Stray cat outdoors is making my indoor cat crazy?

[Jenn.]

Okay firstly, I have a 3 year old female who has been desexed. A few days ago I noticed a black cat prowling around in my backyard, AND frontyard. I didnt think much of it though. Yesterday morning I woke up to my cat making a horrible noise, it sound like a loud, long continuous descending "meow" over and over. Of course I was pretty startled so I rushed out of bed to see what was going on. My cat was sitting at the back door, with this black stray cat right on the other side, looking in. It got scared and ran off. Then not long later, it came back, sitting on the back step, right in front of the door. My cat then comes bolting around the corner, and just went HEAD ON straight into the door. The stray got sccared and ran off once again. For the past 48 hours my poor kitty hasn't been the same! What should I do if this stray keeps coming back and distressing my cat??

 

[Cat X]

firstly, the black stray is not stressing your kitty. its just another lonely soul out there on the streets. although your kitty is neutered, that doesn't mean it has loosen its ability to make friends. secondly, you have a friendly kitty. it will take a few days for it to realize that its new found friend (black stray) actually cannot come into the house, then its friendship versus freedom. thirdly, you have 2 choices, choice 1, leave things as it is, and watch them become 'spiritual' friend. they know the existence of each other, but that's about it. choice 2, try to tame the black stray, and adopt it eventually. your house, your cat, your choice but please don't alert the animal control unit, otherwise your kitty might lose the only cat friend she has for her entire life, thanks

 

[miranda]

Do you have sprinklers outside? If you can get some water going that should scare it away. Yelling may work too, at least for a little while. Anything you can do to startle it. If nothing good happens to him at your place eventually he will give up.


Are you sure it's a stray cat? It may be someone's pet. Some people let their cats wander all over to torment other cats and wipe out the bird population.

It isn't fair to your cat to let it hang around. I feed feral cats around me but it doesn't annoy my cats very much. I make sure to schedule one of their meal times with when I put the other food outside. If it really upset them I would have to stop.
Your cat is the priority. If you want to try to help the other cat you can take it to a vet and have it scanned for a microchip to see if you can find owners. You can take him to a shelter. Or you could get him checked out and taken care of and keep him yourself. Obviously your cat isn't happy with him now, she might accept him someday if you kept him, but it's up to you if you want to try that or not.

Do not let your cat out to meet the other cat. It may not be healthy and could spread disease to your cat. They could also fight. Cats don't usually fight to the death, but bites and scratches can do serious damage and frequently get infected.

My parents' neighbor has a cat who comes over and bothers their cats. The oldest has started spraying the door and the other boy makes those horrible noises. It is really frustrating. Sorry you and your kitty are dealing with that.