A new approach to gentle exercise: walking a cat!

[Valentijn]

I am in a dilemma about flaps. They are convenient for letting your cats in and out, but can cause insecurity in the cats because of other cats using them.
It's like leaving your front door wide open all day.

There are flaps which can be activated by something attached to the collars of your cats. Hence it only can be used when your cat is near, and stranger-cats can't get in.

 

[Calathea]

Since cats tend to shed collars, I hear microchip-activated catflaps work better. Pricey, though.

 

[peggy-sue]

I've given up on collars. I worry too much they'll strangle themselves, even with the elasticated ones.

Pip has a bald patch around her neck from one she had for a short while, before we discovered she doesn't chase birds anyway.
She sticks to chasing safe things. Autumn leaves in breezes and patches of sunlight, caught in a mirror and bounced around the garden.

Muzz is microchipped, but Pip isn't.
Pip can use the flap, but Muzz can't.
Wrong way around!

Muzz will only use the flap if it is propped open - she won't push through it, I've not tried a collar on her and I don't think she'd like it. I reckon we'll stick to what we always do. Open it in the morning and lock it at night.

(besides, I like strange cat visitors, even if Pip and Muzz don't.)
It means I get a chance to see one of the local cats close up and introduce myself, or see if it's a stray or feral and if it needs any care or medical help or homing.

 

[MeSci]

Since cats tend to shed collars, I hear microchip-activated catflaps work better. Pricey, though.

Now that's a good idea. I took off all my cats' collars after one of my cats nearly strangled herself when she caught hers on a window latch and was turning round the wrong way, tightening it. Fortunately I was there and managed to disentangle her. Then I found her collar on the ground in front of the house, so she must have got caught on something again and pulled it off. I wasn't prepared to take any more chances with my furry loved ones, so all the collars came off, and I haven't used them since.

I trust that the microchip flaps are cheatproof and robust. Some cats apparently work out how to bypass the magnetic key ones (I think the technique is similar to a battering ram ), and there are certainly cats who can hook open a flap that is locked in one direction. One of my cat flaps was broken just a few months after I got it, during a fight between my cat and the aggressive neighbour -cat through the flap.

 

[peggy-sue]

There was a chap called Thorndyke who had a cat in a lab doing behavioural experiments.
The cat was in a big metal cage with a bolt.
The cat opened it and got out.
(It was not Pippin. )

 

[svetoslav80]

Hi Cala. Nice to c u again. I love cats too. I used to have one and "walked" her outside. Only she didn't need a harness. She was always coming after me whenever I was going to the shop or somewhere near our neighbourhood. Was loyal as a dog :> Unfortunately it was too expensive for me to feed her and I threw her away in another neighbourhood. I hope she is ok. Now I'm feeding some street cats from time to time, whenever I have some spare money :>

 

[MeSci]

There was a chap called Thorndyke who had a cat in a lab doing behavioural experiments.
The cat was in a big metal cage with a bolt.
The cat opened it and got out.
(It was not Pippin. )

My boycat is good at opening doors. He can open normal doors by pulling the handle down!

 

[peggy-sue]

Very smart Boycat!

This is an appropriate time to mention my cat door-opening remedy/mechanism.

You know how it is, you just get all settled and comfy on the sofa, the fire is on, the room is warming up nicely... and the cat comes in.
It leaves the door open and howling gales start coming in. You have to get up and shut the door.
You settle down again, and the cat has gone out - leaving the door open... again.
Repeat ad infinitum 'til it's time to go to bed.

I hammered a tack into the top of the door, (on the side which moves into the room) and another one on the picture rail at the top of the door frame on the same side.

Then I got a decent sized rock and tied it up in a bit of velvet which matches the curtains.

Using fishing line (which is strong and nearly invisible), I tied one end to the tack in the top of the door, then, with the rock tied to the other end, I draped the line over the tack on the picture rail.

When the door is opened, the rock rises, and after cat has come in, the weight of the rock pulls the door shut again.

You have to get used to a flying velvet thingy going up and down beside the door, but it's not too hard.

 

[MeSci]

Very smart Boycat!

This is an appropriate time to mention my cat door-opening remedy/mechanism.

You know how it is, you just get all settled and comfy on the sofa, the fire is on, the room is warming up nicely... and the cat comes in.
It leaves the door open and howling gales start coming in. You have to get up and shut the door.
You settle down again, and the cat has gone out - leaving the door open... again.
Repeat ad infinitum 'til it's time to go to bed.

I hammered a tack into the top of the door, (on the side which moves into the room) and another one on the picture rail at the top of the door frame on the same side.

Then I got a decent sized rock and tied it up in a bit of velvet which matches the curtains.

Using fishing line (which is strong and nearly invisible), I tied one end to the tack in the top of the door, then, with the rock tied to the other end, I draped the line over the tack on the picture rail.

When the door is opened, the rock rises, and after cat has come in, the weight of the rock pulls the door shut again.

You have to get used to a flying velvet thingy going up and down beside the door, but it's not too hard.

Ingenious!

My arrangements are:

• Internal doors are usually open, except for doors to rooms where cats aren't allowed.
• There are cat flaps on external doors, and on internal doors that are sometimes closed. Let's see...I have 5 cat flaps!

 

[peggy-sue]

The flap part has been removed from the only inside door which had one.
There is now just a cat sized hole in the door. They don't like the flappy bits, my beasts don't!

Gremlin was the same as Muzz. The flap had to be propped open. He would not push through it.

 

[Calathea]

We do the same with internal doors, and don't have external doors. Recently she's taken to sitting outside the bathroom, begging to be let in. We suspect that she wants us to install a catflap in the bathroom that will magically transport her to the outside world and bypass the problem that R's flat is a floor up.

There were some issues with her being indignant at being temporarily shut out of the bedroom early on, but thankfully those have stopped. I mean, we were talking siege warfare here. R put a big heavy book in front of the door. It went something like this.

Miaow miaow miaow.

Miaow.

Miaow?

scratch scratch scratch

Miaow miaow MIAOW miaow!

scratch scratch scratch

Miaow!

THUD
THUD
THUD

...miaow

*cat saunters into bedroom, looks around, decides it's boring in here, and walks out*

She must have gone to the other end of the hall to get a good run up at the door. At least she's now realised that we sometimes need private human time. One of my support workers said her cat tried to defend her when she was having sex, going for her boyfriend, and she uncharitably just lay there and laughed.

 

[peggy-sue]

They just don't like shut doors. It reduces their options and they don't know what's going on behind them.

 

[MeSci]

We do the same with internal doors, and don't have external doors.

How do you get in and out, or stop all-and-sundry walking in and out? Do you have walls?

 

[Calathea]

Teleportation, of course.

(Sorry, I meant we both live in flats, so don't have doors which lead directly outside.)

 

[MeSci]

Teleportation, of course.

(Sorry, I meant we both live in flats, so don't have doors which lead directly outside.)

Ah, I see what you mean. When I lived in flats I still thought of the door to my flat as being my external door!

 

[Calathea]

I was thinking in terms of doors you can put a catflap in and if the cat goes through that catflap, they're outside. The front door leads to the stairwell, which has the main door, so that's two doors between us and the outside world. Sorry for not making much sense, I've been fairly tired over the last couple of days.

 

[MeSci]

I was thinking in terms of doors you can put a catflap in and if the cat goes through that catflap, they're outside. The front door leads to the stairwell, which has the main door, so that's two doors between us and the outside world. Sorry for not making much sense, I've been fairly tired over the last couple of days.

Please don't apologise!

I didn't have catflaps on the doors of my flats either. My poor neighbours already had to endure the consequences of presumably well-meaning people letting my cat into the block when I was out. The consequence was sometimes my cat being caught short, due to not being able to get back out and me not being there to let him into the flat. He pooed on someone's doormat.

 

[MeSci]

Please don't apologise!

I didn't have catflaps on the doors of my flats either. My poor neighbours already had to endure the consequences of presumably well-meaning people letting my cat into the block when I was out. The consequence was sometimes my cat being caught short, due to not being able to get back out and me not being there to let him into the flat. He pooed on someone's doormat.

Come to think of it, a catflap could have prevented such accidents, but IIRC we weren't allowed to have them as the flat doors were thick fire doors.

 

[Calathea]

This is why she's an indoor kitty, she can't just go in and out when she wants, and why the walks are so great for her. Apparently she's found a patch of catnip in the formal gardens near R and has taken to rolling in it adorably. She was also chasing sticks R threw for her. I've not been out for a couple of days, having a bit of a crash, but I'm sure I'll see this soon.

 

[peggy-sue]

We tried to grow a patch of catnip. The cats murdered it.
They have no sense of saving things for bigger rewards later.