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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

The litter tray

someone elses cats coming through catflap at night WWYD??

20 replies

simpson · 08/06/2011 15:08

Hi

I have recently got a new patio door and also got a cat flap installed hoping to get rid of the litter trays for my two one year old kitties.

It took a while for them to get used to it but they are fine now

Anyway DS (5) came downstairs before me the other day in the morning and said there was a ginger cat in our house. This ginger cat has been terrorising both of my cats (one in particular)

I went downstairs at 4am this morning (don't ask!!) and there was the ginger cat curled up on my sofa [the nerve emoticon] and my two nowhere to be seen.

Once ginger cat ran out my two appeared (I suspect they had been scared off).

Is there anyway I can prevent this happening again??

Can I shut my two cats in overnight without litter tray say from 11pm to 7am??

V reluctant to re-instate litter tray...

TIA

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beautifulgirls · 08/06/2011 22:11

Don't start shutting them in without a litter tray, they are liable to start using the house instead and this can become a very difficult habit to then break. Have a look for a microchip cat flap instead. It will only read the microchips of your own cats and keep all others out. Pricey but worthwhile for situations like this by the sounds of it.

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tribpot · 08/06/2011 22:15

Our recent thread on microchip flaps.

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simpson · 08/06/2011 22:49

eek at the cost of a micro chip cat flap but I guess that is the way to go to stop this little bugger from getting in

What do I do in the mean time???

As it will take a few days for new cat flap to arrive and don't think my local pets@home stock it...

Think I am going to have to risk shutting them in tonight

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MissFoodie · 10/06/2011 14:22

buy one from zooplus then - you'll have to lock yours in or out.....!
I had same problem, went on for 6 months!

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izzybiz · 10/06/2011 14:27

We had this problem and bought a magnetic cat flap.
Our cat wore a little mouse shaped magnet on her collar which opened the flap.
The other cat gave up trying after a while.
Either that or get a dog

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RockinSockBunnies · 10/06/2011 14:29

We bought the microchip cat flap from Ebay - brand new and much cheaper than from a pet shop. Works perfectly.

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Ooopsadaisy · 10/06/2011 14:32

izzybiz - that's what we did too! Then the little bugger started wearing a magnetic collar too!

OP - check with Ginger's owner that he doesn't have a magnetic collar before you try this!

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MissFoodie · 10/06/2011 14:34

I wouldn't bother with magnetic collar one, too many cats wear them!

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izzybiz · 10/06/2011 14:35

We were lucky our particular intruder didn't I suppose!

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paddypoopants · 10/06/2011 14:39

We have a microchip one and it is totally fab. It is a sureflap - runs on batteries. I could've paid for it ten times over with the number of collars and magnets I've had to replace. Plus a neighbouring Siamese could work out how to get in by using their claw to hook the little tab. It was really easy to fit and programme. We bought it rather than the pet porte one because it was cheaper.

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MissFoodie · 10/06/2011 14:43

yes, my petporte was a waste of time as the intruder worked out how to open it wit her head....she then worked out how to get in via kitchen window....talk about persistent
sureflap is brilliant and has worked perfectly for a year now and on the same batteries! my only gripe is it could be bigger, but they are app bringing a bigger model out next year

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simpson · 10/06/2011 20:47

things seem to have worked well with me booting kitties out at 10.30ish for half an hr but making sure they are hungry so they come back in when I want them to.

Then closing cat flap and then letting them out at 7am

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Ripeberry · 10/06/2011 20:51

Put a bolt on the inside of the cat flap and if YOUR cats go out they can't get back in until the morning, but more importantly the intruder can't either.

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cambridgeferret · 11/06/2011 22:01

Another vote here for the Sureflap. We had ours fitted yesterday and no more gatecrashing cats - bliss!!
One tip, put it on learn mode when you're around and get your cats through there ASAP. Otherwise sod's law will dictate that Ginger will also have a microchip, will nip through when you're not looking and you'll wonder how he's still getting in. And it will be back to square one...

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bilblio · 11/06/2011 22:26

We have this same problem. We get multiple cats coming in, eating all our cats food, and last week the neighbours cat worked out it can even get in our fridge! It got a chicken that MIL had brought round for DD as she was ill and refusing everything but chicken. We've spent the last week with a door stop and DD's high chair up against the fridge. Today we got a fridge lock.

Unfortunately our cat flap is in the glass of the patio door, so a new cat flap would mean a new glass panel too.

Tonight I chased neighbours cat out. 20 seconds later, she was back in. Cat flap is now locked.

Annoyingly our cats are big old brutes, they aren't scared, but they can't be bothered protecting their territory.... but they have started spraying in certain parts of the house.

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cambridgeferret · 12/06/2011 09:10

bilblio, I've got the Sureflap instruction manual here and it says that it's ideal to fit in glass doors - you may need an adaptor piece though.
My builder managed to remove our existing cat flap and replace the new one fairly easiy.
Just a thought.... I can always send you the page of the manual if any help.

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SureFlap · 13/06/2011 13:43

Hi bilblio,

Cambridgeferret is right, you might not need to replace the glass panel, provided the SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap can fit in the hole left by your existing cat flap. What you could do is take out your existing cat flap and measure the hole. If the hole is between 210mm and 260mm then the SureFlap will fit! You would need to purchase the SureFlap mounting adaptor as cambridgeferret mentioned. For more details, please visit: www.sureflap.co.uk/products/details/2-mounting-adaptor

Best wishes,
SureFlap

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bilblio · 13/06/2011 17:28

Ooh thankyou cambridgeferret, and SureFlap. I'll have to work out how the cat flap is fastened onto the glass, and start saving up. Our cats aren't microchipped so it's a big expense. But we'd save a fortune on the cat food bill in the long run.

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SureFlap · 14/06/2011 08:52

HI bolblio,

Glad to help! I don't know if you know, but it's National Microchipping Month this month and lots of vets are offering discounted microchipping services :-)

Best wishes,
SureFlap

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bilblio · 14/06/2011 11:02

Ooh, definitely something to look into. Thankyou.

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