If we switch the cat flap to open to all will we be overun by cats??

[dameofdilemma]

Our cat went AWOL while we were on holiday (neighbour came in daily to feed him). Luckily he was found (nearly a mile away) by a family who had seen him loitering in their front garden. After 3 days they checked his collar, saw his tag and phoned us.

We think he's having trouble getting back in with the (microchip) cat flap and that's why he wandered off.
Its a good brand cat flap, only couple of months old and seems to be working fine. Our cat seems to now be pawing at it instead of going in head first (which triggers the release). He used it fine for 2 months.

We're going away again and am worried he won't be able to get in. He's a very outdoorsy cat and is miserable if we try to keep him inside.
If we take the batteries out of the cat flap its open to any cat and easier for him to get in. But so can any cat!

Just don't know what to do - he was so happy to be home and we were so worried about him. :(

We had just this. We did take the batteries out. All the neighbourhood cats come in. We put new (brand new) batteries in. Catfslo (and cat) work fine. You may just need new batteries.

It is also worth giving it a damn good clean. Ours was stopping working even with new batteries - DH gave it a scrub and it has been fine since

Thanks both. We did try new batteries - same problem. Will give it a clean.

The cat keeps pawing at it but its microchip operated so he needs to put his head in front of the door. He had no problem with it until a week or two ago. Now he paws a bit then just wanders off!

We don't have a microchip cat flap and have it open all day. So far, we've not had any visiting cats as far as we're aware. Might be different if you leave it open overnight, although the two times we set it to in only overnight as PuffinCat was out late we definitely didn't have any visitors. I suppose it depends on how many cats are in your area and how far they roam too. Our neighbour two doors down has a cat but we've never seen him in our garden.

I'd love to know the answer to your problem OP as my cat does the same, he won't head butt it, he pushes it with his paw and then when it opens a bit he goes in, so it won't read his chip.

You can get tags that work with a microchip catalpa but mine has already lost two GPS trackers in the last couple of months so I am not confident of that as a solution.

Orange, we lost a gps tracker too.

Cat seems to have got in and out this evening a few times so will see how we go.
Think he's secretly punishing us for going away ..

Could it be that another cat sprays it and that makes your cat less willing to push at the flap, if you see what I mean ? If it smells marked by another cat then he might not get close enough to trigger the chip.