Oyf you lock the cat flap at night ...

[MrsPelligrinoPetrichor]

What time do you lock it?

**IF not oyf 😂

At the moment, about 8pm. She gets a bit put out around 9pm but then settles down again.

This is a new routine of being in at night,hence the question.

I locked it at 9 and he tried VERY hard to open it then has settled down after glaring at me 😂

Around 5ish unless we are out in the garden in the evening, then whenever we come in. We close the door to the room the cat flap is in as they will scratch it to try to get our, but don't try to get any other exit!!

I tried 7:30pm when I put Dd to bed so I don’t have to go outside to call the buggers back in, but they took to having a mad half an hour involving running off the walls, sofa and my face with claws out so I’ve let them stay up till 9pm.

It does involve a lot of those posh air dried dreamie things though to stop them being batshit.

In the winter at about 4:30 when they have dinner, they then have a snack at about 8:30. The idea behind the snack later on is that they they will always been keen to come in at that time in the summer and then the flap get locked. To be honest they are both quite old now and only really sit on the patio, nice an easy to round up even without the snack!

Ha, very similar here. We get furious scratching at the cat flap for a couple of minutes and a death stare and then all is well again.

We never used to lock it at night, but she was indoors for months earlier in the year with a broken hip - which she broke in the daytime, but given the stats about injuries to cats at night vs day, and the fact she gets bullied by some neighbourhood cats, we feel it’s much better for her to be in. Plus it has significantly reduced the number of mice she brings indoors, which is probably exactly why she wants to be out at dusk.

On my gosh. It's never locked. His lordship comes and goes as he pleases.

When I go to bed.

I didn't lock it with my previous cat but this pair are keen hunters and I don't want to come down to a floor littered with rodent corpses. Plus they are jet black and won't wear collars - I worry about them in the dark!

We've just got over a huge injury , he's a real scrapper and it all happens at night so he's staying in!

At dinner time - which is either 6 ish or 8 ish. They know they don't get fed until they're in. They're pretty good and often put themselves to bed even though I've not locked the flap. We sometimes get some plaintive battering at the door if we're not uo bright and early in the mornings though!!

My little girl was locked in at her dinner time (which was 7pm). She had a full tummy, a quick after dinner wash, then sleep. Human bedtime was snack time of some biscuits (and sometimes a cat yoghurt bonding session with her youngest slave) to see her through to breakfast at a decent time of 7am. Never failed.

We've given up locking ours, between our cats, the "not our cats" and the hedgehogs that climb the steps and then get in through the cat flap it's just futile!

Found a hedgy in the kitchen the other week, completely unbothered by me, beetled off into the lounge where I apprehended him and popped him back outside!

I was astonished to find out that hedgehogs are apparently good at climbing up but can't climb down, I genuinely didn't realise a hedgehog could climb the stairs and get through the cat flap!

We are implementing the bedtime snack too. Tonight it was a slice of beef, went down well!!

Interesting. I've just started letting mine stay out at night, been building it up gradually. What do you do if you go away for a weekend and ask a neighbour to feed them. Do they need to call them in and go round early and let them out again? I'd like mine to be quite self-sufficient really but understand the concerns about roads and hunting.

Hedgehog tax paid 😉

I have hedgehogs but none have ever tried to get in through the catflap. Maybe that's because I have dedicated feeding stations outside 😂. I get fox cubs and starving stray cats in those, with the odd brave (or extremely stupid) field mouse taking a couple of biscuits. That's another reason we locked her in. Didn't want a fox fight in the house.

Hedgehog!! That's amazing.

7ish I get mine in. They are generally good at coming when I call them. They can unlock the cat flap, however so I have to create a barricade in addition.

Not until we go to bed about 11 but the garden is cat proofed so they can't disappear!

We put the flap on “in only” about an hour before it gets dark then try and get them all in before it’s actually dark. Two are black and none of them are very bright. One can break the flap open so if she’s in but others aren’t she has to be shut in a room away from the flap until they’re all in then a box of gym weights is
placed in front of the locked flap overnight until it’s light. It’s a daily challenge!

I never lock the cat flap - my two do all their roaming at night

At the moment it's 10:30. In the winter it's a little earlier. Normally they are in earlier though.

Mine did too and all his fighting too!!

@KickHimInTheCrotch we leave ours inside when we're away (better than a cattery!). We pay a teenager to come in once/twice a day to do litter, play a bit and top up food and water.

Mine locks itself to in-only at 3.30 in the winter and 4.30 in the summer - and then if I'm home they can come out again with me till whenever I go back inside. Ridiculous routine because one of them was hit by a car at end of school day about 8 years ago, and learned zero from the experience 🤦🏻‍♀️ but they've never been out at night on vet advice as they don't wear collars.

They don't tend to go that far - they go out when I get up in the morning and are always back and asleep for the day by 10am! But the other one is an enthusiastic hunter and I don't want any more traumatised birds in my washing up bowl or mice on the landing.