dealing with a rogue cat

I need a little advice from someone who knows cats, as I do not. There is a cat who sits on my balcony alll the time, and uses it as a litter box. When I try and shoo it away, it tries to scratch and bite me. Last week my dog and I were walking up the stairs to my door and the cat was lying on my doormat. When it saw us, it attacked my dog, scratching her face very badly (It got infected and she is now on antibiotics). Many of my neighbours own cats, and I've asked them all, but they all say "oh no, that must not be my cat, my cat would never do any of that..." so needless to say I don't know who owns the cat. Does anyone have some advice on how to deal with it?
thanks

Hmm - you have asked all the neighbours? You can't take in this poor kitty? Isolate him in a room till he settles down - he does seem to have selected you for some reason. You must be nice to him when others are not. I feel so sorry for feral cats but then if this is somene's kitty and they allow him to do that, that is something else again!!

taking the cat in would not be feasible because 1) if i go near it, it tries to attack me and 2) it has viciously attacked my dog, and is obviously carrying some sort of disease, and thus I have no desire to bring it into my home. I've asked all my neighbours, but I really do think it belongs to one of them, because it's always around...

To me it sounds like this cat doesn't belong to anyone.And I truly understand you not wanting to take it into your home after what it has done to you and your dog.CK,you know I love cats(that's why I have 2.. :D )But unfortunately we can't always take feral cats in.I don't think I would take the chance with a cat like that.This cat attacked her AND her cat.Doesn't sound like a house cat to me.

I'm sure I will get cussed out for saying this,but Puppyluv,can you go to a pet store and see if they have some type of repelent to keep cats away?Maybe try some mothballs?My dad puts them in his garden to keep the stray cats from pooping in the soil.It seems to work.

I'm sure others will be on with other suggestions.

Sounds like this cat thinks your balcony is her turf and is probably a stray who feels safe there. Possibly her humans used to live in the neighborhood and abandoned her. She probably was terrified when you tried to shoo her off, and no doubt was caught off guard when you came up the stairs with the dog while she was snoozing on your mat- so she tried to protect herself.
I really don't know what advice to give you. If it were me, I would befriend her and put out food . If you want to discourage her, I guess you can try a spray bottle with water. As she gets the message she will move on to some other place.

Mothballs are dangerous to cats - and if s.he has a disease, this kitty's health may be compromised already. Can you not just take it to a no kill shelter? That's what I would do. Get a cat friendly trap and trap it with some food and bring him in. That way, you help the cat and you and your dog.

I have worked with feral cats all my life so am unafraid of them (have been scratched and bitten mind you but I know they were scared). Maybe someone who is skilled with ferals will come and get it. Shooing him away seems cruel somehow. This cat bit you for a reason - he may well have decided this is his space but you are the person wioth resorces and this poor guy is homeless. Even if you bring him to a vet and explain the situation. My vet cares for ferals all the time and does it out of the goodness of her heart, there must be at least one who is like that where you live!

There are tried ways of capturing ferals -esp by groups who do TNS. Is there a group like that in your area? Is he spraying? Making a lot of noise? If he ill, you have to help him, no?? And if his no good neighbour won't, he does seem to have landed on your doorstep.

There are things that deter cats but I never thought they'd be anything I'd ever type on an animal rights web site. If you so drve him away, who wil help him??? That question disturbs me. Can you just make a pohone call to some group if you are afraid of him?

I really do think the cat has an owner, it is in good condition, when i look at it through my door (which is glass, I don't have x-ray vision) it appears to have a really healthy coat, is a good weight, and has a colar. I just cant get near it to look at the colar. after it does the whole scratch/bite thing, it runs away. it likes to sit on my balcony to stare at my next door neighbour's cat (which is tied up) and then since it's there, takes a cr@p or two.

Maybe it belongs to that person??? You could put out citris rinds (cat hate citris) or garlic tho garlic can also make him sick. YY got into garlic one day when I awas cooking. I answered the phone and before I could say "get away from that stuff", she had eaten some. She threw it up that nite and fortunately it was just a bit. (She has only ever been sick like that 3 times since I have had her!) Then I read that garlic is good for cats but I won't be giving her any!!

I thought you said he was ill - I must've misunderstood. Too many threads -sorry! That so called owner needs to be reported or ... something, sighhh!! (Envisioning the SPCA which would just likely kill the poor fellow, there being so many kittens right now)

I don't know if the cat is actually ill, but the scratches that it gave my dog, got infected almost immediately (despite my cleaning them) and were bad enough for her to need antibiotics (ugggh dogs on antibiotics.... come to think of it, i'm glad it's raining) I KNOW it doesn;t belong to my nextdoor, neighbour, I know them quite well, have been over to their place, they only own one cat, and its not this one. I just really want this owner to take responisbility

We had a cat like that around her a few years back. An intact tom, belonged to the lady across the street. He patrolled the neighborhood as if he owned it - never ran away from people the way a "normal" cat would. If I happened to let the dog out while he was in our yard, he'd stand and fight - she came away with a few scratches across the muzzle from that cat (thankfully, though, none got infected). The owner of this particular tom wasn't too concerned about her cat's well-being, though. She was barely concerned about her children, so how could we expect her to expend energy on a mere cat? :evil: Can you trap the cat, keep it locked in an extra large dog crate or something (with food, water and litter box, of course), then put up posters all over town? Hand out flyers to all your neighbors?