How do I stop next door's cat coming in and making itself at home

[morethanmum]

as I have 4 weeks to go til baby no 4 and am paranoid about germs etc and it's a great big aggressive cat anyway? We keep coming home and finding it in our bedroom (where the baby will sleep) and I am a) freaked that it might climb on the baby and b) freaked about unwormed cats clambering on my clothes etc. We have a lovely timid cat so can't block the cat flap up, but it's a magnetic catflap and NTC just bashes it repeatedly til it comes in. So far I've tried squirting water and just screaming really loudly like a big girl when it appears from wherever it's been spraying. Yuk. Long and stressy, sorry. Please - advice!

We have a cat that keeps coming in a spraying (while my wimpy neutered cats sit and watch) and the only thing that actually stops it is if DH goes into the garden and pees on the outside of the cat flap and around the door. It really does work - I think it's to do with the whole alpha male thing. A word of advice, if you decide to try this it is better done at night time so the people in the flats across the road don't think your DH is a weirdo . You also have to "renew" it when it has rained.

Close your bedroom door as a short-term solution, but not sure of long-term.

Can't wait to suggest this to dh - our neighbours have a great view of door with catflap. Our cat is female - will it stop her coming in?

Must remember to shut bedroom door - trouble is if I shut the kids' doors, I am left with our cat trapped in with this horrid cat.

We have 2 female and 1 male and it doesn't seem to bother them at all - perhaps because they're familiar with DH's scent.

The cat shouldn't be able to get through magnetic cat flap!! If it just bashes it til it gets in, perhaps your cat flap needs replacing? We had a cat try his luck through our mag cat flap but gave up coz he couldn't get in.

Not sure about peeing on the outside of it tho! eewww!!!

Great - will get him to do it tonight - I am v gullible btw, let me know if you are currently ROFL...

RGPargy - I rang Staywell, who said it was unusual for a cat to persist, but sadly our house was empty for a couple of months b4 we moved in (Dec 05) and the cat was prob in here all the time thro old normal catflap. It wasn't thrilled when we got our cat in the Spring. Nor was I - resigned to not being PG again, got cat as surrogate baby, positive test next day. Oh well.

I think you can buy electronic cat flaps. Your cat wears a little 'swipe card' type thing on its collar, so the flap only opens for your cat.

Honestly, not ROFL - apparently Lion poo has the same effect - just not as easy to come by I had 4 "surrogate baby" cats.

Hmmm there must be SOMETHING you can do, other than peeing on the cat flap!!! hahaha!!

Lion poo FGS - I am begining to think this advice is slightly too farfetched! I can just imagine explaining this to Howletts, and then to the local Community Service Pretend Police Officer (re: dh peeing on door...)
Maybe surrogate baby cat could be twinned with new baby though.

Lion poo FGS - I am begining to think this advice is slightly too farfetched! I can just imagine explaining this to Howletts, and then to the local Community Service Pretend Police Officer (re: dh peeing on door...)
Maybe surrogate baby cat could be twinned with new baby though.

Ohh, I hate that double click thing.

Honestly true about the lion poo - it's the smell of a bigger, more masculine cat that does it. Cats spray to mark territory and if something bigger and more manly has marked it out first then they're going to steer clear.

Well, I asked dh last night and got a flat refusal on the grounds that he doesn't want the door smelling of wee. Will ask ds2 instead, who will think it a wonderful idea, obviously. Am trying to think of ways of toughening our cat up so she can be a bit more assertive as this cat is just laughing at her...

You have my sympathies, I had this problem at my old house when a big tom kept coming in and terrorising my neutered tom (who is a big softy). We had a Staywell magnetic catflap, which was supposed to keep other cats out but it didn't work - this other cat would force its way through anyway.
Is this tom a stray? If it is I would call the Cats' Protection League to see if they could capture and rehome it.

This is tricky as you can't put repellent down cos of your cat. I have next doors cat pooing in my garden whioch is intensely irritating as DD2 is very curious about everything and tends to taste test new things.
PMSL at DH peeing on the door.
Can i just ask, what is the point of a magnetic flap if the cat shouldn't be able to get it???
Am I missing something or is that just a bit pointless. You need some kind of eyeball recognition system, ala Mission Impossible/Star Trek.

Well... if the cat can't understand is not as if you should protect its instincts at the expense of your baby.

Sorry but you can't put lions dung (however processed) inside of the house. Try a new magnetic flap or get the cat a HUGE scare so he doesn't return. (What about DH peeing on the cat?)

I have found squirting effective before.
I set a squirter near the door and sat in wait if I saw it prowling. They hate being squirted and I chased it with squirter out the garden[evil]
After a while it will recognise the squirter so leaving it outside by the flap should deter it.
Hopefully

Band MM - magnetic catflap should open when our cat (with magnet on collar) goes near it...v good idea re Start
Trek. We tried squirting it but it doesn't care. Sniff.
Is there any point in asking the owner? Don't know what he could do though? (Might report it as a stray anyway

BTW can't wait to ask dh top pee on the cat. He owes me a favout after staying out all night with friends watching rugby. No sleep last night as dc stayed awake, no slepp this am as ds2 woke up at 6am...he's still out.