Catiquette

flossietoo

flossietoo

Well-Known Forumite
I tried a magnetic entry one for my much-missed moggy. The magnet was attached to a collar. I got home one night to find him sitting with his paw caught inside the collar. Fortunately it hadn't constricted his airway too much but I felt terrible and he never wore a collar again.

I tried the free entry cat-flap and a permanently open window but in both cases other cats got in and attacked him. Understandably, he became very anxious because he didn't know where the next biffing was coming from. Also, he used to bring home all sorts of hunting trophies. Some alive, some dead and some halved.

The best solution for both him and me was to give him a cat flap which worked outwards only. There are usually various settings to enable the flap to work in either/both directions or to be locked. That way, he could go out for a wander during the night or whenever the mood took him. Then he would announce his presence, loudly, when he wanted to come in. Otherwise, a shake of biscuits in bowl reliably produced a ginger tom.
 
littleme

littleme

250,000th poster!
flossietoo said:
Also, he used to bring home all sorts of hunting trophies. Some alive, some dead and some halved.
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Yes.......yesterday they deposited a live mouse under the freezer & spent most of the day trying to recatch it.........this morning I found a intact half mouse & a Tarrentio-stylee sicked up other half in the livingroom......gross.

Keep the beast in Withnail!
 
flossietoo

flossietoo

Well-Known Forumite
The worst occasion was when I reached into a basket containing old newspapers for fire lighting. My hand grasped the bottom half of a rabbit.

The cat was a rescue one and came to me when I was living and working on my own. We had a very close bond but I could never get him to understand that he could express his affection in better ways than by leaving a trail of dead mice, voles and small birds leading from the front door to my car.

Not a trip I ever wanted to make without a torch.
 
Glam

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
My best memory of a cat flap, was when my father in law (as was), fitted 1 in his back door. He was full of himsen, sayin how they wouldn't have get up and let the cats in ever again. As he was saying this, my brother in laws, rather large, mad as a box of frogs Labrador came bounding in with said cat flap round her neck. Bit like the collar a shire horse might wear.
 
hop

hop

Well-Known Forumite
Gramaisc said:
If he's chipped, then the technology exists, without the collar issue raising its head..
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I bought a cat flat which used the microchip about 5 years ago I had to get import it from the Channel Islands.

It was marketed as Cat Porte and developed by a vet on Jersey it was totally unheard of at the time and required me to run a power socket into the area of the house where the cat flap was. I believe they are now owned Staywell

http://www.staywell.co.uk/Intl/UK/Products/Pet-Porte-Smart-Flap.aspx

I still have this system. It is programmable preventing them from leaving between dawn and dusk (when most accidents happen) and you can program it to allow entry for which ever cats you choose.
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Does it bar entry to dismembered species of other fauna?

Or can the beast bring in whatever body parts it likes?

I think i should be told...
 
flossietoo

flossietoo

Well-Known Forumite
The chip-entry system sounds a brilliant means of excluding other cats and avoiding a collar but no, it wouldn't eliminate the grizzly gifts.

It isn't all bad. My friend was woken one morning by the noise of her cat attempting to bash a cauliflower through the flap. One cat of my acquaintance also took home a succession of whole trout. This was because I thought she was stray and persuaded my dad to release some of his catch from the freezer. Years later I met someone whoe turned out to be the owner, still puzzled about where she had caught them.
 
littleme

littleme

250,000th poster!
Catty question.....how to stop one cat attacking the other...

I have 2 cats, brother & sister aged 3 & both neutred, they often play fight which usually starts with female rolling about on the floor in front of male cat - then a small boxing match takes place. Lately though male cat has started attacking little female cat from out of nowhere - he pins her down & really savages the back of her neck & head while she screams her head off...its very different from the play fighting & quite distressing.
It seems to happen if he's spotted the stray un-neutred cat that visits in our garden...he won't pick a fight with stray cat but seems to take it out on his sister...

Any ideas on how to stop him (apart from keeping him in - that also makes him stir crazy), has anyone tried the Feliway stuff? Does it calm them down?
 
Chick

Chick

Well-Known Forumite
hop said:
I bought a cat flat which used the microchip about 5 years ago I had to get import it from the Channel Islands.

It was marketed as Cat Porte and developed by a vet on Jersey it was totally unheard of at the time and required me to run a power socket into the area of the house where the cat flap was. I believe they are now owned Staywell

http://www.staywell.co.uk/Intl/UK/Products/Pet-Porte-Smart-Flap.aspx

I still have this system. It is programmable preventing them from leaving between dawn and dusk (when most accidents happen) and you can program it to allow entry for which ever cats you choose.
Click to expand...

We used the Cat Porte for a number of years and had very little problems. We debated getting one for quite a while as they weren't a cheap option when they first came out but our 2 cats were getting a bit distressed by the constant visits from other cats (and even a fox at one point)and it was brilliant at stopping that.

We've recently upgraded it to the Staywell system due to our cats charging through it at such speed (to escape other cats then immediately turning round and bashing the door in the face of the other cat who can't enter!) and breaking the door (you can no longer buy replacement parts which we've done previously) and again it's great. Would highly recommend.

Of course it doesn't stop the presents (both alive and dead) being brought in but that's part and parcel of being a cat owner/slave. You get quite adept at catching and liberating wildlife after a while
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
These fancy cat flaps?

If i were to install one, the only place i can think of where it would be of any practical use would be through the double glazed door out back. I have been led to believe that it is possible to do such a thing but one can't help wondering whether this might be a fabulously costly process - and what's more a process fraught with all sorts of hidden dangers.

Anybody out there willing to suck a bit of air through the teeth before giving me the potential damage?
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
A cat flap doesn't have to be in a door - it can be fitted in a wall - if you knock a bit of a hole through - probably a bit less frightening than putting it through some double-glazing..​

It also doesn't have to be at ground level - as long as it's accessible on both sides.
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Gramaisc said:
... it can be fitted in a wall - if you knock a bit of a hole through
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Unless i can come up with some sort of elaborate arrangement whereby a non-aggression pact can be achieved with my neighbour and a secure pathway found between the two properties, i'm struggling to think of a bit of 'spare' wall through which a hole could be driven.

I am thankful for the qualifying phrase ' if you knock a bit of a hole through', though. It perfectly sums up my almost db levels of 'derr'.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Withnail said:
Unless i can come up with some sort of elaborate arrangement whereby a non-aggression pact can be achieved with my neighbour and a secure pathway found between the two properties, i'm struggling to think of a bit of 'spare' wall through which a hole could be driven.
Click to expand...

I once lived in a row of cottages* where it was possible to go from one end to the other without going outside. Each front room had a door into next-door.

Many MOD married quarters had a door between adjacent semi-detached houses that would be opened up when the balloon went up.

*The second one along from this end, actually. I imagine the doors are blocked up now..
 
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