Neighbour's Maine Coon cats are attacking my small rescue cats. What to do?

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The problem described in the title posted on the mumsnet.com website is one which occurred in the countryside in the UK. The owner of more than one Maine Coon cat allows them outside because she feels that they are safe to wander the countryside. That's fairly rare.

Maine Coon outside
Maine Coon outside. Image in the public. I modified it by changing the background.


And even though they are several hundred yards away from her neighbour, they do come onto her property and scare her relatively small rescue cats and on one occasion one of them physically attacked one of them. She wants advice on how to deal with it.

My response is below, and this is the same as the response on the mumsnet.com website.

The problem that you are encountering is really to do with humans trying to manage and control feline society which is very difficult. Legally, domestic cats can trespass on a neighbour's property as trespass doesn't apply to cats. Also, it seems that the MCs consider your back garden to be part of their home range and your cats are on their turf.

There are some things that can be done I believe but I would welcome the views of others.

One method depends upon how often you are in your home. If you are retired and in your home most of the day you will have a chance to meet the invading cats.

And if you can be in your backyard or garden when they arrive to attack your small rescue cats, you can shoo them away. Humans can frighten domestic cats with their size and demeanour.

A human is a very big animal compared to a Maine Coon cat and if you make a noise and wave your arms around and look threatening but don't in any way harm them, they should back off and disappear. 

Ultimately, they will find coming into your garden or enclosure an uncomfortable experience and avoid it. You make a connection between your property and unpleasantness in the minds of the trespassing cats.

If you are not around to do this, you might ask a friend who is around to do it for you, but the Maine Coons must not be harmed. There should be no physical contact.

An alternative would be to create a backyard or back garden enclosure which keeps your cats in, and other cats out.

But that is an expensive method and depending upon the garden size might well cost thousands of pounds. It would provide peace of mind, however. Also, many cats struggle with being confined after enjoying a life of free roaming.

You can't use cat deterrents in the garden such as automatic water sprayers and any number of alternatives which are mentioned a lot on the Internet, such as ultrasound deterrents, because you will be deterring your own cats from using the same space. They are only moderately effective anyway.

I think the best method is you to act in an apparently hostile way towards the Maine Coons to make it clear to them that they are unwanted. This can include throwing a small soft object at them which can't harm them. Or a jet of water.

Cats learn from that, and they won't like an aggressive alien creature behaving threateningly towards them.

But don't get too close and don't aggravate the cat to the point where they are provoked to attack you. Normally aggressive sounds and an aggressive posture by the human is enough to deter an invading or alien cat even if they are Maine Coons.

Maine Coon cats are normally quite retiring anyway and are not normally known to be aggressive, but it will vary from individual to individual and circumstance to circumstance.

P.S. Your cats will be impressed as they see their caregiver defending them 👍 which is what they expect to see from their mom.

Good luck.

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