Only here to vent about neighbours b#&@!@£ cat! Ruined my kitchen!

[feckingcat]

I have a very elderly cat and therefore a cat flap. My old cat cannot tolerate a collar so for years she has just entered and exited the cat flap at her will.

A neighbour much further down the street abandoned a big old Tom cat a few months ago and it’s been roaming around, pinching food here and there. Another neighbour has taken it in and is feeding it regularly. All good.

I came downstairs yesterday morning and was greeted by the very strong and distinctive smell of Tom cat wee. Went into the kitchen and it was eye watering. The fucking cat had sprayed urine all over the kitchen, up the table legs, over the area where my cat eats and worst of all up the fronts of the cream gloss kitchen cabinet fronts, this has etched the gloss off the cabinets so in the light you can see the spray marks up the front. It will not clean off - it’s actually taken the gloss off the surface.

Im absolutely livid! It’s obviously come in during the night. I now need to try and decide either to stop my own cat going out by closing and locking the cat flap or getting a new, expensive flap that only opens for my cat.

I can’t even begin to put into words how annoyed I am, a 20k kitchen with about 5 cabinet fronts now all ruined with white marks up the front of them. FFS!!!!!

A similar thing happened to me, only the intruder pissed all over my house for a couple of months including all over my new sofa.
I bought an expensive microchip cat flap.
My cats freaked.

If you know the smell of Tom’s pee… has this happened before?

As frustrating as it is, this is unfortunately on you. If you have a cat flap that any cat can get through, then you take the risk that another neighbourhood cat gets in.

Why have so few cat owners heard about microchip cat flaps? It was the first thing I got when I rescued my cat. I mean, they're not complicated or anything and it totally prevents cats, badgers or anything else getting in. I can't believe people still have the old fashioned ones.

Is there such a thing as a cat flap that will only operate for your cat ?
Can you talk to the neighbour who has taken the Tom in and offer to pay to have him ‘done’. It will also be helpful to avoid kittens in the surrounding area !
The reason he is behaving in this way is because he hasn’t been. Done.
Explain the problem.

1. Microchip catflap.
2. Replace damaged doors.
3. Ask the nice neighbour who has taken the cat in to get it neutered. Less likely to spray in their house, less likely to wander and get run over, less likely to get into fights and get injured.

If it's being a nuisance to several neighbours could you club together for #3?

Is the cat unneutered? OP hasn’t explicitly stated that it is and I know from bitter experience that neutered Toms can be perfectly capable of pissing all over the place. Also, if the new owner has had it microchipped, the shelter will return it.

Yes, a microchip catflap only allows your own cat to enter. It obviously prevents any other creatures getting in too. It only opens when it detects your own cat's microchip. They are brilliant.

Home insurance? I'd be livid, but who at?🍷

Obviously the answer is to get a decent cat flap. You wouldn’t leave your front/back door unlocked for burglars why do so with a cat flap? Cats will invite themselves wherever they see fit if it’s accessible.

Send the owner of the cat a bill for replacing the damage and also the cleaning!! I would
claim on my home insurance personally and also give them the neighbours details as it’s their cat that did the damage!

The OP hasn't mentioned she has CCTV in her kitchen?

No-one's got any proof here.

Bloody awful. I think, however, you may have to explore a claim on your insurance to have it put right and look at swapping the cat flap for an electronic one that only opens in response to a sensor on your cat’s collar?

You dont need a collar to operate a microchip catflap. They work using the cat's implanted microchip

Oh no,this is awful op. We had a stray spraying in our garden and it stank.

First, absolutely getting touch with a cat charity to get the stray caught. Secondly assuming pp's a re correct and your insurance won't pay out (do try first), get some enzyme cat urine cleaner to deal with the smell. Then contact a cosmetic repair company who will be able to refinish the front of your kitchen cupboards, not sure on prices but likely cheaper than a new kitchen or new door fronts.

Also I’m not sure cat owners are liable in that way.

This. By law all cats have to be chipped now anyway.

Why haven’t you got a microchip cat flap. They’ve been around for at least 15 years.

They categorically are not liable

I wonder about the legal position here. My home insurance policy won’t help me if a burglar get in through my unlocked back door. OP has an archaic cat door that allows any cat or similarly sized mammal to enter, so the insurance company may well not pay out. Any experts on insurance law who could clarify here? And, to be frank, I wouldn’t want to upset a neighbour who has been kind enough to look after a cruelly neglected cat. I’d put it down to experience and get a proper microchip cat door fitted (available from any branch of Pets At Home and all the usual online retailers).

Even more brilliant! (I have dogs and have to have collar trackers because one is a bugger).

Standard home insurance won’t cover damage caused by animals

This doesn't happen with dogs.

#misses point of thread (sorry)

No, but the news doesn’t feature cats mauling people to death every other week, so swings and roundabouts.

We have a microchip catflap, and until recently also had a dog, so we had no problem with unwanted cats in our house, but friends in our village came downstairs one morning to find a RACOON had got in through their catflap!