoors for meals, but the other cats still stalked her and jumped on her if they got the chance - she had been neutered. Fast forward 18 months and we got a puppy. She was wary at first but then realised the bully cats didn't come in our garden any more! Cat and dog became friends. It was our dog who found her when she passed away peacefully in her favourite part of the garden. We buried her in the garden and our dog often lays down in that spot as if he likes to be near her. Our dog still chases the other cats out of the garden.

Our cats live in our house and part of our garden which is secured with angled mesh on the fences. They can't get out and annoy other people and cats and other cats can't get in. They have a couple of watch towers and a tunnel. It keeps them away from the road. The neighbours laugh but I'm sure they are happy not to find my cats' poo in their flower beds. We also walk them on leads. Not the solution for everyone but suits us and the cats seem content. Hope Molly gets over her fright, bless her.

Is it usual for a Maine Coone to roam the streets. We have a beautiful one who is a regular visitor to our garden. Even has a favourite spot. Not a problem for me but it certainly is for my cat who had a heart stopping run in with it. He/she has been shoed away at every visit. Too fast to get my aim right with a spray gun. It is becoming a nuisance now but I wouldn’t want to harm it. My poor cat is a nervous wreck now when venturing out to the garden as she was attacked by another cat.

Sorry your poor cat has been attacked too Nandalot. It’s such a horrible site to witness and feel hopeless being unable to stop it happening again. I hope Molly is feeling calmer now.

Oh what a shame that her cat was attacked in her own home. How frightening for you both. I do hope she’s ok.

I have an old rescue cat that has an over active thyroid, she's very thin and I keep her in at night. When she stays out late or I stay overnight at my daughters and the catflap isn't locked, another cat always comes in and eats her food!

You need a Supasoaker! And yes, watch out for an abscess. Cats' teeth are full of nasties as I discovered a few weeks ago when my own cat nipped my hand. It swelled up horribly so I saw a doctor and got antibiotics. The redness had started to creep up my arm.

Water is the best option - we have a cat living opposite who is so friendly and affectionate to humans, but sees every other cat (including mine) as a potential punch bag. She is absolutely vicious and the noise she made trying to menace our small cat was horrifying - OH said he thought someone was cutting bricks with a grinder! We go for the hose, and she rushes away - she is learning that our garden is off limits, but we will make a fuss of her at the front of the house.

Your poor cat. I do sympathise.
We used to live next door to a huge black cat who terrorised our two moggies and any cats in the street. Discovered he was terrified of toddlers so we would send our children out to chase him away when we could but really there’s little you can do. We rather liked him ourselves and his owners felt bad but really not much they could do.
The top cat in our street now is a massive Maine Coone who saunters through his territory each evening which includes our house and checks out our current three cats when he can be bothered to notice them. They literally bow and scrape before him - it’s embarrassing how cowardly they are but at least he feels no call to teach them their place - they already know it.
Hope your cat recovers from the trauma quickly and there’s not a repeat of it.

Water is the best thing to use,i had this once with a big ginger tom, a spray didn't do it, so i got a bucket and put a small amount of water in it, threw it at the cat, didn't mean to throw all the water on it, but just a small amount got it, never saw it again

Oh poor Molly. Such a shame for the wee soul. What about a mosquito curtain over the open conservatory door, attached in some temporary way. Hope she is OK x

Get a good water pistol and add a dash of washing up liquid to the water so it soaks in.
I hope Molly isn't injured, abcesses can be nasty things.

If your cat is mostly home-based, could you make your garden temporarily intruder proof, say with a wire netting screen or something destabilising on the existing fence?

I've been looking at conservatory door gates so my dog can look out into the (communal) garden. If the cats wouldn't be inclined to jump over, you could get one. They're called Dog-G8s, but there are loads of similar things out there.

One of my friends is having this problem. She has two cats of her own, one is about a year old and is getting beaten up by this bully cat all the time. This cat will come into her home, sit on top of wardrobes waiting to pounce. It will eat all the food and then be sick everywhere. She has attacked my friend and will hiss and spit at her. The water pistol works as a very temporary measure but this cat will keep coming back and guards the cat flap so her little one cannot get in or out. When a cushion is thrown at her she will attack it. My friend is now going to get a soft broom to push this cat out and possibly a Nerf gun (those that fire foam bullets) as her little one is really starting to suffer,

Water pistol is a great deterrent,I would use without hesitation to keep my pet safe

My mum discouraged cats by filling clear plastic pop bottles with water and placing them with the knobbly end outwards around the garden. The light reflects on the bottle end and looks like multiple sets of cats’eyes. Worth a go. Hope Molly feels better soon.

So sorry to hear about this. It used to happen to our cat Monty- terrorised by a battle scarred Rescue cat. Monty spent 3 days up a tree - scared stiff and he was a ginger Tom! He also had nasty bites and a torn ear - very expensive vet bills because the bites went septic. In the end I rang the owner - she was so upset and as Monty wasn’t the only cat to be attacked - she took hers to the vet who told her that once a cat was sort of primed to behave in this way, it became fixed and nothing would change the behaviour - not even a warm loving home and owner. She decided to have him put down - she was shortly going into hospital and then a home anyway - but I felt a bit bad. However, the local cats were all much happier!

We were fostering our daughters two British Blues one was very much a cat that liked to explore and could stand up for herself, the other was a scaredy cat and never went out. The next door cat used to come indoors and attack the indoor one, twice she was bitten and needed vet treatment. We even installed a special cat flap which was only supposedly going to allow the outside one in, but it didn't work. In the end we had to rehome them.

Glad no one felt the need to put any cats down - just for behaving like cats. I know of people who have advocated dogs being put down for barking. What people like this need are soft toys or robots as pets. ?

Our lovely woosey pussy is terrorised regularly by an uber vicious feral cat. Expensive trips to the vet and he's nervous about going out after each attack. Fortunately the dogs protect him where they can. Never been able to trap it and now OH is after it with the gun. We won't have our lovely day put through this so it's curtains.

Sorry to hear about your cat. Neighbour 2 doors down has got a rescue farm cat which has managed to see off every bird from our garden. While we were away it took up residence under the bird feeder and we haven't seen as much as a sparrow since we got home. I am investing in a large water pistol.

I've not read the whole thread so apologies if someone had already said this....

You can buy cat flaps that are operated by a cat's microchip which would allow your cat to go in and out of the house but would stop another cat following them in, thus preventing unwanted visitors and scraps inside the house.

Unfortunately, other than the water pistol (the force of water through a hose aimed at a cat constitutes cruelty) there's not a lot you can do to prevent other cats coming into your garden short of very expensive additions to your fencing which would keep your cat in your garden and others out.

I would suggest visiting the owner of the bully cat and telling them what happened 'inside your home and that if your cast develops an Abbess or if there's a repeat performance, you'll be sending them the vet bill!