I have no problem with other people cats coming into my garden, but why on earth do people allow entire toms to roam??? It's so irresponsible

I've just dashed into my garden to investigate the horrid screeching noise to find my little female (spayed) cat had weed herself twice in fright and was being attacked by an entire tom cat :( I had to run at him hissing to get him to go away from her (LOL, the neighbours must think I'm weird!).

Poor little Mitsy is really on edge now and is even growling at Buster if he goes anywhere near her, she'll normally rub her head on him. I don't think she's got any injuries, she has some wet patches around her neck, but she is a bit frightened to be touched at the moment and is being rather feisty with it! I'll let her calm down before I have a better look. Bless her, her back end is soaking in her own wee :(

We never had this problem with tom cats when we had our last dog, as despite our best efforts he would chase cats out of the garden (he was a rescue and came with a cat obbsession!), once they had been chased by him they rarely dared to come back, Buster on the other hand is far to laid back to be wasting his time on cats!! (I wouldn't allow him to chase cats anyway though).

This tom is getting a bit of a rep for being the neighbourhood thug (nobody knows where he comes form). I'm going to put a big jug of water in the garden ready for the toms return, hopefully a soaking will deter him.

Venting over!

Anyway you can catch him and take him to the vet as a stray?  Then they will neuter him.  That's what the residents in my cul de sac did with the local tom.  His wailing used to wake us up in the middle of the night.  He was run over once and the vet treated him even though nobody new who he belonged to - although folk have a rough idea.

Some entire toms are actually strays - others are just people who don't bother neutering. The other trouble is - because the entire toms fight each other and fight more generally, and biting is how FIV is transmitted, they are much more likely to be FIV carriers. Your litttle girl didn't get bitten did she? Don't want to panic you - just make you aware - as it sounds like you chased him off before he had the chance to do anything. :-)

> Your litttle girl didn't get bitten did she? Don't want to panic you - just make you aware

Thanks, he does look like he mght be a stray as he's quite tatty looking. I've had a good check over her now and she doesn't appear to even have a scratch on her, she's cleaned herself up and is now happily rolling around in the sun :) I have a big jug of water waiting for him if he returns.

I'm going to check with the vets re catching him & neutering him to see what they say.

Good news that she seems OK. :-) Sometimes tooth punctures can be well hidden under fur (sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know) and cats often get abscesses from bites as well, so keep an eye on her over the next few days for being off colour or developing any swellings, especially in the areas you found the wetness.

If he seems like a stray you could also try contacting the CPL and RSPCA and other local cat rescues to see if they have space to take him, but there are so many stray cats they are often short of space. Obviously he would need checking for a collar and scanning for a chip just to make sure he doesn't belong to someone.

> Sometimes tooth punctures can be well hidden under fur (sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know) and cats often get abscesses from bites as well, so keep an eye on her over the next few days for being off colour or developing any swellings, especially in the areas you found the wetness.

Her fur around her neck (where she had some wet patches) is white so it's quite easy to see her skin when the fur is parted, it does look like there are no wounds but I will keep an eye on her just in case.
She is going to get so fed up with me checking her, she's not one for being petted and everytime I walk past her I give her an examination :-D

Just be careful as even if he is scruffy looking he may not be a stray. We have one that lives around here and he looks although he has had a hard life but that will be down to all the fights he proabably has got into but he is owned by some people down the road and they are the sort that think it is cruel to deprive him of his manhood :-(. Luckily he stays away from here.

We had Tom's roaming around the farm up the road, and the CPL trapped them, and neutered them, and put them back onto the farm grounds, My cats were always at the Vets with bites, abcesses etc..
Both my cats are neutered males, done when they were 6mths old.

A cat breeder I knew years ago had a deal with her vet.  Any unneutered tom hanging around her property (top of a mountain ;) ) would be caught and taken for a 'checkup' :-D   she had long ago given up trying to find the owners and educate them ;)   Once neutered they would be released a few days later, never to return.  As far as their owners were concerned, they went missing for a few days as toms do and then came back, more loving and less inclined to roam and fight :-D :-D

A cat breeder I knew years ago had a deal with her vet.  Any unneutered tom hanging around her property (top of a mountain  ) would be caught and taken for a 'checkup'    she had long ago given up trying to find the owners and educate them    Once neutered they would be released a few days later, never to return.  As far as their owners were concerned, they went missing for a few days as toms do and then came back, more loving and less inclined to roam and fight and will wonder where a certain pair of furry things have gone to ! :-D

:-D  :-D  :-D

Most people wouldn't recognise that 'pair of furry things' if they were slapped around the face with them LOL

I've lost count of the number of Daisy's and Tabitha's I've been introduced to that turn out to be Thomas ;)  and vice versa :-D

Well if they are irresponsible enough to let a tom roam loose then I doubt they'll notice his "plums" gone lol.

It's awful though - the minute we moved into our new house the local "stray" tom came up and started spraying the car etc, then all the other neighbourhood cats came and pooped on my front lawn.  Gads!!!

We're lucky we don't get many entire tom cats around here but over the years we've caught as many as possible and had them neutered.

The stray female who came to be fed and had a litter of kittens in our house also got neutered, she stayed and her kittens were rehomed.

How do you stop a cat from roaming? Neutered or not it is what they do isn't it?
I have always had cats (until lately), they have had freedom to do and go as it suits them.
I would not know what to suggest.
Karen

Well if they are irresponsible enough to let a tom roam loose then I doubt they'll notice his "plums" gone lol. You would with the one around here as they tend to swing from side to side when e walks

How do you stop a cat from roaming?

You keep them indoors or build a run attached to your house. Then there is no way of contracting FIV or similar from cats met outside -figures given in the past has been as high as possibly 80 % of all outdoor entire male cats being infected with FIV or FeLV. Which they then can spend a couple of years passing on to other cats.

> Well if they are irresponsible enough to let a tom roam loose then I doubt they'll notice his "plums" gone lol. You would with the one around here as they tend to swing from side to side when e walks <IMG alt=eek src="/images/eek.gif"> <IMG class=qButton title="Quote selected text" alt="Quote selected text" src="/images/mi_quote.gif" width=20 height=10>

Like the song we learnt at school when I was 4.... "Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro, can you tie them in a knot..." etc. Apparently it was an old army song I later discovered, and was not "ears" in the original. :-D

I suppose it depends where you are located,it would seem quite harsh to me here for them to be penned.
However, I understand in some cases it is not an option to allow them freedom.
Karen :)

Eeeeew LJS! Now I have a mental image, thanks lol!