Cat Flap

[TheCatsBlanket]

Those of you who have cat flaps, do your cats bring all sorts of wildlife into the house dead or alive? I’ve been keeping one of my bedroom windows open overnight, just wide enough for my 3 cats to come and go during the night so I don’t have to keep getting up to let them in and out (they can jump onto a flat bay window roof below so no worry of the drop being too high) but over the last few nights, I’ve had 2 dead birds and a dead mouse proudly presented to me while I’m sleeping.
Is it a common problem if you have a cat flap? Was thinking of getting one but now I’m not sure.

Yes, unfortunately if they hunt, a cat-flap probably won’t stop them bringing in their haul, dead or alive. We regularly have to capture and repatriate small rodents to the woods at the back. We have had the odd rat left on the patio sometimes, so maybe he thinks better of manoeuvring larger creatures through!

Our 2 get locked in. Minimal bodies in the garden this way.. S and our dcat brought a bloody seagull through our flap. Wasn't pleasant..

when my cats were younger they would bring anything and everything in, dead and alive.. we've had; toads, frogs, baby rabits, mice, rats and a even a koi carp!!

my oldest is now 10 and she goes out, does her business and comes back to the warmth and comfort of her favourite spot.

I have a 3 year old ginger tom who occasionally graces us with his presence. the longest he has been missing is 5 weeks! he normally goes for about 3 or 4 days!

i have the cat flap what works on a chip and only lets my 2 in, otherwise i would have a house full as there appears to be hundreds of cats on our street

Mine are locked in at night and don't go out until around 8am to try and avoid any hunting 😂

I have video footage of my cat hurtling through the cat flap with a bird in his mouth from earlier this week, at about 6.30pm. He’s 8ish years old. If a cat goes out there’s always risk, sadly.

After years of dead and alive wildlife I got rid of the catflap.......I get a lot more exercise as I am up and down opening the back door, and yes I do get up at 4.00am to let her in if she's tapping at the window, BUT, the sleep I do get now is sooo much more peaceful!

Yep. But they are locked in the kitchen overnight, so the mess and potential escapees are contained.

We usually just get smears of blood and the odd left over organ. The lost mice are a pita.

if you want to prevent your cat from killing birds, this works: https://www.birdsbesafe.com/

Thanks for the answers, looks like the window will be closed from now on and I’ll likely be up and down during the night. It’s a shame though as out of the 3 cats I have, it’s only one of them that brings me ‘presents’ so the other two will have to suck it up with no freedom of movement!

I've posted this before, but you need one of these https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/onlycat-the-world-s-smartest-cat-flap#/!

They've now started shipping them and the videos people are uploading into the fb group of their poor cats being thwarted are really quite funny! One poor cat was trying smuggle in a hot dog it had obviously snarfed from a BBQ the other day but plenty of vids of cats being stopped with mice, birds, frogs etc too

Same in this house so the 2 DCats stay inside 4pm-8am and it definitely limits hunting. We also have foxes around so best the cats are indoors overnight.

Locking the cat flap at night has definitely helped reduce the number of rodent-related ‘gifts’ we receive. And now she comes into our bedroom to bring us her favourite toy, which is the sweetest thing. Previously I would wake up in a cold sweat at the 1am bedroom miaow.