Hello all,

I'm pretty sure there's not much I can do with this situation, but thought I'd try here just in case I'm missing something.

I have 2 cats (4 year old males) who are free to come and go with a cat flap but i keep them in over night. I've had them for about a year and a half with no real presence from other cats (one or two, but they defend their territory well!). At night I lock the cat flap one way, ie they can come in but can't get out.

In December, I was awoken in the early hours by crazy cat sounds. Got up, and there were 3 cats running all over the place! The other cat had come in through the cat flap and then couldn't get out, so was pretty frantic. I let him out and the next day my two were absolutely fine. I then changed the cat flap to completely locked at night and it's been like that ever since.

The problem is this other cat still continues to come in the garden, right up to the cat flap and loudly miaows in the early mornings (any time from 2am - 6am). My two then get up and investigate and I shoo the other cat away. It's tiring!

Just now, it seems this cat did get in to the flat as I heard a fracas and the next thing I know theres all hell breaking loose - but they all go outside and run off. It's unclear whether he is friend or foe.

I actually do have a sureflap thing (that works on microchips) but one of my cats - Pilau - hurls himself in and out so it breaks the mechanism.

Is there any way I can discourage this 3rd cat? He seems healthy so I don't think he's stray. We have lots of gardens here so unsure who he belongs to.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

We used to have that problem - we lost two catflaps in the process - but it went on for for years, until the day my cat died. The other cat belonged to a neighbour and they trashed her house too!!!

I have a magnetic cat flap which is very reliable. The only problem is the potential loss of collars by my cats as only a magnet will open the flap. Whenever I've disabled the magnetic element in the past I always get cat intruders but they've never been too disruptive. My cats probably already know most of the neighbouring cats and get on well with them. I once came home from work to find a black cat fast asleep on my bed and, more recently, another in my kitchen playing with my own cats. I don't like all the cat food being eaten or the possibility of spraying (never had it so far) so I persist with the magnets on collars.

astral1.
I use -- well the cat does -- a Pet Porte .
Activated by his micro chip and never failed -- even though I've seen him approach it at 100 miles an hour horizontal !!!
Regards

We had the same problem with an intruder cat. Damn thing kept coming in at night and shredding a pouch of cat food if i hadn't put it away.

Anyway, our problems were solved when one day an advert at the side of this here forum advertised the microchip cat flap! It was a goodsend. It only opens to your cats microchip. Any intruder cat can't get in. The cat walks under the canopy, which is situated outside the door, it picks up the microchip and clicks the button which allows the cat to push the catflap as they would a normal catflap.

I have the dearer one which is plugged in via the electric, only ok if you have a socket near the door but my parents have the brand which uses batteries. Exactly the same concept as mine but just no wires.

I can say that is it the best thing that we have purchased for our cats and they are safe in their house knowing intruder cats can't get in.

Just google microchip cat flaps and see what you think.

I have just looked myself and they do range from £60 up to £100 ish. I know this all sounds very expensive for a cat flap but well worth it for the peace of mind of no other cats in your home. Also good if your cats don't wear collars, which mine don't.

Just mentioned this myself! Best thing we have ever purchased for our cats. A goodsend, and totally reliable at keeping intruder cats out!

I've had a pet porte for a few years now (after being tired of feeding the neighbourhood and fights breaking out in the hall at silly o'clock in the morning), been perfectly reliable and robust, not had a single uninvited visitor in the house since, I have no hesitation in recommending one.

That's got me chuckling

We've had various intruder cats over the years:

A cat that got lost and tried to set up base camp in our wardrobe. (Gave her back when we found a wanted poster)

Next doors cat that either didn't like it at home or was too senile to find the right door.

Many is the time I would come down in the morning and find him asleep on the sofa. We we went up to sleep one evening and found him snoring on the bed with The Beast just staring at him.

Then we had 'Stanford' who The Beast was friends with, he was always in and out.

At the moment we have 'Gangster Cat' who is unfriendly, there was a face off a couple of weeks ago when The Beast, had a rare moment of bravery, chased him out with much hissing and Gangster Cat started bashing the cat flap from outside.

He saw him off, has to be said mostly for show as the staff (me and the OH) were watching him.

The Beast can't really be arsed to rush around fighting off marauders and intruders, and they don't leave mess, make a noise or destroy anything so I let it slide also.

I've got to admit, I'm a daft softie when it comes to cats so I'd probably let it come in, give it a lovely dinner and massive hugs. I'm soft like that.

Thanks everyone!

I'll look at the PEt porte cat flap. When I did research when I got the sureflap one I thought it was the best but if Pet porte can cope with a manic cat at 100 mph then that may be the way forward.

As for the cat number 3, it's been pretty quiet yesterday so fingers crossed my 2 have finally marked their territory...

Hi astral1,

I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems with Pilau breaking the mechanism on your SureFlap! If you'd like to contact us directly we'd really like to discuss this with you and try to get a solution sorted for you.

Kind regards,

The SureFlap Team

sureflap.
Can't fault you on that generous offer .......
Hope astra1 follows it up.

The Pet Porte is mains powered via a low voltage adaptor - as not to fry the cat - so a bit of wiring is needed.
I believe it can also be programmed for more than one chipped moggie -- not tried that bit as one at a time is enough !
A stray chipped cat that turned up at our house failed to trip the mechanism.
Regards

I'm guessing the other cat hasn't been done, or is just looking where his friend's have got to. Our two cats are both female house cats and we'll occasionally see our neighbour's male cat, who's about the same age, trying to keep his balance on the outside window sill while Blaze and Sphynx tease him by tarting it up and down the indoor window sill. There doesn't seem to be any hostility there, and I think they're all just curious about one another. His mother seems to disapprove of him trying to get to our two though because if he's on the sill she'll jump up and knock him off the sill.

If you fail on the flap part, something you could try is seeing if the Cats Protection League will come out and see if he's chipped. If he's chipped they'll take him to his home and will let them know what's going on, but if not I'm not sure what happens. My ex-girlfriend had an issue with a stray that kept coming into her house in summer about 5 years ago, tempted by her other 3 cats, and she eventually took a shine to it. She called the CPL and told them and someone came out the same day, but couldn't get a reading on a chip. You could tell the cat was either stray or neglected from the state of it, so the woman from CPL took the cat away with her. The only problem was the cat was diagnosed with FIV so my ex didn't want the hassle of that and sadly had to give up any plans on adopting it. If you could get the CPL to agree that they wouldn't take the cat away it might be worth giving it a shot, because no matter what flap you get it won't stop it miaowing in the middle of the night, but the owners might start keeping tabs on the errant feline of a night time.

Quote : "it won't stop it miaowing in the middle of the night"

But a well aimed brick would !!!
Regards

Sorry, I've got no advice but just a quick question for the Sureflap/Petporte owners if you don't mind.

I'm assuming they must have some sort of wiring system to open the flap after it reads the microchip.

If some aspiring Burglar Bill decides to yank the flap bit out in the hope that I've left the back door key in the lock on the inside (which has happened twice since I installed the current catflap last summer), would that be the whole thing knackered and I'd have to buy a whole new unit? Or could you just pop it back in again?

I'd really like to get one, but at the price I couldn't afford to keep replacing it!

Thanks

i have a solution......

but i don't think you would like it

...

...

Depends, I have mine set so that my cat can go out freely and it only unlocks to let her in, a burglar could pull the flap open without causing any damage but would have to have freaky long arms to reach the lock (plus I never leave the keys in it), they would be better going via the letterbox. If it was pushed or kicked in then it could do irreparable damage (I don't know about the availability of spare solenoids which are used to set the locks), though I would probably claim off my insurance if it was completely mashed.