Help! Intruder in the house

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Hi Kate
Poor little girls[sm=cat.gif] nothing worse than the neighbourhood bully[:-]
The only thing that jumps to mind at the moment is to change your cat flap to one of those magnetic types...so it will only open when your girls want to get in...as for the smell of Tom cats I think you may be able to buy something from the local pet shop or even the vets that may help to get rid of the smell...not very helpful I know...hope all ends well:)

luv & peace
stormdeva x

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

I know your problem as I too experienced it several years ago. This cat was a feral and eventually I managed to catch it and took him to the local cat & dog home.
You can get a product called Odour Elimator which works really well. You can get it at or perhaps your local vet. Its the only thing that really gets rid of the pong, its a waste of time using ordinary cleaners as the cat can still smell their scent, do not use pine as it encourages them to mark the spot again!
Hope this helps.
For your girls I would suggest flower remedies to help them get over the shock, Rescue Remedy would be a good start.
Hope this is of help.

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Hi Stormdeva and Rainbowremedies

Thank you both for your suggestions.

Stormdeva, we had thought of a magnetic cat flap however my girls have already managed to lose/destroy 4 collars between them [>:], they take anything round their necks as a personal affront to their natural beauty! 😀 As the magnetic doors rely on them wearing collars .... ho hum!

Rainbowremedies, I will try them with Rescue Remedy, they are very clingy at the moment - Suki in particular, it makes me sad for her as she has always been the feisty one out of the two.

Any more ideas very welcome - we'll try anything.

Kate

ps the ginger tom is obviously somone's beloved pet, he has a collar round his neck but we can't get anywhere near him to see who he lives with, he always gives us the slip. Grrr!

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Poor girlies.

You could try a product called 'feliaway' I think you can get it in a diffuser and it should stop the tom cat from spraying. I'm on a bit of a flyer today but I'll try and think of something to stop him from coming in and post on Monday.

xx

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

This sounds a bit odd but it is worth a try..........buy a water pistol. If you see the cat in the house again (or the garden) again give it a squirt. It won't hurt him but generally cats HATE water and it may well be so disliked he won't come back again. Failing that, if you can grab him you could always see if he has a collar. If he looks like a stray a lot of animal rescue centres (like the RSPCA) routinely neuter cats before finding them new homes.

I think it is SO irresponsible the leave cats uneutered, free to wander where they like and then spew out as many kittens as they can. Apart from the fact there there are not enough homes to go around it helps spread diseases like FIV and FIP and causes rampaging toms (like this one) to 'break into' homes, spray everywhere and terrorise the residents!

I have heard of people taking toms to vets, claiming they are their own, paying to have them neutered and then returning them just to stop the nuisence (and because the real owners can't be bothered to do it themselves). Not that I would advocate that of course;)

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Hi, i'm sorry but agree with rainbowremedies the best thing would be to try (though i know hard) to catch him and take to refuge or call one and tell them whats been happening. The more known named one will prob be able to give tips what to do etc.
Good luck
Rach x[sm=cat.gif]

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Thanks everyone for your replies and advice.

Gareth (my husband) and I have talked about catching the little critter, but he is so blooming crafty, I swear he knows when we've gone out for the evening and then comes in to terrorise our girls, eat their food and leave his smelly calling card.

Gareth caught him in the house a couple of mornings ago when we awoke at 6 a.m. to a commotion of hissing and spitting; he leapt out of bed and found Ginger tom on the upstairs landing with Suki backing off away from him whilst trying hissing with all her might. As soon as he saw Gareth he turned tail and ran.
([sm=scratchchin.gif] Hmmmm, make note, naked and wild-haired husband is excellent tom cat deterrent.)

Ginger tom never comes in when we are home in the evening so we have decided that next time we go out we'll leave the sittingroom and kitchen lights on to make him think we'e still in (Honestly! can you believe it? Do you think we are crediting him with more cunning than he has?)

If we do manage to catch him and find out where he lives what do we do if the owners refuse to have his 'nads nipped?

I like the sound of something we can use in a diffuser Doogle. I eagerly await further information.

Love
Kate

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

There is another option you may like to consider. If you know you're going out for the evening, get hold of a cat trap, place some food in it and leave it in your kitchen. Shut your girls out of the kitchen (yes that means moving their litter trays onto paper elsewere). It may not work, but the chances are, you may come home to find your ginger tom in the trap, then you have the options of getting him neutered (on health grounds) or taking him to a cat rescue centre~ in which case if you then see adverts go up in your local shop for a 'missing ginger tom cat', you have more decisions to make!!!~[&:]

There is/used to be a product on the market by Shaws calleld 'No Stain' which used to be available in pet shops. (It may have gone off the shelf as a lot of these products went off the market when they all had to be re-licensed to conform with the EU regs.) But No Stain is/was one of the most effective products on the market for getting rid of the smell of tom cats.

jj

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

I know it's already been mentioned, but a magnetic catflap really is a great idea. My little girls hated the collars when we first tried them and Toots was always leaving hers around the place, but it didnt take long for them to understand that it was the key to their safety. Now whenever the big cats chase them, they bolt to the cat flap and then sit on the other side tormenting them![sm=1syellow1.gif]

They are now much more at ease in their house and it doesn't stink of tom cat. Plus some of the toms have stopped trying to invade the garden altogether.:D

Cats aren't stupid, they soon realise its for their own good. As with everything, its just a matter of patience and lots of it!!![sm=cat.gif]

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Hi Kapri

Feliway is a plug in pheramone releasing type thing (watch me get technical!) that you turn on and it releases molecules that should stop the tom cat from spraying if he does come into your house. It wont affect your other cats but it also wont stop the tom cat from coming in, it should just stop him from spraying.

Does your cat flap allow locking from the inside and outside? You could try setting the catflap to in only, that way once hes in he cant get out and you might be able to catch him. JJs idea of a trap is a good idea to.

It might be worth calling the RSPCA helpline, they might be able to tell you what your rights are with regards to the cat coming into your house. I dont know what the rules are about cats but for sure if a dog had attacked another dog there would be alot of fuss kicked up (I know its different for cats but I totally agree with Lyssa about the unneutered tom cat allowing straying thing).

Good luck!

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Oh, a subject close to my own heart - though I don't just have one tom cat I think I have about 10! I did trap 2 last year that I knew were strays and have them neutered. The cats protection league will lend you the traps.

A word about my own experience though - when I tried to "terrorise" them out of my house by throwing water at them - one went absolutely beserk climbed net curtains and ripped them, smashed things and at one point I actually thought it was going to leap on me!

You may be better closing the flap for a while so the tom cat gets the idea it's no longer an open house. It's an inconvenience for your cats but they may feel happier longer term. It's something that I'm seriously considering now.

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

We also had a similar experience, everytime our cat was on heat. The local Toms would queue outside the cat-flap so I kept it locked only to find one had broken in one day after coming back from shopping. A few weeks later the cat had very cute moggy kittens which were sweet but not the breeding we'd had in mind as she's a pedigree. This wouldn't stop even after using the odour remover spray and eventually had to get rid of the cat flap and replace the door. Unfortunately the queuing toms only stopped after our cat was spade. I hope you sort it out and I'm sorry to hear your kitties are having such a horrible time with this brute!

from Grub x[sm=cat.gif]

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Hope you get the [sm=cat.gif] situation out. I know what Tom cat smells like[[:@]

When a tom find a spot where there are females he be back all the time. So this is what you can do

Magnetic collar
Lemmon spray/pepper spray ( make it yourself its cheeper) and spray it around the door and cat flap.

Catch him and take him to a refuge centre ( i know this may be hard) but u dont want your girls terorized ( typo)

B B gun hide behind your couch and wait[sm=hidesbehindsofa.gif] LOl only kidding.
We have 2 female cats one is 3 years the other is 11 weeks. And the older cat (mog) is getting chased about the house by the kitten, Poor thing gets no peace lol:D

Hope you get it sorted
Love
Dragon

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Just thought...the other thing that got shot of the manky toms was our dog!:)

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Wow! what a great lot of advice - thank you all so much.

Doogle - I have ordered some Feliaway and have great hopes of it working, I'll keep you posted on this one.

In the meantime we are keeping the catflap closed when we are not in the house, as per your suggestion Wendy. The girls don't mind, they seem to know it is for their sake.

We still haven't been able to catch Ginger Tom, but have taken your warning to heart Wendy - will not try and give him a good watering when he is inside (I had to smile at my mental picture of this crazy cat hanging off your nets, and about to pounce on you 😀 Sorry :eek:)

Dragon - my husband (the naked wildhaired one) thinks shooting is too good for the cat!! he is very calm usually but GT is driving him mad. I think he is going to get a water pistol ......

Once again everyone, many thanks.

Kate
xx

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

An update on Ginger Tom whom we now know as Jasper.

My brave and resourceful husband spotted GT sneaking up the stairs late on Thursday night and so shut the kitchen door to keep him in the main body of the house and followed him up the stairs.

The only door that was open was our bedroom door, with me asleep in bed. I woke to find GT leaping all over the room, across the bed, up the curtains and under the chair with my husband in hot pursuit. This time instead of being wild-haired and naked Gareth was fully dressed with the interesting sartorial addition of a pair of tartan oven gloves for protection. Eventually he grabbed GT who immediately went limp and looked at us with the biggest saddest black eyes as though to say "What? what have I done?" I looked at his collar and made a note of his owners tel.no then Gareth escorted him out of the house growling at GT all the way to make him know that he had met his match!

Well, today I spoke to his owner, a lovely lady called Jill who immediately came round to see me. She told me that she had got Jasper (GT) and another cat as rehomes from the Cats Protection League five years ago and it was only recently that he had started wandering off - now she knows where to!

Jill offered to pay for cleaning our settee etc. (we didn't accept but were pleased she had offered - responsible owner!) Jasper has been neutered, but she is going to call the vet on Monday and see if there is an answer to his spraying - though he doesn't do it at home. Jill told me that Jasper is the most loving cat at home, he is also blind in one eye poor thing.

We are getting an electronic catflap now to stop Jasper getting in. He has just now tried again to come in, but Suki (my clever girl) sat in front of the cat flap on the inside and wouldn't move.

I must admit that having met his Mum, and having seen Jasper up close has softened my heart to him, he is the most gorgeous boy. BUT despite this he is not welcome in our home!!!

So problem not really solved, but getting there!

Kate
x

RE: Help! Intruder in the house

Bless, nice to hear the owner is taking responsbility for her pet, kinda rebuilds faith in humans really!

Well, one step forward at a time, hopefully the vet will be able to shine some light on why he's doing it! (did the Feliaway work?)