My cat has been terrified by something outside at night, what could it be?

Question

I have a neutered tom as well as a neutered female and a (not for long) unneutered female kitten- all three strictly indoors. Over the past week or so, the tom has been getting increasingly agitated by something outside- the first night I noticed it, he was making that low cry for help cats make when you take them to the vet, and when I went out to check on him he crouched down and crawled towards me, as though scared of something outside.

Whatever bothered him seems to be sticking around the area, as the tom now lies by the sliding glass door every night waiting to see if whatever it was returns- if it does, he makes a terrible furious screech and tries to attack it through the glass.

Last night, he was so agitated that he didn’t recognise me at first when I went out to check on him and even hissed at me before realising who I was. What could possibly be freaking him out so much? I put up a trail cam in the backyard to try and catch whatever it is on camera, and at last night’s disturbance I thought I had gotten it- except, for some reason there were 0 photos on the SD card (despite the fact that we also have dogs- there should at least be pictures of them), so I’m out of luck on that front.

Could it be another tom, hanging around the house for the kitten perhaps? Or something more wild like a raccoon?

It’s very worrying and disturbing to see my cat so upset over something I can’t seem to see- any ideas of what it is would be of great help.

Answer 1

This is pretty normal cat behavior. Cats in general are very territorial and may display a lot of aggression to any intruders including those they see close to the house through windows.

The cat hissing at you is called “redirected aggression” wherein very stressed or angry cats can sometime redirect their aggression at innocent bystanders.

Your cat getting angry with something outside can be upsetting to owners but it is not terribly unhealthy for your cat.

However if this behavior is causing problems you can cover the bottom portion of your windows at night so the cat cannot see out and get angry at whatever is out there.

Your cat probably is seeing another cat or it could be a dog or possibly some wild animal. The type of wild animal would be dependent on where you live. There are outdoor, motion activated wildlife cameras you can buy if you are really curious.