[tode]

I bought a catflap a while ago, but haven't installed it 'cos Iit occurred to me that if our cats can come in and out, so could all the toms of the neighbourhood.

Has anyone had the problem of uninvited guests ?

[treacleminer]

Yes!  A wandering ginger tom comes by every few months and nicks our cats food! Occasionally either he or one of our neutered ones will spray at the same time.  Fortuneately never got past the porch

[arugula]

Can you not get magnetic  or some such other type of collar to put on your cat/s to stop others using the flap?

[noshed]

I used to find next door's cat asleep on my bed! The magnetic things work but they come off the collar quite easily and are expensive to replace.
My friend had an unprotected cat flap and he came home one day to find his quite fierce ex-feral ginger tom in a bit of distress. There was blood inside the cat flap and a trail of blood leading over the back wall. He concluded that someone had tried to put their hand in to open the back door and had encountered big ginger.
His cat recovered after consuming a huge meal - meat and veg, he didn't like cat food.

[madcat]

We did acquire a stray like that  - woke up to find a cat I didnt know asleep on my feet.  He stayed with us to the end of his days.  :happy:

The neighbour's (put the cat out at night people) soppy soft tabby used to slip in and under the sofa on wet nights.  He just wanted somewhere dry to sleep.  Provided our tabby didn't see him, he was fine.  If she did, she threw him out.  The other two were cool about it - he couldnt have been a threat if he tried.

But mostly no trouble with other cats and an open flap - the residents make it clear who's territory it is.  More trouble when the kittens started keeping each other out/in!  That got noisy!!

[tam]

We've never had problems with magnetic ones. I think it depends on your cats. Some seem to loose a collar a week where as ours always wore them out until they needed replacing. If you don't fancy magnetic then you can get ones keyed to your cats microchip (presuming you have your cats chipped).

[gillie]

Our old cat seemed to know the whereabouts of every cat flap in the village.  He was variously accused of licking a Sunday joint and terrifying a pair of rather nervous cats into incontinence in their own home.  He certainly had a major fight with next door's cat in his own kitchen, which ended with both cats shooting out of the cat flap, demolishing it as they went.

However he was a great character and nobody stayed cross with him for long.  

We first met him early one morning when he came into our bedroom through a rooflight.  When his owners moved away he came back to us, through deep snow, and we were delighted when nobody came to claim him.

Cheers,

Gillie

[madcat]

Ahhh ...  our old lady did try to bring the remains of someone else's sunday joint in thro' the cat flap.  Think she had got it from an open window ....  No-one claimed that either!!   

[tode]

Thanks for all the advice.   Still not sure if I should install it or not.

Bad enough with toms marking the windows and doors (outside), but certainly don't want em inside.     

It doesn't help when our siamese is on heat, either:  I'm sure all the toms in a five-mile radius can hear her !     

Oh, well  . . . .. 

[arugula]

Do you need to keep the Siamese intact, tode? Do you breed from her?

[tode]

We used to do pedigree seal points, but gave it up (cost us too much money  ).

I'd like to let her have one or two litters, if we can find a suitably handsome male who's not busy on a Saturday evening.

We had some lovely kittens with our first cat ( "accidents", although I'm sure she did it on purpose    ).

[arugula]

I'd like to let her have one or two litters, if we can find a suitably handsome male who's not busy on a Saturday evening.

 

I understand that. We wanted to let our pretty little girl (dog) have some pups before she had her op. (just recently), but we decided against the idea being practical  and now she is without .

[Parsnip]

We did acquire a stray like that  - woke up to find a cat I didnt know asleep on my feet.  He stayed with us to the end of his days.  :happy:

The neighbour's (put the cat out at night people) soppy soft tabby used to slip in and under the sofa on wet nights.  He just wanted somewhere dry to sleep.  Provided our tabby didn't see him, he was fine.  If she did, she threw him out.  The other two were cool about it - he couldnt have been a threat if he tried.

But mostly no trouble with other cats and an open flap - the residents make it clear who's territory it is.  More trouble when the kittens started keeping each other out/in!  That got noisy!!

We got Bear that way too...He was left behind by these dreadful people who lived nearby when they moved...

He came to live with us until he died last year.. I still miss him now

[arugula]

Aww, Bear what a lovely name! Are there any pics of him around here anywhere?

[Parsnip]

Here he is..The people who left him had called him fluffy.. He was a huge ginger boy he needed an appropriate name...

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z81/weird_jacques/101-0111_IMG.jpg

We'd only had him three years ( he was about 14/ 15 when he died the vet reckons) He got Lymphoma, we treated him as best we could.

I took him in for Chemo every monday and he always purred no matter what they did to him..

He loved us so much he followed where ever we went in the house and would tell us off  for leaving him when we came in from being out

I'm filling up about him now, it still breaks my heart , but hey that's life...