Trixie:- the flaps

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Trixie:- the flaps

Postby vannin » Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:39 pm

Cat flap or be intruded upon? The year 2011

Trixie came to me as a year-old rescue cat in April last year, so she is two years and two months.

I had help with reinstating a cat flap which had been boarded up since our last cat died six years ago. All was well until a horrible smelly tom became a very unwelcome visitor last year. My cat was very good at 'seeing him off' and really hated him, having probably been attacked in the early days. As he left us alone for a while in Winter, I deferred changing to a magnetic-type flap as I really disliked the thought of inflicting a collar on Trixie.

Back he came before Easter,sneaking in to eat her food, and when one day he tried and was chased off, between them, the cats broke the flap off its hinge. In this emergency, I got a basic Staywell fitted as quickly as possible, still not wanting to introduce the magnets-on-collars to go with a magnetic flap. I had to overcome this, three weeks ago, and get the Staywell 400 plus spare collars and magnets.

In the first 24 hours, she limped home, having put her leg through the collar (which had NOT been loose) so it was round her chest and armpit. I was annoyed with the makers because this collar which had been supplied with the catflap, was called a 'safety snap-open coller' but was not. Since then, in the three weeks, two new safety collars with magnets have been lost 'somewhere' - probably in the woods, and another was left carefully on the kitchen floor last night! Enough is enough and this morning, having bought a last collar and two magnets, I enquired about the catflap that operates by 'reading' the cat's microchip ID.

So far £140 had been spent on the three flaps, Handy-person fees for fitting them, and collars and magnets. I don't begrudge it, because she is special, like all our cats. The new 'electronic' one will be about £74 plus the labour of an electronically-minded 'fitter' and I would have gone for this in the first place if I had known someone with the know-how to do it!! (Early May)

Add-on (a month later) I found catflapman who covers the south of England and cost a 'discounted' £80. Altogether the four flaps and three sets of labour plus collars/magnets, have amounted to £300. It took Trixie three weeks to learn how to use the microchip-activated flap and in that time, full of doubts, I often had to leave it taped open, defeating the object of the exercise. It was so she would not have to stay 'locked-out' all night. But the smelly strays came in then (I left only the kitchen open, containing Trixie's bed) made themselves at home so she went right off me AND the kitchen of course.

Conclusion. She has learned the knack and uses the flap, enjoys her home, and from all accounts, both male and female strays are dead.......one by RTA and the other by trap.
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Re: Trixie:- the flaps

Postby Monsy » Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:56 am

It's a shame you had to go to these lengths to protect your home, but Tom cats do make a terrible stink.

How we love our pets, eh?
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