Large aggressive neighbour's cat

[SWAT78]

A new cat has moved into the area in the past couple of months (I assume with new neighbours as well, although not a clue which house). It is quite large, aggressive and keeps squaring up to my very small cat who I think runs away generally, but this is becoming more frequent in my back garden which I assume my cat wants to 'defend' as it's not backing down so readily - at one point my cat resorted to curling up in a ball and almost 'playing dead' - clearly no intention of fighting back, but also no intention of running.

My cat only goes out when we're in the house and so we've spotted these confrontations and interrupted before any fighting happens (a slip off a wet patio during an interruption resulted in gashing one of my toes open on Christmas Day, but I digress).

My concern is that at some point these cats will come to blows over the 'territory' in my back garden, and that my cat will come off far worse. This may have already happened - my cat got a bad infection last month that the vet thought was most likely from an open wound, but as he's very long haired we couldn't see any evidence of this (and there were no marks on his face or legs).

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Is there any way to discourage the other cat from spending time in my garden? As a cat lover I don't really want to resort to the 'blast from a Super Soaker'. I know I'd be p*ssed off if I thought my cat was getting the same treatment elsewhere. Having said that, part of me feels that the other cat is 'in the wrong' and needs to be discouraged somehow.

Any ideas? Ideally something more humane than a water pistol, but then I can't think of any other way to get rid. The other cat has quickly worked out that it doesn't need to run away from me too far when I am trying to 'shoo' it, because we established early on that I have no intention of kicking it up the arris when I do get close enough.

Help! (photo of my moggy below to persuade responses if necessary...!)


Jasper by stuwaton, on Flickr

[SWAT78]

Thanks guys. Guess I just wanted some reassurances from other animal lovers that a quick blast in the backside with a small-calibre Super Soaker is "reasonable force" and doesn't amount to animal cruelty.

Cheers for the quick responses!

[SWAT78]

simoid said:

Make sure the large, aggressive neighbour doesn't see you either.

Definitely a concern, although it's only an issue in my back garden, and I don't think the cat belongs to either of my immediate neighbours. Hopefully it's something I wouldn't have to do more than a couple of times, so small chance of being spotted. And, more importantly, small chance of being beaten to a bloody pulp.

[SWAT78]

simoid said:

Is the neighbour actually large and aggressive?

Might be better to start off with water as opposed to something sticky and flavoured, so the neighbour doesn't think that someone is shooting Robinson's at his cat.

No idea! Not sure which house it's from, although there is a lot of social housing nearby, so it's very likely. Definitely starting with water - as I said above am hoping that it only takes a couple of blasts (under cover of darkness) before it learns to keep away.