Bells on collars and cat flaps

[winkywinkola]

Hallo. My four girls are now spayed and ready to venture out into the big wide world.

I would like them to wear bells so they don't reduce the local bird population to zero!

And the range of cat flaps out there. Gosh. What's best with four little cats?

Any advice appreciated.

[Wolfiefan]

We don't use collars. Collar injuries can be horrendous.
How about a cat flap activated by microchip? (No expert. Never had a cat flap either!)
4 girls. Wow. Our two are causing bedlam!

[winkywinkola]

So how do you stop your cats from killing endless songbirds? Idiot mind them doing in rats and mice but I'd rather they didn't kill birds.

[MummaGiles]

Same as poltergoose. We have a staywell 4 way manual cat flap for our 2 cats, and we are having the same thing fitted when we move house next week. Never had any problems with other cats coming in.

Fwiw our cats have collars with bells that snap off really easily if they get caught. I would never use a traditional buckle collar. We just get ours from the supermarket. The bells don't stop them getting bird though. If your cats are hunters they will do it regardless.

[PurpleWithRed]

Microchip cat flap is worth the investment IMHO. Never kept a safety-release collar on our cats for more than a few days - they constantly snag on something and release and get lost. Also, would you like to spend your life with a collar with a bell on it? It would drive me nuts.

Cats will hunt. You can't change nature. They will shit in your neighbour's garden too. Be prepared.

[gamerchick]

Just just a load of quick release collars from wilkinson and id bullets which give an extra loud jingle with the bell. They will lose them because they come off easy so you need a few spare.

If you want to put a collar on then put one on. Personally I like to know where she is in the house.

[ragged]

Pound land is cheapest place I have found to buy collars (£/pr).
I think I read they reduce predation by about 35% and particularly for birds.

I wonder if the key with collar safety might be to have them relatively tight (still two fingers underneath, but otherwise quite smug). Then less likely to catch on anything. Still fall off easily ime, mind. Also worthwhile to curfew your cats so they are inside from before dusk until after dawn (hard in practice, I know).

Sorry I can't advise about flaps, even with collars they tend to successfully hunt to some extent & I don't want extra visitors so D-Cats have to wait for someone to let them in.

[ragged]

ps: I agree, belled collar when you're hunting for a black cat at night who doesn't come when called is very very handy!!

[Feeches]

We put belled collars on our cats when we moved house as they were making the most of the large local bird and mouse population. It did make a difference in terms of the number of birds captured although the mouse slaughter continued. As pp have mentioned, bells are also excellent for after dark detections!

[Moln]

Pond land ones are best.

Always check they do release quick though, some quick release don't

Be prepared to lose them. Frequently.

[cloudlessskies]

Hi,
My girl wears a collar with a bell on it. I have never had any dead things from her.
The cat flap we have is 'sureflap' that is microchip activated. It stores each cats chip so that only your moggies can gain access. Although pricey (£80) it is worth it. I want my girl to go out whenever she wants and she learnt to use it very fast.