Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello, I have a male cat name Simba. Simba is almost 3 years old. But recently I have been noticing a outsider male cat comes to my house and started fighting with my Simba. As my house is surrounded with a large garden, it is not possible to monitor all time. Last day my Simba injured a lot. 

Also I have another problem, some outsider cats make my garden dirty. Sometimes they spoil plants. Last week a planted a sapling and it was my favorite sapling. But yesterday it was gone. I have no idea how to protect my Simba and my garden from them. I cant take it anyway. Anyone please help me.

#AccesstoCare

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Rebekah Jones
A Social Worker
Dream Foundation
AK
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Not allowing Simba to roam is the only thing that will protect him from other cats (and predators). Consider keeping him inside, only allowing him out on a leash, or building a catio (my cats love theirs). Other than coming home with scrapes, he's also at risk for fatal viruses that vaccines don't protect against like FeLV and FIV. Is Simba neutered? He's at an even greater risk to injury, illness, or death if he isn't.

There's really nothing you can do to keep cats out of your yard, and keep in mind when Simba roams he might be doing the same thing to your neighbors' gardens.

I should mention though that a cat is realistically not going to take a sapling. A lot of the garden damage you're describing sounds like squirrels hiding food, rabbits, or raccoons.

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Rachel Watsky
VP
Feral Freedom, Northern California
OR
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Please keep your cat indoors. That is the safest place for your cat. Supervised outside time can be done on a leash. 

Please get the outside cats TNVR so they do not reproduce and you end up with even more cats. 

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Amanda Gray
Grants and fundraising manager
Operation Liberation
FL
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It will probably be impossible to keep other cats out of the garden, but you can definitely create a catio for your cat to at least keep him safe from the other cats. There are lots of different options. I couldn't find somebody to make the size I was looking for for mine (within my budget), so I ended up hiring a fencing company to build it out of chain link fencing. It has a chain link "lid" on top to protect against predators (we have coyotes, owls, hawks, etc.) I then lined the outside with chicken wire and cinder blocks (to prevent predators from digging in). My catio connects to the house via a sliding glass doggy door.

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Kelly Gendreau
President/Founder
LEASH Animal Rescue
CA
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