Cat flap curfews - what times are yours set?

[Muddysocks1]

We’ve adopted a rescue cat who was previously indoor only, but has started going out. We’ve got the SureFlap connect cat flap then you can set a curfew on.

wondered what time others set theirs (or manually shut it off) - we’ve been going for between 9 and 4 (later on weekend afternoons) pre-cat flap, because of traffic and she’s been content with that, but I’m not sure she’ll understand why the cat flap works sometimes but not always? What have others found?

Mine is always open but it's linked to an outdoor enclosure. Unless I want to keep them out for some reason - them fighting, me mopping floors without "help" etc.

I don’t have a cat or flap but I don’t understand this
surely the whole point is they go in and out as they please
or sometimes the cat will come back and can’t get in, surely

maybe I’m not understanding correctly but I don’t think you can train a cat to come in by a certain time, can you?

Before his evening meal. If he’s not hungry he’s out for the night - so about 6pm

No time limits. Surely the joy of a cat flap is they can go outside whenever they want.

I’m not sure you can train a cat but you can get them used to a routine. If the routine is that they can’t get out after dark then they will accept that and use the litter tray. At least that’s what’s we do with my girl.

We don’t have a cat flap but the cat is brought in for “bed”, which varies time-wise but usually about midnight. Now it’s colder he’s coming in himself about 10. If we’re out he’s in, as he needs slaves go open and shut the back door.

No you can’t train them to come back at a certain time, but they can’t go back out after a certain time.

From what I’ve seen advice from charities like RSPCA/cats protection league etc. is keeping cats in at night is safer. Our girl has always been an indoor cat, we adopted her and she’s started going out and loves it, but shows no interest in going out in the evening/at night currently (sleeps cosy on our bed every night), but I think if she had free reign of the cat flap 24/7 she would. Even though we’re on a quiet road there’s been some nasty accidents/fatalities and they’re more likely to happen at night

Mine is chip triggered but the lock is manual but he comes in about 9pm and then we lock it. If he’s not back by then we turn it so that he can come in and not go back out. Usually he is in before we go to bed.

I have never known a cat with a cat flap to have it closed at certain times. Ours is always open except for fireworks or thunder storms.
Saying that the current cat puts herself to bed (in her kitchen bed not the daytime beds) about 10pm. She is often out when we get up in the morning.

You can train them to come back for a certain time, cats like routine so it’s not too hard to do.

Ours is a lockable one so we open it at about 6am after his breakfast. He can come and go all day. At night he will come in around 9pm in summer/8pm in the winter and he knows that we will lock it and give him dinner. He’s happy with that and generally comes in at the same time every day.

If you give her treats or food when it locks then she will come to understand that it’s ’inside time.’ The trick is being consistent.

With foxes, weird people and speeding cars at night there is no way I could leave the cat flap unlocked 24/7.

Our three cats have always had the cat flap shut once they have their food in the late afternoon or early evening. They are used to the routine and are back before dark. If you are going to do this either get a microchip cat flap or a four way one just in case you need to leave on in only at some point. Cats are much more vulnerable to traffic accidents and fox attacks after dark, amongst other hazards, so best to keep them in at night.

Ours is locked between 9pm and 6:30am.

They are used to it, I don’t think they try to get out before it opens in the morning because breakfast is 7am. They also know it’s wet food supper at 9pm so know the routine that they come in, have wet food and then can’t get out again.

They almost never try to get out after 9, and give up trying very quickly if they do try. Aren’t remotely bothered.

They soon learn the routines. Especially if there is food.

Happy to have been educated here! It definitely makes total sense to not want the cat to not go out after a certain time

I tried having a curfew but all that happened was she stopped coming home at all in the evening, I think because she knew she’d be stuck inside. So now it’s 24/7 and she usually comes home about midnight/1am and stays in till dawn.

If I’m around cat flap sellotaped up (don’t know why they don’t use it if as intended) between 9am and 7pm (earlier in winter). If I go out during these times they are in and the flap is down

Dreamies are the answer, they come flying in for them, would love to know what they put in them

When it goes dark, so we adjust it through the year.

Mine has a curfew, when I got him, aged 2, he’d always been an indoor cat, and I didn’t want him out overnight. Then he turned into a hunter so I’ve tried to restrict his dawn dusk bird attacks. I can see from the app that he’ll try the cat flap a few times after it locks in the evening and then gives up until the morning. He sometime starts trying about half an hour before it unlocks in the morning, so he’s got a good idea of when it’ll open.

I also like that I can see what he’s up to if I’m not there, or away overnight.

Mine is always open. We have had many cats and always done it this way.

I didn't realise people lock their cat flaps at a certain time!

Our cat flap is always open. The only time we lock it is if we need to take the cats to a vet and don't want them disappearing.

We've had 12 cats over the last 30 years, including our current ones, and none of them have been injured or killed by a fox, on the road or for any other reason associated with being free range.

Ours is locked 8pm-6am currently. Our old girl is allowed out whenever she wants as she's sensible and rarely goes beyond our property. She waits by the door for a member of her staff to open it if she wants to go out after dark. It's usually only for a quick wee, but she won't use a litter tray. The curfew is for the benefit of the 2 youngsters, who are still learning their street smarts and would bring us endless contributions to supplement the weekly shop if allowed overnight access to the outside world. I adjust the hours every few months to reflect longer days/nights with the seasons over a week or so in 10-15 minute increments so they don't notice as much.

I don’t currently have cats but love the idea of cats having curfews 🤣
I remember growing up and our cats would regularly bring in gifts in the early hours of the morning and on more than one occasion we came downstairs to find a bird flying around in our lounge or a mouse scurrying around the kitchen.
Plus side was if I forgot my house key as a teenager and got home late I just stuck my arm through the cat flap and could reach the key on the inside of the back door 🤣

My cat's almost entirely nocturnal and always has been - she turned up as a very young stray who had been living wild on adjoining farmland over the summer. She naturally chooses to sleep pretty much all day so while she's in I close the flap, opening it when it gets dark. I'm happy with this arrangement as it reduces the number of birds she catches, and increases the chances of her catching rodents. Otherwise, she's only shut in if there's a storm or heavy snowfall. I should add that we live in a remote rural spot so there's very little traffic. The arrangement feels consensual in as far as it fits her own behaviours, but I'm happy to reduce the number of bird kills.

Always open.
we did set a curfew the first few years but then they just became harder to get back in as would just stay out if they fancied even if they could see you.
And then ginger cat started scratching and mewling to go out at 3/4/5am or whatever was not on curfew and it drove me mental with new baby and lack of sleep to be woke by baby and cat!
So since then Freedom to go out whenever. Generally he does come in when dark and in winter he’s home longer and earlier. But sometimes will pop in and out

Ours is shut whenever it becomes dark and open once it becomes light, depending on the season. That's to protect wildlife as cats are (mostly!) dawn and dusk hunters but also for cars. I can see why, if your cat just ignores it and stays out all the time, you might go back to 24/7 but otherwise I couldn't cope with the stress of not knowing where he is! All our 4 cats over the years have done well with a curfew :)

"Instead, Cats Protection recommends a dusk-till-dawn cat curfew, along with SongBird Survival and the RSPB which hopes it will be a “win-win”. Cats and birds are most active at dusk and dawn. “It’s a sensible compromise,” says Cummings. “You’re effectively reducing the risk of [the cats] getting in a road traffic collision overnight, and also reducing the risk of predation.” There is some evidence that cats do get hit by cars at night slightly more often than during the day."

^www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/14/cats-kill-birds-wildlife-keep-indoors^