Changes

*Encourage local cat owners to adopt activity feeding and other environmental enrichments that are known to encourage cats to live in harmony.

*Encourage local cat owners to adopt activity feeding and other environmental enrichments that are known to encourage cats to live in harmony.

*Consider persuading cat owners to set up a local ‘cat club’ of people living in the neighbourhood so that they can swap ideas about improving gardens and homes to suit the cats better.

*Consider persuading cat owners to set up a local ‘cat club’ of people living in the neighbourhood so that they can swap ideas about improving gardens and homes to suit the cats better.

==Feline Territories==

==Feline Territories==

Invasion of core territories and threat to resources within homes increases competition within the home and can increase the risk of conflict. When a feline despot is present within a neighbourhood, aggressive encounters between cats increase significantly. These despotic cats not only show intensely territorial behaviour but also make regular and repeated attempts to take over the territory of other cats, including their core territory or home range. They may enter the homes of other cats to attack or intimidate them, or to leave urine marks, leading to misdiagnosis of inter-cat aggression or indoor marking problems within the homes they are targeting. Entire male cats are more likely to be despotic, which is why stray males should be caught and neutered. However, there is no exclusive correlation between reproductive status and despotism, and other cats can behave in this way. Despotic cats are often most active at dawn and dusk and their behaviour is often a source of tension between human and feline neighbours throughout the potentially very large area that the despot attempts to control.  

Invasion of core territories and threat to resources within homes increases competition within the home and can increase the risk of conflict. When a feline despot is present within a neighbourhood, aggressive encounters between cats increase significantly. These despotic cats not only show intensely territorial behaviour but also make regular and repeated attempts to take over the territory of other cats, including their core territory or home range. They may enter the homes of other cats to attack or intimidate them, or to leave urine marks, leading to misdiagnosis of inter-cat aggression or indoor marking problems within the homes they are targeting. Entire male cats are more likely to be despotic, which is why stray males should be caught and neutered. However, there is no exclusive correlation between reproductive status and despotism, and other cats can behave in this way. Despotic cats are often most active at dawn and dusk and their behaviour is often a source of tension between human and feline neighbours throughout the potentially very large area that the despot attempts to control.  

==Diagnosis==

==Diagnosis==

Territorial area closely corresponds to the survival resources it provides. The defence of territory is therefore linked to the defence of resources so that there is a reduction in territorial behaviour and aggression when there is a surfeit of resources within the neighbourhood.

Territorial area closely corresponds to the survival resources it provides. The defence of territory is therefore linked to the defence of resources so that there is a reduction in territorial behaviour and aggression when there is a surfeit of resources within the neighbourhood.

==Treatment==

==Treatment==

In some cases the general feline population is so large that resource density and individual territorial space are insufficient to prevent aggression. In these cases neighbours may have to make a concerted attempt to improve the local environment so that cats may coexist. The temptation to introduce more cats should be resisted. Timesharing access to the garden may effectively reduce the population density that each cat experiences, but this must be combined with improved resource access and environmental enrichment in the home.

In some cases the general feline population is so large that resource density and individual territorial space are insufficient to prevent aggression. In these cases neighbours may have to make a concerted attempt to improve the local environment so that cats may coexist. The temptation to introduce more cats should be resisted. Timesharing access to the garden may effectively reduce the population density that each cat experiences, but this must be combined with improved resource access and environmental enrichment in the home.

====Summary of Treatment - Aggression to Other Cats in the Neighbourhood====

====Summary of Treatment - Aggression to Other Cats in the Neighbourhood====