Anyone got a cat but no cat flap?

Silaqui

Hi everyone,
I am in the process of buying a house, but have just realised that the place I have had an offer accepted on has nowhere to put a cat flap . Back door is a glass double glazed french door type thing, and I wouldn't feel safe having it on the front door.

I am a big cat person, we've had them for as long as I can remember and there is no way I'm not going to have a cat when I finally own my own place! But they've always been able to go in and out at will.

I know you *can* buy double glazing units with hole in them, and I think it's possible to put it through a brick wall, but money will be a bit tight. Has anyone got cats that don't use a flap? How does it work?

The back garden is quite enclosed and there is a shed which I would make a hole in for them so they would at least have shelter.

Any opinions gratefully received x

NewKittenHelp

I have a kitten (5 months) and we don't have a cat flap. Nor do my neighbours who have three cats. Their cats decide to go out or not in the morning and get let back in the afternoon. They have three sheltered buildings that they can go in if it's raining or something. Most of the week I work from home so I'll just let mine out as and when she wants to go out, but that won't be for a while yet. She's only going out supervised after she's been spayed and then it will be supervised for a good few months.

tanith

We never had a cat flap either , when I was working the cats went out when I went out or had a cat tray in the Winter/wet so they could stay inside. Once I was retired I just let them in and out as they wanted it always worked ok for us. I do know someone who had a cat flap put into the outside wall it was very deep but it did work ok

McKneff

There's no reason why you cant have one fitted into an outside wall.

We dont have one at all but when we are home (we are retired) we just let tinker in and out when she wants. If we go out, we just let her have the run of the downstairs, all doors open and a litter tray in the conservatory.

gettingready

1st floor flat, 4 cats - no cat flap... we manage (almost) ok LOL

valkirn

Ours come and go through the downstairs bathroom window, its not big enough for a person to get through (not that they'd want to really the dog would lick them to death) but big enough for the cats to come and go as they please.

Where we lived before we just used the door and let them in and out when they needed.

snailmail

we've had cats all my life and have never had a catflap. back when we had our old backdoor the cats used to be able to open it themselves!

there is usually someone in at our house because of differening shifts, etc, but i remember as a child when we had cats and my parents worked that they'd round the cats up before going out and at night...ok not always possible if you have a little tinker that refuses to come back in and just mocks you from the garden wall! but they tended to get into a routine, and they always let us know when they want to go out.

we never had dirt trays in the house when i grew up, but my parents took on two semi feral kittens a few years back who had to be confined to one room for a while, and now they have a dirt tray 'just in case' but it's hardly ever used to be honest.

the problem we have is ALL the neighbourhood cats want to live in our house. we already have 3 neighbours cats practically live with us and a 4th that sneaks in the windows (the dogs are terrified of him...he is evil lol!)

if we had a cat flap I think the cats would take over!

RosaBernicia

I don't have one either... rented flat with big single pane glass back door. If it was a small pane I would have asked about getting one with a flap put in.

Moggie has a litter tray for when I'm at work, and I let him in and out when I'm home. He's got a bed on the bottom shelf of the mini greenhouse in case I have to go out when he's already outside. (It's just a big plastic tray with cheap fake sheepskin stuff lining it, and I leave the zip door unzipped enough for him to get in and out - warm, dry and raised above draughts . He completely ignored it when I showed him, then a couple of weeks later it thundered and I looked for him over and over til I spotted that the sheepskin bit seemed to have changed colour... now he loves it.)

Mind you if I had more than one it might drive me bonkers playing door-lady all the time


Rosa xx

lostinrates

Our cats come in and put thrpugh an upstairs window. (its not as hard as it sounds, they have a route up ipnvolving window sill to single storey roof, walking up and then up through the window.

It makes a mess, but its safe. At the old house they came in through a window too, but scaled a trellis. We really do have no where for them to come in and out because we could not get listed buildings approval for a cat flap from the two sides of house we would want them to use.

Longterm, a cat flap might be a great christmas present to you from your oh?

nickyhutch

I'd put a new door in that I could fit a catflap in. We have 2 cats who are in and out all the time. My Mum's cat doesn't have a ccat flap and I feel sorry for her. If she happens to be in when they go out in the morning, she's cooped up all day If she's out in the rain, she can't get in.

Fire_Fox

Are there any small upstairs windows that could be accessed safely via a fence or roof? Microchip cat flaps are much sturdier than a regular cat flap. Shed will do fine if you can keep it warm and dry, which can be very difficult in winters like last one but is not a problem if we have mild winters like we did 2006-2009. Is there electricity out there? If so heated pet beds cost next to nothing to run, just get ones made of materials that don't absorb water. If you adopt senior cats chances are they won't be that bothered about going out in the winter anyway.