RSPCA said it's our fault our cat went missing

[Changebagsandgladrags]

Our cat went missing in May. We've decided that now is the time to get a kitten.

Jess was very used to the outdoors. Loved roaming in the fields and she came and went as she pleased. We didn't have a cat flap but we'd here her calling if the door was closed. If she was out at night she'd just call at the bedroom window to get in.

RSPCA lady just said she probably went missing because we don't have a cat flap.

Are cat flaps now essential? Have us human door openers been replaced by a flap?

We wouldn't take on a timid/feral cat anyway. They have to be able to live in a house with kids.

We adopted from the rspca a few years ago and they never asked about cat flaps - we only eventually got one around a year ago when we got a 2nd cat and door opening slavery to two cats got too much!

My local RSPCA were very realistic. I didn't have a cat flap, but there is an outhouse, the home checker just said it's fine, there's shelter when you are out.
He's never used it. He now has a cat flap in a piece of board, wedged in the bedroom window and goes out via the kitchen roof, the shed roof. If I'm in I open the back door.

we adopted a kitten from the RSPCA about 6 weeks ago. some of the requirements for adoption were baffling - we have almost 18 year olds but they had to go and meet Jacky for no reason i could discern. when the home visit lady came she told me that actually, you need to have a house with as many bedrooms as cats. jacky is the 4th cat. we have a 3 bedroom house. however, as we also have a dining room and outbuildings they were prepared to let us have him. mind you, the home visit lady asked if we owned the house. i said yes, outright. is that important? oh, said the lady, um, sort of....”

we don’t look like the sort of people who have this sort of house. we do have very happy cats though (all in at night but this process is longwinded with 4 arsey cats to contend with) and jacky is asleep next to me now. he is impossible to photograph what with being brown and black at the same time, but here he is about 3 weeks ago. he is just 8 months and has tripled in size since he arrived. not a fatty fat, just...hench as i believe the yout call it..

anyway. i feel your frustration, OP. just keep reminding them that you are trying to rescue a cat, not let students microwave it...

What tosh! I had my cat for 18 years various homes never a cat flap.
I got my new rescue from catchat.org
It was from a tiny rescue they were lovely. They were extra cautious about being a renter though. Wanted reassurance if we had to move the cat would come first.

I remember the rspca wanting letters from my vet, letters from my landlord and a home check for a hamster.
We got one from pets at home, he lived a really happy life, went to the vets when he had an eye problem and was really loved.
I get it, I really get it. But be realistic!

Keep looking and good luck

Cats need their own bedrooms now? Do they need a cat flap for those too?

oh, go on then. here he is again.

He’s a lovely cat, but his back legs look to have been put on upside down.

My 15 year old neutered big tough tom cat has never had a cat flap. Mainly because I don't want him bringing prey in. My current rental property, a rural cottage, has one a previous tenant fitted but it is taped up. He loves being out but comes back when I switch the outside light on and had developed a fairly set pattern of going out and in.

He did go missing for three days once, aged 2. It was near Christmas and I lived in a second floor urban flat with a large grassy area behind so I suspect he had got shut in a shed. That flat was a real hassle as it meant going up and down to the back door, but again we developed a routine of him going out and in.

My parents had many cats, none of whom went missing, and they have never used cat flaps either.

quack yep the corkscrew is his signature move. they all do it, except my grumpy 11 year old girl ( but she has had a new lease of life since moving semi-rurally).

he’s bonkers and a little bit special so he fits right in.

Our cat flap had to be one way or the place would've been strewn with little rodent corpses! The cats could go out by the flap but had to be let in by a human. There was a garage with cat beds in it if they wanted. They always came in at night unless it was high summer and they were pulling an all-nighter at some feline festival

They lived to a good age. CPS didn't ask about a flap when we adopted again recently - just wanted to make sure we kept the cat in at night.

I had a cat flap but none of my cats would use them. Instead the little sods used to sit and howl outside the door until a human opened it for them. I miss having cats.

Incidentally I've lost 3 cats who were all run over in broad daylight. Theyre actually more likely to be run over in daylight hours not less likely because there's more traffic on the roads rushing around to get to work/school drops etc. Your cats are more likely to come across dogs and be chased and injured during daylight hours too as thats when theres more dog walkers about.

I would never gave another cat flap, I gad a strange cat come in and sleep on tge beds and my own started spraying inside in defence.

Not had one for 17 years now and never lost a cat. Mine walk round the house and jump in the window sill if the room we are in, including the first floor bathroom.

I had an upstairs flat with my first cat. There wasn't any catflap. However, there was a flat roof ground floor extension. He would jump onto the flat roof and then jump up onto our back window sill. Then he would get up on his hind legs and use both his front paws to bang our back window. Usually at 1 or 2 in the morning during summer. Sometimes he would bang the window of a flat on the ground floor and the occupant would let him in and out into the hall. He would then pop upstairs and on his hind legs use his paws to bang on our door. He was a bugger. If you let him in the front door and were taking a phone call in the hall, he would get impatient and start banging on the downstairs neighbours door to get you moving.

Another cat wouldn't use the flap of our next house. He would go through if we held it open for him.

We now have two kittens and don't want them out in the garden without supervision. Trouble is they have discovered the flap in a premature way. We were watching TV when I looked to the left of the sofa and there was sitting a big ginger cat. We don't have a ginger cat. He had pushed the flap open and come into the front room where we feed the kittins.. Our two ninnies then decide to follow him out the flap. I have had to put stuff obstructing it.

So they are still promoting this kitty on their FB page as hard to place. Photos are of him being cuddled by a child...so he's not feral. I just find the whole thing odd.

I would escalate this tbh. You've nothing to lose.

Email them and say you can't have a cat flap but want to proceed anyway. Ask to speak to someone higher up. Ask to see policies.

Fuckit. Home that cat!

Oh for heaven's sake. Now they want to know what happens when I go back to work. I am not even looking.

Jeez we are not getting this cat

I really want you to complain about this person!!!

I did actually speak to someone else there who agrees that cats need a flap. Hmmmm

Me, my parents and my brother have all independently had cats for decades without cat flaps and never "lost" a cat. How ridiculous.
I have very big issues with the RSPCA though anyway and would always choose to go with a different charity/rescue.

No catflaps here. The cat used to splat himself against the roof window over my dad in bed and yowl until dad let him in if it was night time (he was a hunter.. he liked to go out at night when he was younger - but it was the countryside). Of course during the day he'd stand by the front door for a human to open it, so he could decide if he liked the weather or not (and of course then come back in 2 mins later if he changed his mind)

We've moved house so we have a flap now and the cat comes and goes as he pleases. Before we moved he just yelled at the door. If a window was open he let himself in. He was from the rspca and went home with us on the day we met him, no home visit, no interrogation about cat flaps.

All this waiting for a cat

Wow, that looks like cat heaven. How ridiculous they are being. I’ve never had a cat flap either, never needed one in 20+ years. If it starts raining while I’m out they wait in the shed!

Maybe they just want somewhere for the cat to shelter if needed?

I said I'd buy a shelter to go outside. That's not enough for an RSPCA cat