Thread: When neighborhood strays become a problem

I've heard many similar and tragic stories. Many thieves here will shoot a dog, then again even the cops will shoot your dog. Local police were chasing a suspect that ran into a random house. The homeowners were there and the family dog naturally became alarmed and protective. The cops shot and killed the dog and tried to say it was justified because they were "threatened" by it growling.
There's a pregnant feral that just showed up a few weeks ago, she's tiny and probably not a year old yet herself. She shows up around midnight and I leave some food on the sidewalk for her, while my spoiled rotten brats watch out the window in disbelief "OMG Mom why are you giving our food away we're going to starve!!" She has a fluffy buddy with her sometimes, God only knows where they come from. :-(

We don't tend to get many strays or feral cats here in the UK. It's probably a good job, because I'd want to adopt them all! Beau & Dixie only have supervised access to our garden, but I must admit watching with interest when a little black and white female from up the street decided to come and say hello a few weeks ago! They put up a good show with much back arching and hissing, but in the end decided it was safer indoors, despite them both being twice it's size! Wusses lol.

Oliver's allowed outside now, and he's made friends with several of the neighborhood cats. One doesn't seem to have a home; he was very nervous around me at first, but now he loves cuddles and never seems to leave my garden. I don't let Sterling out unattended because I don't think she'd last long out there, and she unfortunately doesn't seem to have any understanding of social cues. Despite being with her breeder for two years in a house full of cats, she goes up to the outside cats like the Honey Monster and eagerly sniffs them with such a lack of grace they end up getting irritated with her and hiss and/or swipe (meanwhile, Oliver's looking on with an "I don't know you" expression).
There's at least one cat that doesn't get along with Oliver, but I haven't seen who it is, I've just heard deep growing sounds and seen little scratches on his skin. I think, like Alekto said, that once the territorial boundaries are established the fighting should stop. I understand cats usually are very respectful once it's clearly understood what belongs to whom.