Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The litter tray

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

Original poster

How does whole letting cat out thing work?

30 replies

Ironfloor269 · 21/02/2020 07:37

Our boy is 8 months old. He is chipped and neutered. We let him out if he wants to go but sometimes he goes out, sniffs around a bit and cries at the door asking to come back in.

A couple of times he's disappeared for hours. After a few hours, we called him and he didn't come back and eventually shook the Dreamies bag and he came back.

What I'd like to know is, should we just leave him be and let him come back whenever he wants to? What if we are going out and he comes back when we are not at home? What if night falls and we go to bed when he wants back in? How do cat people do it?

I know the obvious solution is a cat flap but our back doors are all glass and requires quite a bit of investment to install new doors with cat flaps. What is your advice until then?

Thanks for reading.

OP posts:
ChangingStates · 21/02/2020 07:46

When we had a cat flap installed in our double glazed glass door they just had to replace the glass not the whole door- which was no where near as expensive as replacing the door would have been. Might be worth looking into?
Have never not had a cat flap as couldn't be doing with the letting in and out business but I think I would let him come & go as he likes and make sure he's in overnight or if you're going out for more than a couple of hours.

Vanilla95 · 21/02/2020 07:54

I’ve had cats all my adult life and they only thing that works is a cat flap. Cats naturally want to go out at night but as you know then want to come back in when you’ve gone to bed and in my opinion it’s not fair to leave them out all night where it’s potentially dangerous.
Same goes for during the day if your out for hours it’s a nightmare getting them in or finding them.
We had a cat flap put in the actual brick wall of the house, was surprisingly easy , any decent handy man could do it , you can buy all you need from Pets at home.
Also you can buy cat flap suitable for grass prob just a bit more expensive to fit but with out one you will be opening and shutting doors and constantly worried where your cat is.
They also don’t like being left out and will look to get in someone else’s house if it’s easier - this is how neighbours end up with your cat.
Or if you have a shed or garage could you allow access and a warm bed in there until you can sort out the cat flap issue .
Lastly always give access to a litter tray, mine come in to use it 😌

NewCatMummy · 21/02/2020 08:04

I’ve just had a quote for a new glass panel with cat flap hole for our French door- £190 plus the price of the cat flap, so expensive but not extortionate.

Original poster
Ironfloor269 · 21/02/2020 08:11

Oh good to know that installing a cat flap on a glass door is not that expensive. 😊 I'll definitely look into that.
Thanks for your replies. So if I just him out during the day, should I keep an eye out and call him if he's not back by nightfall?
Sorry if I sound like a broken record.

OP posts:
AnnaMagnani · 21/02/2020 08:19

We have never had a cat flap. How it works is that if your cat is keen on being out, you kick them out in the morning and let them back in when you get home from work. If the weather looks awful, don't bother.

Now I have a cat who is retired from such exertions, and young lazy cat. So DH who is at home is their permanent slave. He spends his day being glared at by Old Lady Cat to let her in and out, or chasing Silky Cat out when he thinks she is getting irritating.

wanderings · 21/02/2020 08:25

We also installed a cat flap in our brick wall, getting a handyman to tunnel through it. In thirteen years, we've only once had a cat stay out longer than a day, and as she's getting old, we keep her in at night. The younger cat just comes and goes as he pleases.

Occasionally we had the problem of other cats coming in, but this was easily solved with a microchip cat flap, which only opens for your cat.

Lamentations · 21/02/2020 08:26

Definitely a cat flap but I'm also not fussed about them being in at night.

LowcaAndroidow · 21/02/2020 08:31

I don’t have/want a cat flap.

My cat goes out first thing in the morning about 7, then comes in again for breakfast. She usually sleeps all day and goes out again late afternoon/early evening then I call her back in when I go to bed about half 10 and give her dinner.

If she’s out and we go out, then she just stays out til we get back.

LowcaAndroidow · 21/02/2020 08:32

I always bring the cat in over night as it’s safer imo.

Troels · 21/02/2020 08:46

Teach him to come to a whistle. Dh did this with our cat who is now nearly 2. He did it in the house, he would whistle and give him a treat.
Then moved it to each time he was out he whistled and gave a treat. Now I oopen the patio door whistle and he runs home fast.
We don't have a cat flap, Dh is home all day, so cat follows him in and out a lot. Theres also a little cat house near the back doo so he can wait in a warm dry spot till we whistle if we have gone out.

ferrier · 21/02/2020 08:49

Yep ... we whistle ours in. In the days before cat flaps they'd go out in the morning and back in the evening. Then kept in overnight.

MetallicPaints · 21/02/2020 08:53

My two cats are in overnight. I would worry about them getting knocked over by a car or worse. They have a litter tray and are let out first thing when we get up. We have a microchip cat flap through a glass door, works brilliantly, but even so they still prefer their human slave to let them out of the patio doors whenever possible Grin

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 21/02/2020 09:00

I would keep calling while rustling a packet of Dreamies as I think it's useful to be able to call them in but long term I'd get a cat flap.

Mitzdob · 21/02/2020 09:02

We had catflap put into wall, also glass door and it really wasn't expensive at all.

Original poster
Ironfloor269 · 21/02/2020 09:05

Thanks again for the very helpful responses.

OP posts:
Beamur · 21/02/2020 09:07

I have a flap. My next door neighbours don't, they just let their cats out in the morning/on demand but keep them in overnight.
Either way is fine really.

violetbunny · 21/02/2020 09:11

We have a Sureflap Connect catflap which only lets our cats in (it scans their microchips). We had a regular one before then but the neighbours cat kept coming in and eating our cats food and basically terrorising them.

The model we have has a curfew mode so after whatever time I choose in the evening, once they come in it locks them in until whatever time I select in the morning. I can also control the catflap while I'm out of the house via an app. Quite handy when we are away as I can see via the app if they have entered the house and if they are locked in for the night.

Songofsixpence · 21/02/2020 09:18

We have a cat flap but the buggers refuse to use it.

We let them in/out/in/out/in/out Hmm on demand

They usually go out in the morning and stay out until we get home from work. They then do the in/out/in/out thing until we go to bed when they come in for the night.

If we’re not in when they want to come in/go out it’s tough luck.

My neighbour feeds them if we go on holiday so our boy cat remembers this so goes and sits on her drive and shouts at her if we’re not home and he thinks he’s waited long enough for someone to pander to his needs Grin

MetallicPaints · 21/02/2020 09:19

@violetbunny now I am jealous of your fancy cat flap!Grin

AlphaJura · 21/02/2020 09:25

I don't have a cat flap. I read once they can make cats stressed as they are constantly worried about other cats getting in. My cat just says when she wants to go out by going to the door and miaows or jumps up at the door when she wants to come back in. If I am out, she just waits until I get back by sitting by the door of sits in the garden. She's getting on a bit now so sometimes I have to let her out in the night, but I usually wake up at least once to deal with the baby or use the loo so it doesn't bother me. Most cats I've had have just stopped using the litter tray after a while. They can survive a few hours without needing the toilet, usually they are sleeping when they are in. Mine normally goes out after she's eaten her food.
I know some people leave an accessible window open, but I haven't got a window cats can get in or out of.

violetbunny · 21/02/2020 09:26

@MetallicPaints Haha, we are a little bit obsessed with cat tech. We have a cat cam pointed towards to flap so I when I get a notification on the cat flap app that they have come inside, I can watch them on the live video feed and use the speaker on the cam to talk to them. I often check in on them on my lunch break at work.

My colleagues think I'm mad Grin

tabulahrasa · 21/02/2020 09:28

I don’t have a cat flap...

I’ve just always let them in and out, if the weather is bad they don’t want to... well they do want to, but they rarely actually go, just complain about the weather.

If I know we’re all about to go out or if it’s just me still up and I’ll be going to bed soon I just don’t let them out then and if they’re already out I call them in, they usually appear.

It does mean occasionally a cat is out a bit longer than they wanted to be, but it’s not that often and they usually go for a sleep in the shed till someone’s available to let them back in.

MetallicPaints · 21/02/2020 09:46

@violetbunny that's so cool, I want one! I have an image of you chatting to your cats and them completely ignoring youGrin (That's what mine would do anyway!!)

DontCallMeShitley · 21/02/2020 09:54

Mine was always in at night, when it got dark. There were sections in the door so replaced the bottom glass with PVC and a flap which was set to in only and when we were out or in bed, he was in. Stopped letting him out at all and built a run when he started vanishing for long periods and discovered someone was keeping him from coming back.

Subsequent cats have also been indoor cats with access to the run or with a walking jacket in the garden, more so since the UK Cat Killer and various other nasty bastards have crawled into the news. Stealing for dog bait has been a problem for a long time. I do like to see them out and about but am sad about the posters I see for missing pets so a run or cat proof garden is how I choose to look after my cats.

ClientQueen · 21/02/2020 10:26

I don't have a cat flap so he uses the window
Out first thing when I get up, and then in when I leave for work. Out when I get home and in before dark
To be honest in winter he's out for maybe 10 mins before he comes back in wailing about how human hasn't fixed the weather, then back out, back in... Hmm
Summer he stays out longer but still checks in every hour or so. And he comes back if he needs a wee Confused to use his tray
Yes, I have a weird cat