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The litter tray

Advice needed-apologies if its on the long side.

13 replies

thegreylady · 28/01/2014 15:22

I have two 15 year old Tokinese cats-half brother and sister and we have had them since they were 10 weeks old. Both are in reasonable health although the girl has a touch of arthritis in a front leg and she had a parasitical blood disorder 5 years ago when we nearly lost her. Apart from fur balls her brother has had no problems.
The house is set up to accommodate them as well as us :) We have a long sun porch/conservatory on the side of the house and this is where we keep the litter trays [one each] and their food and water bowls.There is a catflap from ouside to the porch and another from the porch to the house.
The girl cat does not like to go out at all now.If she does venture out to sun bathe she comes indoors to use the litter tray.Her brother hates to use a tray and likes to be outside. Here's the problem, recently three stranger cats have started to come into the porch to take food.When we moved the bowls into the house we found one 'stranger' in the kitchen.
We know the owner of one of them, a neighbour, and have reached an amicable compromise-she keeps hers in for an hour morning and afternoon while our lad goes out.
BUT the other two hide under the car or under a hedge and are in as soon as the flap is open.One of them has attacked our cat outside and our indoor cat is becoming scared to go into the porch at all unless the flap is blocked with a big heavy box.
We have tried using a water pistol whenever we see the intruders and we have tried to identify the owners to no avail. It is getting to the point where we are having to lock the cat flap all the time but then our H won't pee in the tray and stalks up and down wailing till we let him out.We then have to wait [sometimes ages] till he reappears. Meanwhile his sister is cowering in the kitchen and will only eat if we are with her.
How do we deal with this please-we do not want to harm any cats at all.

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Nyborg · 28/01/2014 15:24

I'd suggest liberal use of a water pistol in your back garden (it won't harm the intruders but it will deter them) and a chip-operated catflap.

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Fluffycloudland77 · 28/01/2014 15:24

It sounds like you need a cat flap that reads their microchips, then only they can go in & out.

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cozietoesie · 28/01/2014 15:30

\link{http://www.sureflap.co.uk/\This} is the one most posters use and most people have had great success with them. They're about £70 on Amazon (£60 plus postage on Zooplus) so not cheap but they seem to work very well and have been a great boon to many. Worth the investment in your situation, I'd think.

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thegreylady · 28/01/2014 15:59

Oh yes I will look into that now.They are both chipped but hate collars.I hadn't heard of a chip operated flap thank you.

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thegreylady · 28/01/2014 16:02

Just had a quick look and will be ordering one :)

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cozietoesie · 28/01/2014 16:34

Good luck to your two then. Let us know how you get on.

Smile

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RightsaidFreud · 28/01/2014 16:35

The microchip flaps are great, we have one, and all of our friends with cats have invested in them, with great success. No collars needed, it scans their microchip, so no more intruders!

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thegreylady · 28/01/2014 18:11

Ordered from Amazon-hope the chips are readable after 15 years!
The male cat adopts kittens if he can find them-he has twice liberated a kitten from a neighbour and brought it home, through the cat flap and into his bed where he had a happy time washing it for the 10 minutes it took for me to phone and its owner to come.
The neighbour is trying to persuade me we want the kitten-we don't these two are old and girl cat certainly couldn't cope.

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cozietoesie · 28/01/2014 18:23

Hope so as well and that the chips haven't slipped to some unreadable place. One thing Sureflap apparently have is great customer service - so any problems get on to them or come back here for advice.

Smile

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thegreylady · 06/02/2014 19:53

We have had the chips checked by the vet and both are in place. The vet gave us some sedative capsules to sprinkle on their food to reduce stress.We are just waiting for the new catflap to arrive. We also checked that they were compatible with the chips and they are thank goodness. Atm our male cat will go out only if we open the door for him and then we have to stand by till he comes back.I hope he will use the new flap.

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cozietoesie · 06/02/2014 19:58

Sounds like he has you well trained! You're going to have to be tougher I suspect.

Good luck, anyway, and let us know how it goes.

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thegreylady · 07/02/2014 13:17

Sorted! I dont seem to be able to put photos here but new flap fitted, both cats logged in :) and both haveused the flap. No sign of Monster Munch yet!

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cozietoesie · 07/02/2014 13:22
Smile
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