cat flap - recommendations?

VickyM_2

fac73 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all your input.

I don't like magnetic cat flaps - if the magnet thing comes off then your cat is stuck outside. And if you're trying to keep other cats out - well what's to stop yours from simply sitting near the entrance and letting his mates in? Then walking away and leaving a stranger trapped in your house!

Hi fac73

Magnetic cat flaps don't work like that - well, ours doesn't...the cat has to be right up next to the cat flap for the magnet to work, and then it only releases the magnet for a very brief time, so there's no way that they can let another cat in. And as the magnet only operates to let a cat in, they don't need one to get out (if you see what I mean). The only problem is that if other cats in the neighbourhood also have magnets - but you're at least reducing the number of cats you might find in your house :rotfl:

We have gone back to using a magnetic flap because some unpleasant brute was coming in and spraying and generally traumatising our cat. She's much happier now. Oh, and we have the flap open (or usable) at night - she tends to be very active at about 4am and its that or have a cat jump on your head in the middle of the night!

cat_saving_expert

Our cat flap had been open 24/7 (excluding firework night) for 15 years, until a stray un neutered male started visiting us and spraying the house at night, he also started fighting our cats in the house and sleeping next to the cat flap, stopping our cats from getting out without a fight causing one of our cats to start weeing in the corner rather than fight his way out!

So for the past few months the cat flap is shut when we go to bed and opened first thing in the morning , our cats are all fairly old (15 - 13) and they are pretty lazy now so they rarely go out anyway, they don't seem bothered by being shut in.

If it wasn't for this stray cat they would still be let out at all hours

Popsy

Hello all,
I don't have a catflap as I have three indoor cats. In an ideal world I would love to let them out to roam free and do what cats do, but, as we live very close to a busy main road this really isn't an option. The reason for this is about six years ago we lost one of our cats to an RTA, and I've never really got over finding him on the side of the road (well, not really side of road, more like someone had put him in the under growth on the side of the road, if it wasn't for his bright collar I wouldn't of seen him).
His brother and sister had stayed in, I so regret letting him out that night, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
We decided to get another two cats, a brother and sister, and to start off with we let them out; but one of our older cats got involved in an RTA again, thankfully it was only a scrape and after he was checked out by the vet he was OK.
The decision was made then not to let them out, so we decided to make a cat run on the back of our house, out of wood, decking and metal with a corrugated plastic roof. We built little ledges and shelves, ramps, cat activity centre etc for them to be able to get on and they love going out there.
If it wasn't for the RTA then we may be still letting them out.....

Moneybubbles

My cats (6yrs and 1 yr) have 24/7 access

They tend to be out all day and come up stairs and sleep on landing at night or in their beds next to the dog downstairs. When the alarm goes off (far to early 6.30am :eek: ) they jump on the bed asking for food:D better than dh talking I'd say :rotfl:

Go with what feels best for you

catshouskeeper

ours is open 24/7 except in really windy weather ( as it blows open too much) our cat comes and goes as he pleases but do be honest it is suprising to find him out at night at all he'd rather be tucked up in bed preferably with DD1 - or failing gaining access to her bedroom then his own one - not really a cat for wandering out at night - suppose it may depend on your cat. Only once had another cat coming in in pursuit of our previous cat. We now have a small dog too - they are good for keeping out unwanted moggies!:eek:

SkintMonkey

We are getting a new back door and need to replace the cat flap - we were thinking about getting the magnetic ones? Are they good ones to go for? From what I gather the cat has a magnetic collar that opens the flap - and other cats cannot get in.

Any advice welcomed..

joggyb

If your cat is microchipped, I've been told by a cat behaviourist that you can also get cat flaps which are activated solely by the microchip. Not only does that guarantee that only your cat can come and go, but it also means that your cat won't have to wear a collar if s/he is the kind of cat that hates collars!

Not sure where you can get them, but I'm sure a Google search would bring up the info you need.

HTH.

Kimberley

You can get them here www.petporte.com

They are very good, my mate has one Expensive to buy, but worth it.

Supernova

Thinking of getting a kitten (or an older cat).

I'm in a first floor flat converted from a semi, so I was going to install a cat flap in the hallway downstairs through the 10" wall out into the path leading to the back garden.

I think that the other end of the hole through the wall is going to end up about a foot above ground level. Can a cat cope with jumping up into the hole or do I need to get a step or ramp built as well?

At what age do kittens start going out and how big are they by then?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

wishiwasarichgirl

I don't think a cat will be able to get through a flap 1 foot above ground level, they will need a step. my cats like to sit looking at the flap for a while, before pushing it open (maybe checking if there's anything nasty on the other side? who knows!)

when i first got my cats (from a stray cats fund) they advised me to keep them indoors for 2-3 weeks before letting them out.