Cat Training

You definitely have a point there, shysal. We used to have a proper wanderer a few years ago and he was always being brought home by his 'finders'. I'll think about it, thank you!

I use collars, also with ID disc, because I feel if anyone found the cat they are more likely to phone the number displayed than to go to the trouble of getting the microchip checked.
There are quick release or elasticated collars available, so they will never be unable to free themselves if caught up.In fact I used the loc8tor to find a missing collar only this morning, found in field beyond garden.

shysal thanks for that - but I'm not too keen on collars for cats. It does sound a really good idea, though, nevertheless.

greenmossgiel If you are worried about your cat getting lost, try using a loc8tor tag. I use them on all my cats and find them invaluable for my peace of mind. They can be located up to 300 metres away, and also bleep on the collar, which I find usually brings them running home.
The loc8tor is also useful for finding keys, wallet etc. if you are inclined to misplace them. Of course you must remember where you put the receiver !
The system is available on line, including eBay, and in Maplin stores.

www.loc8tor.com/uk/store/

My cats weren't used to being outside and had had no experience of a catflap until they came to me. They go out for a wander after breakfast and then again in the afternoon and I boot them out for a little while in the evening to go to the loo [although I keep a litter tray available just in case] and they just seem to sit on the doorstep. Perhaps I'm lucky but they're not bird catchers and prefer lying on the windowsill or on my desk to venturing too far away. That said, to my horror, they do occasionally go round to the front of the house which worries me or try and leap out of the front door when someone comes but I think that's because it's something different [I think I'm humanising them!]. They seem to know what side their paws are buttered but I admit that I let them out for the first couple of times with my heart in my mouth.

OTHill - since our last post, my own cat became ill and had to be put to sleep. Awful time. However... we now have another rescue cat and we have called her Daisy! She's about 2, and has been neutered after having had a litter of kittens before she came to us. I've had to keep her in since she came because of her receiving her injections, the last of which she will receive next weekend, then she can go out. The thing is, though, for some reason I'm really worried she goes out and gets lost! None of our cats have ever got lost, so I've no idea why I'm so bothered! Does your Heinz go out and come back ok?

greenmossgiel and shysal thank you so much for your comments. Sorry it's taken me a long time to get back but I've not been very well. Heinz, or Heinz baby, as my 2 GDs call him is doing really well and is a great joy. He's also good company. He came well trained, has good manners, he's just perfect. He follows the sun around our home, enjoying it as he sits on the windowsills watching the world go by. Real biscuit-tin picture stuff. Everyone who visits loves him and he adores all the attention. My SiL calls him the 58th variety!

I've taken the plunge and left the cat flap open and touch wood [there I go again all seems well - at least they both appear innocently from my desk chair and the top of the tall fridge when I open the kitchen door in the morning. But who knows what they get up? I must say since I've had them the local moggies have steered clear of our garden. They are both neutered and recently microchipped - well worth it.

Yes, Greenmossgiel, he was a very large, handsome, black tomcat, his mum, also black, was called Mitzi, alas, both long gone now.

numberplease, I take it that Ivan was the cat....and not a family member?

goldengirl about cat-flaps - we had a problem with a neighbours cat coming in through our cat-flap, terrorising our 2 cats and spraying everywhere! We did some research and found a cat-flap that reads the cat's microchip (I'm assuming that your cat is micro chipped) and only allows our cats to come in. It took us a couple of days to teach them how to use it but it was worthwhile. It actually did us a favour because we discovered that our male cat's microchip had either failed or fallen out - we had to get him chipped again.
Now our cats can come and go as they please.

My daughter had a cat flap because she and her husband were out at work all day, but on two occasions she wished that the cat flap wasn`t there. On one occasion they came home to find that the cats had half devoured a joint of beef that was defrosting for tea. Another time, they arrived home to find that Ivan and his girlfriend were having a bit of nookie in the kitchen!

shysal, I used to leave my catflap open all the time. If I didn't my cat was more distressed because he couldn't get out. Once he'd been out and checked the area, he used to come in and sleep on our bed all night. Like you, we sit back from the road a bit and have a long garden with a large expanse of fields beyond the garden wall. (I've just looked at your pictures! What a lovely garden - and how wonderful to have visiting badgers! Beautiful cats!

The question of the flap is a tricky one. Fortunately I am set back from the road and the cats tend to stay to the rear of the house where they have access to farmland. I tried the 'in but not out' option, but as you say goldengirl they have been pursued by neighbours' cats who were then unable to get out. Together with the howling and scratching of the closed flap by one of my Bengals led me to let them do their own thing , which is usually to spend most of the night indoors.

I was going to ask about cat flaps, and luckily this thread has cropped up - though not as black and white as I'd hoped. We have our 'boys' who have cat flap access in and out during the day but at night I've been locking it so that if they're out they can come in but not go out again. I always send them out for a wee before I go to bed and they have a tray indoors just in case....
It's been worrying me though that they might get followed by a cat / fox as they hurtle / creep through during the night - and that the 'enemy' wouldn't be able to get out again. I've left the cat flap open both ways on occasion [which must have been confusing for them!] but then have lain awake worrying in case they'll get hurt [one has already had a nasty experience with a car, fortunately before I had him].
Touch wood, [so I am superstitious after all ] so far they don't seem to be hunters and I understand they were mostly indoor cats originally.
So, to leave locked or unlocked - that is the question

It is not in a cat's interest to be lost, injured or dead.

As for sick or frail birds only - I wish someone could explain that to the cats. They have never managed to catch a mouse, so perhaps we don't have them? Hah! I remember the cats used to catch field voles (when we lived near a field), but I don't think voles are pests.

Squirrels are not domestic pets, so it would be hard to lock them up, but there are areas where grey squirrels are culled in the interests of native red squirrels. In some areas too, it is permanent open season on grey squirrels.

No jangran you restrict them in YOUR interest.

They usually only catch sick and frail birds and if we didn't have the millions of cats keeping the mice down we would be overrun with them.

Squirrels kill off endangered species but we don't lock them up.

Not entirely sure about the cat flap open all the time idea. It is true that cats want it that way, but - outdoor cats can be in danger of cat haters (one of mine has a permanent pellet lodged in his thigh); traffic (I had one cat injured that way) and getting lost (again, this happened, although I suspect that one of his admirers had decided to take him for a walk and he escaped).

Also, cats are hunters, and sometimes they hunt endangered species. I lock my cats in at night, but I believe that the most dangerous time for hunted animals is dusk and dawn - that is when most cats do the hunting, rather than in the hours of total darkness.

You cannot train cats, but you can restrict them in their own interests.

I actually have a tiny terraced house with a small garden (see my photos), but it backs onto farmland so the wildlife visits all the time, as I leave out peanuts and water.

shysal you must live in a beautiful place!

My cat flap stays unlocked so that the cats can come and go as they please. They all have different habits, but each seems to end up on my bed at some point most nights.
In my garden foxes, muntjac, badgers and cats tolerate each other and show no aggression. I occasionally see all species at the same time.

As some of you know, my cat had to be put to sleep a couple of weeks ago. He was a 'rescue cat' and brought so much love and mischief with him! We always left the cat flap open for him to come and go as he liked - in fact we've done that with all of our cats over the years. We're due to go on holiday next month, and when we come back, we'll be heading for the local Cats' Protection Shelter - we miss having a wee moggie organising the household for us. OTHill, you've made me think now - I'll nip along to the local pet store and get some toys etc for the new 'arrival', whoever he/she may be! I'm sure Heinz will be a happy, happy cat and so lucky to be with you!

Not all cat's like to go out at night my DGs cat like's to curl up and sleep after 9pm and does not like to be disturbed a bit like me really.He is a very big Tom cat and enjoy's his creature comfort's

For goodness sake open the cat flap! Cats are night-hunting animals. They are alert and awake at night and keeping them in, if they have once known the freedom to stroll about at night is cruel. Then in the day every Tom is satisfied and ready to be spoiled and stroked, but come darkness he will ready to be off again - living his own life. A healthy cat must be able to defend himself against a fox. He will know where there are trees and walls to climb.

OTHill, good luck with your new moggie, I hope he brings you years of fun and contentment.
I have recently adopted a brother and sister cat from Cats protection and they are a joy. I too bought new toys, beds etc, and they have used none of them, prefering to play with bottle tops and sleeping on/in my bed!