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Unwanted feline attention!
Afty
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi there,
Recently we have had a problem with a cat coming in through our cat flap at night, who is not our cat. Last night I woke up and could hear the cat eating from her cat bowl downstairs only to realize that she is infact curled up at the bottom of the bed.
I know there are several options but i am not sold on any and there are various issues that stop certain courses of action.
1. Get a new cat flap with a magnet/rfid thing: We have a pvc door that we cannot change the cat flap on ourselves, to change the cat flap will require a new front door. This is an option, but I'd rather spend money of funner things than doors.
2. lock the current cat flap at night: This is the option that I think i am going to have to go with, however our cat is an outdoor cat, she bloody loves going outside and I think she'll screech if we lock her in.
3. Stealthily wait for the interloper with some sort of water pistol / nuclear warhead: This is what I am doing right now, however he has yet to make an appearence and it is 1am zzzzZZZ
Does anyone have any ideas of a way to disinterest this kitty from pillaging our cat food bowl, without damaging it physically/mentally?
Here is a picture of our cat shortly after discovering her empty food bowl
Recently we have had a problem with a cat coming in through our cat flap at night, who is not our cat. Last night I woke up and could hear the cat eating from her cat bowl downstairs only to realize that she is infact curled up at the bottom of the bed.
I know there are several options but i am not sold on any and there are various issues that stop certain courses of action.
1. Get a new cat flap with a magnet/rfid thing: We have a pvc door that we cannot change the cat flap on ourselves, to change the cat flap will require a new front door. This is an option, but I'd rather spend money of funner things than doors.
2. lock the current cat flap at night: This is the option that I think i am going to have to go with, however our cat is an outdoor cat, she bloody loves going outside and I think she'll screech if we lock her in.
3. Stealthily wait for the interloper with some sort of water pistol / nuclear warhead: This is what I am doing right now, however he has yet to make an appearence and it is 1am zzzzZZZ
Does anyone have any ideas of a way to disinterest this kitty from pillaging our cat food bowl, without damaging it physically/mentally?
Here is a picture of our cat shortly after discovering her empty food bowl
Afty on
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Lock the cat door at night. Cats are funny creatures, you squirting it a couple times is not going to scare it off permanently. It's just going to wait till you're not there and come back. Any "feline deterrents" you employee during the night are also going to affect your cat.
:P
Unless you have trouble falling back asleep at night you should be able to let the cat out manually.
Or worse still, burglar cat may take getting sprayed as a challenge to his/her authority. Just close the flap, resident cat may not like it at first but if burglar cat has no way of getting inside to steal food then it will probably give up after a while.
I'd be worried its a raccoon or something. Yeah find a way to lock it at night.
I vote for locking the cat flap at night. Our cats used to mainly sleep at night anyway and never really required to go out until morning.
Thanks for the replies, I am in the UK and it is definitely a cat coming in.
I wish getting a dog was an option, but me and the lady both work long hours and it wouldn't be fair to have a dog.
I think we'll settle for locking the cat flap for now. I better return this ninja costume, perching above the cat flap all night has done terrible things to my back.
This is backpedaling on my previous post, but it's crazy enough to actually work...go out and buy a toy of some kind that has motion sensors in it. One of the obnoxious ones that sings/dances/flashes lights when it activates. Place said toy to one side of the cat flap so that when burglar cat comes in it will activate, scaring the living bejeezus out of it. I know you specified no physical/mental damage to the animal, but just think of it as Pavlovian conditioning...the cat will learn to associate your cat flap with a flailing, noisy nemesis that lurks in the shadows.
Another option: Have you considered feeding your cat at specific times during the day, then putting the food away when she's had her fill? Do this for a week or two and the burgler cat will realize that there's no point in invading the house.
Locking the door is for the best.
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
?
I can't see that at work, but based on the filename, I'm going to say
Yes, exactly.
Have you considered just adopting the other cat?
Yeah, there's a ton of good death metal and black metal out there.
If the OP is anything like me, this would have happened already.
I'm a sucker for homeless animals.
I don't think the other cat is a homeless one, it's got a collar, I think it's just a cheeky monkey.
So yeah, see that huge cat door that the bear walked through? Lock that at night.