Renegade Cats Entering/Trashing My House

[maggiemcgill]

Hi, I have 2 cats, whose food bowls are in the kitchen, but lately numerous cats' keep entering through the cat flap. My 2 are small (over a year old but still look like kittens), when they are eating they are shoot nervous looks at the flap & only eat a portion of there food (the others eat the rest). I came home the other day & found 1 neighbour cat on one bed & 1 on another! Another day I came home to see 2 slinking up the stairs! The final straw, came when & a tom cat had obviously sprayed in the kitchen (it took me hours to bleach everything!). Finally today, due to the bad weather I kept the cats in & pushed the wooden door to the flap across, it wasn't long before an outsider began to clatter & bang it for quite awhile hoping to gain entry. I've chased them out many times, but whilst I'm at work they come in. My 2 are permanently afraid of there own home! Any help or comments welcome, as I work don;t want to seal up the flap.
P.S. I've never hear of cats' abusing anothers boundry like this, have you?

[~Wingnut~]

Hi maggiemcgill :o)

We had the same problem when one of our old neighbours had 13 kittens at one point (don't ask!)!! they kept coming to our house and the final straw was when I found one asleep on our daughters bed!!
We fitted a magnetic catflap, it was the only thing we could do to keep them out but still let our 2 be able to come in and out at their own leisure. The other cats will soon give up once they realise they are fighting a losing battle by trying to get in.

It;s a pain but once yours master the magnetic one they will feel a lot happier in their own home :o)

[wolf63]

A friend has a visiting cat who gets in by ramming the locked cat flap. Granted he is a big cat but he still manages to get into her house.

This behaviour is not all that unusual. Apart from sending your cats to self-defence classes and pumping them full of muscle building steroids I can't think of an answer.

Not much help - sorry.

[tigwig]

Hi, I had exactly the same problem. 3 cats used to eat my kitten's food and he would just stand and watch them. I bought a magnetic cat flap for �20 from argos and have never had a problem since. In fact we used to watch the other cats trying to get in and it was quite amusing seeing their greedy faces pushed against the cat flap and being unable to open it!! The only way this wouldn't work is if the other cats also had the same cat flap and also wore magnets on their collars and to solve this you can buy a cat flap that only allows your cat entry, this is also from Argos and Pets at home

[maggiemcgill]

Thanks Everybody, Definatley Looks Like The Only Way To Go is A Magnetic Catflap,,,Thanks Again.

[Kleiber]

I agree about the magnetic collar thing, but here's a funny aside to your question - I've got 5 cats and about a quarter of a mile away lives a nasty tom cat, who used to get in through my cat flap (even when it was locked!) and terrorise my girls and my young (neutered) male. All the girls are spayed as well, by the way. The bl***y thing used to attack mine when they were outside as well and I had several trips to the vet with them, having been bitten by him. I asked the owner, nicely (at first!!) to get him neutered and she said she would, but months went by and he still came over here & attacked mine and got in the house and sprayed. Anyway, one evening, this thing pursued one of my girls in through the cat flap - he'd only ever been in before when I was out. What he didn't realise was that when I'm at home, the dogs are also in the living room and he flew through the cat flap only to be confronted by a rather large GSD and a crazy collie (and 5 cats who were intent on beating him up!). The cat flap was locked to "in only" and this brute did a wonderful impression of Garfield, trying to get out. He then went & hid under the dining table, surrounded by my "pride" and their canine minders! He didn't even put up a fight when I scruffed him and stuffed him in a cat box & unceremoniously dumped him back home. he was neutered shortly after that & we haven't had so much trouble from him since. Get a dog!!

[maggiemcgill]

Kleiber, Ha Ha Ha, Great Story, the cocky Tom Got His Comeuppance!!! Not all my intruders are Toms, do you have any ideas on the size of my cats, as mentioned they are over 1 year old now & still look like kittens? Could this be just how they naturally are built or part leaving the food for the intruders or general stress of the bullying/worry of the neighbourhood cats? Your cat (burglar, terrible joke) generally came in while you were out, mine come regardless! No matter how I Scream, Stomp, Shout they look at me as if I�m something out of the litter box!!!