Advice please re getting a rescue cat...

[ThingsThatGoFlumpInTheNight]

Am considering getting a young rescue cat (not a kitten) after years of nagging for one from DC1 - now that my youngest DC is school age I wouldn't be so worried about them pulling it around and being too rough.

Anyway I have a few questions for the experts on here please as I haven't had a cat since I was a child. I remember us having problems with lots of local cats coming into our house and spraying/stealing the cat food. People I know who have cat flaps that only work with a certain collar say they are a pain and their cats either can't use them properly, or that they constantly lose the bits on the collar. Therefore I would ideally not want a cat flap leading into the house, but to just let the cat in when I'm there and put him out when I'm not (and overnight). Is that reasonable or unkind? Would it let me know when it needed to go out if the door was shut or would I need to have a poo tray all the time just in case?

I would be happy to have a cat flap into the back of our garage (which is only used for storage) and could have a nice cosy corner with a cat bed for when I'm not at home - would that be safe/warm enough for when I'm not around to let the cat indoors?

Also is it possible to teach a cat to not jump all over your worktops and scratch the furniture to bits? I'm a bit worried that I've gone so long without pets that I've become too houseproud to cope with it all!

Thanks for any advice

Our two are about six months old now, they do stay in some nights but the majority are spent outside. Oddly enough, we are having a flap put into the garage next week for them.
They already have one into the shed with a lovely little house (thanks DD) which has a bedroom, a study and a bathroom arrangement. Actually, its a bed, a place with balls and mice and a litter tray.
When we go away overnight, that's where they stay. The garage is to deter a big black panther like creature (again thanks DD) that terrorises them both.
I've never had a problem with them on kitchen worktops, I can honestly say I've never seen either on there.

You can get a cat flap that works on the cat's microchip. We have it and it's great - no collar/bits to lose.

I think you'd probably have to have a litter tray if you were letting the cat in and out yourself.

Personally I don't think it would be very kind to shut them out at night. Even in a garage it can get very cold in winter.

Ooh the microchip cat flap sounds good kits - was it really expensive though? Will have to look into that. It could sway me into having a flap into the house . But then I'll also have the problem of coming down in the morning to dead mice

Microchip cat flap sounds good, although we have a cat flap that just pushes open, two of the softest cats you can imagine, and about 5 bully cats in neighbouring gardens, and even then we've never had any other cats coming into the house and spraying, they just don't try.
Also if you're getting a rescue cat you could ask for a useless hunter so you get less mice? I guess the rescue might not know the skills/lack of skills of every cat, but if you get one like mine all they will ever 'catch' are each others' furballs and bird feeders (yes, bird feeders, not actual birds...)

We rescued a cat just over a year ago. She was nine months and lovely. But she wees all over my house at times. It is a nightmare. She has litter trays but still the accidents. We go for months without a problem and then a few weeks of constant accidents. She makes me very sad as like you I am house proud. I think I may do the cat flap into the garage idea......... But she would wee in there too no doubt.

We have occaisional problems with cats coming in and eating/spraying but its ok as only occasisional and i just clean up, make sure flap is locked at night though. Our issue is that my cat is quite a nervous cat and she was spraying/weeing as a result of other cat coming in but this has stopped with the use of a feliway plug in.

Shopalot, have you tried the feliway, this has fixed what sounds like a similar issue for us...its not cheap but well worth it.

With our old cat i just used to let him in/out as needed and he was fine with this and i didnt need a litter tray. I would say any issues with other cats coming in will be just as annoying in your garage as in your house so i would either do cat flap into house or none at all.

Cats are good at holding it in if they need to

Any cat is safest in the house at night. We let ours out in the evening but she is always shut in the house overnight. It is much the safest option. She has a litter tray but doesn't use it.

Firstly I think it would be very cruel to lock a cat out overnight and road accidents are more likely to happen after dark.

You cannot train a cat not to go on worktops or scratch furniture, even if you smack them they will do it again. Cats should never be smacked.

The microchip flaps are about £100-£70 depending on where you buy them, amazon is good.

The only cat I have had who couldn't hunt had a very sad life as a breeding queen so most will hunt. It's instinctive.

Most of my actual cleaning is due to my cat, I hardly had to do athing before he came.

Tbh I think you ought to re-think the situation, I don't think you appreciate how disruptive and messy a cat can be and I wouldn't want to see a cat rescued and then handed back. Sil cat was on his 3rd home when she hot him and it has taken her over 18 months to coax him out of his shell, he was a very depressed cat when she got him.

Fluffycloud genuinely - why is it cruel to leave a cat out overnight? From talking to people I know recently it seems to usual thing to do (ie to put the cat out at bedtime), even when people have cat flaps (which they then lock). I did say in my original post that it would still have access to our garage so would still be able to have shelter (and a bed).

Also I'm a bit why you're telling me I should never smack a cat - I would have thought that was obvious and I may be a pet novice but that doesn't mean I would ever hurt one.

I don't mind having to clean regularly -I have children who are always in and out with muddy shoes, etc, so I hoover every day anyway.

The reason I am asking all these questions is exactly because if I get a cat, I will be keeping it for good.

Thanks anyway.

Sigh, it's cruel because they are not wild animals with thick fur adapted to their country. They are domesticated animals who are kept in warm houses all day. This means their coat does not grow thick enough to cope with harsh uk winters. It was -17 here last winter.

Most deaths on the road occur at night. It's the most dangerous time for them. If you get a cat from the RSPCA they will ask you to keep it in fir the same reason. I have had to take dead cats off the road and phone the council to collect them. Not nice.

The fact that people you know put cats out overnight just means they are not looking after them properly. If you take on an animal you look after it to the best of your abilities.

If you honestly think you can train a cat not to wreck furniture or get on the work tops you are being unrealistic.

My sil also has kids and her house is spotless, but even she will say she can't believe how much work the cat generated.

You asked for advice and I am only telling you what a cat rescue will tell you.

I've always brought my cat in at night (there's foxes around us) but if you can make a nice warm place in teh garage then that should be OK. (but I like mine snuggling up on my bed - he' s teh softest hot water bottle you could have!)
My first cat did jump on teh work top - some cats do this and you can't really stop them. Just make sure you clean work tops regularly. I actually feed our rescue cat there so the kitten can't eat his food.
SCratching furniture - current cats are fine with furniture but the kitten loves scratching at duvet covers and has wrecked ours.

My rescue boy has also started pooing all over the place (because the kitten uses all 3 litter trays and he won't go where the kitten has been) so there is some clean up needed.
Also - cats can live for ages. My old cat was 21 and totally incontinent by teh time we said goodbye.

If you're worried about other cats coming in, adopt a big, thuggish bruiser. My last cat was like that: very friendly if he thought there was a chance you'd feed him but brick-hard after some tough years as a tom-cat on the mean streets of darkest West London. The only cat that ever showed its nose through his catflap definitely regretted it

it's not a good idea to leave them out overnight. They wander onto roads and are likely to get hurt. They need a refuge, a safe space. I second also what Fluffycloudland said. There is no way of predicting what a cat will jump on/scratch and no way of preventing it. They cannot be trained.

I've got two cats and no cat flap, I just let them in and out when I'm in - one goes out half to most of the day, the other one just for half an hour if it's not raining, lol, they ask to get in and out. They're both in overnight. If I'm going out I keep them in, if I'm just going out for a wee bit then I won't call in the one that's out more though.

They've never scratched the furniture on purpose...but obviously they do have claws and they do walk on furniture, so you do get little marks. they don't go on worktops while I'm looking, however I know full well they do when I'm not, lol. I just assume a cat has been up there since I last used it and wipe it down with cleaner everytime I use it.

I've run over a cat at night :( I didn't see it until it ran out in front of me and I couldn't stop in time, black cat, at night... there's also foxes, bigger cats, women and wheelie bins (ok the last one was a joke)

Fluffycloud I take your point, but I was not asking if it was ok to leave a cat outside all night in all weathers. I asked if it would be ok to leave it shut out of the house overnight, with a cat flap for access to our garage. The garage is connected to our house so is double glazed; is as insulated as the rest of the house, and is also our laundry room so is invariably warm anyway. There would just be no way through to the house until I opened the door in the morning. I was thinking more of if a cat would be upset about being shut away from the rest of us and wailing at the door all night, rather than it being too cold - because it wouldn't be.

I pers

Sorry for that...
I persOnally think it's a bit - not cruel - but perhaps a bit pointless to get a cat and have it not in the house for probably more than half the time (not sure how long you are in the house for every day? If you work it'll be shut out most of the time.) Ours would be heartbroken if they were ever shut out of the house. Maybe for a former stray it would work, but for a cat used to home comforts and company... I also wonder if it would make them less sociable, that's probably rubbish though. It'll certInly make them more likely to look for company & attention somewhere else and possibly "move out"!
You don't even know if this'll be a problem - we got 2 young rescue cats 1.5 hrs ago and have a microchip flap, but we don't actually use the microchip capability, in this time we've never had unwanted visitors despite the cats not being particularly tough, and there being quite a few other felines in the neighbourhood. They have brought in only 2 birds in that time (and they were babies, think taken straight out of a nest :-(
I can see that if you DID end up having a problem your idea might be a solution (although I'd think it'd be a last resort after buying a pricy catflap) but to get a cat and do this from the start seems a bit sad to me :-( it seems a bit like punishing your cat for the actions of other cats, IYSWIM...
Just cos other people do it or it's the way it's always been done, doesn't mean its the best thing to do, we shut our cats in at night and I think most rescues recommend this now. Traffic is so much faster at night.

Come again moggle?

Sorry x posted

IKWYM moggle. I'm on the lookout for the floppiest, most laid back and friendly cat I can find with my children being a bit nervous of animals, so the last thing I would want to do would be to make it less sociable.

Maybe I should have a cat flap directly into the house but just get everyone into the habit of shutting the doors downstairs before we go to bed - then catflump wouldn't be able to access anywhere other than the back hallway/kitchen diner whilst it was left alone overnight. Then whatever it did/dragged in would only be on stone floors and not my rugs & carpets.

Silly question but does that mean you always have to have a poo tray somewhere?

I've always had rescue animals. I think they make the best pets. Just be aware that due to their past they may react to stuff differently.
For example my cat really really hates the hover. She will sit outside in any weather if I move it. also if they were not feed properly then sometimes they will eat till they are sick.

I have the cat flap that uses the cats micro chip as we have alot of cats in my area. It's the best.

Lw

Yes if you shut them inside for more than an hour i reckon, you will need a tray. I recommend a clumping biodegradable litter like "oko plus" as you can scoop into the loo and don't need to change the whole tray that often. Also a hooded / covered tray is far less gross! With one cat it shouldn't be too bad to deal with and they nay choose to always go outside anyway, but at least start with a tray.
We always shut our cats downstairs at night. Bit of complaining about it at first but like controlled crying once they learned we weren't going to let them up they were fine. Now the only time we hear a peep is if they didn't realise we'd gone to bed and are all like "where did you go?"
A friendly sociable cat is such a joy. I love that our cats want to hang out wherever we are and clearly like being around us, and are always pleased to see us when we get home from work. Aww!

Also keeping them off the carpet at night may save your sanity, our carpets downstairs are in a terrible state but upstairs are fine. They were all new laid dec 2009 and now diwnstairs are all off the gripper rods and fuzzy patches every where from scratching... They do get sprayed with water if we catch them scratching carpet (also if they go on tables & kitchen sides) but a lot of the time we aren't there to do it!! They are mostly good at staying off surfaces though.

We have had a rescue cat since february and is probably about 18 to 20 months old. We don't have a cat flap as we only have double glazed doors. We shut her in the kitchen/diner most nights, although she has stayed out the odd night when we she has not come home.
She has a litter tray but stopped using it about 6 weeks ago.
She sits on the door mat crying to go out, then as soon as we let her out she is back wanting to come in. There are only 2 days a week that nobody is home from 8 - 4. She is a very gently cat who hardly ever scratches the carpets.
I would let her have the full run of the house at night, but she hasn't worked out the 4am is not the time to jump on us asking for a fuss. She likes sleeping with DS 16 but if his door is shut she will wake him up to open it.

You can do without a cat flap if you like - just make sure there is a litter tray accessible for times that you're not there to let it out. Though adult cats tend to be able to hold for a long time anyway. Don't leave your cat out overnight - as someone else said, they're more at risk of being hit by a car, and there are also lots of nasty people about who steal cats at night. I used to think it was a bit of a myth, until I saw it first hand. Cats are stolen for all sorts of horrible fates. It's also best to keep it in if you're going to be out all day - for similar reasons and also they tend to wander more if their person isn't home to let them in.

Though a microchip catflap, or a catflap but limited access to the house, would work well too. DH has said no to a cat flap for current kitty as she's looking like she has a VERY strong hunting instinct and I don't fancy finding bits of small furry over the room in the morning!

You can train them. Some adult cats might come pre trained - my last cat, a random stray, never went on the worktop. Even if there was raw meat around. He clawed the bottom stair carpet, but I felt that was a good sacrifice and it kept him away from the sofa! A plant sprayer filled with water is a good deterrent.