How can I stop a strange cat coming into my house?

Ginger_Pudding

Bun wrote:

On a more serious note, our last magnets were the big heavy square ones and used to weigh the collars down - we now have Staywell ones which although are a bit pricey (you get the collar too though) are lightweight and round,so hopefully will last longer.

Is this the type you mean?

http://www.staywell.co.uk/pages/series.php?SeriesID=4

They look better than the type we used to have. Just wondering if it will be easy for us to change the catflap as ours was fitted by a window company into our upvc door and i'm not sure if we'd be able to change it ourselves

Ginger_Pudding

Cymraeg wrote:

Try planting the Coleus Canina plant around the boudaries of your garden to stop them coming in in the 1st place . Also known as the Scardy Cat or Pee Off plant , they will be available from good garden centres from end of March / early April as they are not too good with frost .
My local garden centre informed me that they sold just over 1,000 last season and had only 2 people come back saying they weren't effective.

Sounds ok for the back garden , but I think the cat may be entering from the drive , so I don't think there's anything we could do to stop that

Ginger_Pudding

Paul_Varjak wrote:

I assume these troublesome cats are un-neutered males? Why not offer to pay the owner for neutering them? That may make them embarassed enough to get it done themselves!

Probably , but we'd have to catch it first as we haven't a clue where it's from and who it belongs to

Not certain , but I don't think it's been in the house for a couple of days so maybe it was the cat that was hit by a car the other day. I hope whichever cat that was , it hasn't been suffering

elona

How about

1 Borrow a BIG dog overnight.

2 Place cage behind door and when cat gets in it "take it for a drive"

3 Get plant that has been suggested and place it in a plant pot and then temporarily behind door or in drive.

SnowyOwl_2

This happened to me in a previous house I had. When I eventually caught the offending cat he was a starving bag of bones and absolutely petrified. He also had an ear infection and so was a bit wobbly. As he'd been "done" he wasn't spraying. I eventually got him to the vet to search for a microchip (no charge) - there wasn't one, so I adopted him. He's not the skinny wild and aggressive (or rather highly defensive) cat that he was, more a big lazy cuddly bagpuss type now. It took several months before I could lift him without getting mauled. BTW I already had two cats and he was entering the house as he could smell their food and as I said he was STARVED.

Sorry I know the above isn't the solution you require. However if you try and look at it from the errant cat's point of view and work out what s/he coming in for. Then perhaps try to remove that or change it to break the association of your house being the source of whatever it is he's looking for.

Also, as I mentioned about the microchip, if you can catch the cat and are willing to give up the time it might be worth trying to trace the owners with this method. My vet didn't charge, maybe sort that out with your vet before you go?

Bun

Hi Ginger_Pudding,

Sorry, can't get the quote thing to work. Yes those are the chaps and they are much smaller - the old square ones always looked so uncomfy. And our cats have lots of chins..
It may be worth contacting staywell, alternatively I think https://www.catflaps.com give you all the details of how to fit them. I think single glazing is easy to do, but double glazing has to be cut and then toughened.
Hope this helps.

FairyElephant_2

We had the same problem for ages...the 'alien' cat terrified my 2 poor mogs and they took to living on the top of the kitchen cupboards!

The magnetic cat flaps can be easily pushed open if the cat is big and stong (and determined) enough....

I did manage to trap the thing by putting the flap on 'in only' and trapping him in the rear lobby overnight (a nasty great bruiser of a cat, he was going potty!).....I then opened the door quick and sprayed it with water from a plant sprayer, whilst shrieking at the top of my voice, then shut the door again...did this several times until he was totally soaked (and very very mad!) then let him go....he did make great scratches in my UPVC door, but didn't come back!

Then it all happened again with another cat, so I gave up and forked out for an electronic one...expensive, but seems to have done the trick...except when my little one sneaks through quietly and the door doesn't shut properly behind her!!!!!!!!

PS - to get rid of the smell try essential oil Lemongrass - it smells nice and cats don't like it either so it's unlikely to pee there again!

Ginger_Pudding

FairyElephant wrote:

to get rid of the smell try essential oil Lemongrass - it smells nice and cats don't like it either so it's unlikely to pee there again!

Thanks , I think i'll buy some and put some in a plant sprayer mixed with water and spray it around the house.

Don't think the house smells as much today , so either the cat hasn't been in or i'm getting used to the pong :rolleyes: Lord knows what visitors must think

gromituk

Some interesting experiences here. It has to be stressed (some people have mentioned it but some seem not to realise) that neutered male cats can spray - I know, because I've seen mine do it. Of course they're less likely to do it, and they may only do it when provoked by the smell of another which has sprayed already. Not an excuse not to get a cat neutered!

I'm in the unusual position of trying to stop my own cats visiting the neighbour! She has a magnetic flap and our old mog can get through it (apparently by batting it until it swings outwards and then catching his paw underneath). He makes himself comfortable and goes to sleep - grrr. She used to have an electronic cat flap but her present cat was put off by the click of the solenoid so she had to downgrade to a magnetic one.

We're looking after her cat at the moment. Last night we went in there and found BOTH of our cats inside :-( They got bellowed at and squirted with a water pistol, but I'm not confident it will work. We've already given her a water pistol but I'm not sure she is mean enough to use it!

scottyt421

We had a similar problem several years ago. We set the flap to entry only. Caught the intruder. Had a downstairs loo by the back door.
carefully position the cat in the pan and hold whilst flushing. Release cat to outside world. Cat never returned problem solved!