Accidental Damage To Cat Flap

[wolf63]

My two little furry morons are indoor cats. But if I was able to let them out I would buy a cat flap. I figured that it would be a one-off purchase, but it seems that this is not the case. This cat seems to have accidently damaged his little cat flap.



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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi1DoApL_E4&list=LLA_FFHUmBmZBT_XJTah73lw&index=38

[boxtops]

Definitely not a one-off, wolf - we're on our third. Either they barge through and shoot off the locks (usually trying to get out), or once Black Spot was found up the garden wearing the inner rim like a sort of Hula Hoop....

[Brinjal]

That looks a rather small cat flap. Clever cat.

[Buenchico]

For the past few months I've simply had a 'cat gap', rather than a 'cat flap'.

That's because two fighting moggies blasted the flap off the thing and, as it was getting old and tatty anyway, I decided to replace the whole unit.

I made sure to buy the same make and (what appeared to be) the same model but the lady at the checkout warned me that Staywell had decided to make the hole required in the glass slightly bigger than it used to be.

I tried to fit the new flap but found that it it was just a millimetre or two too big. Since I couldn't just leave a hole with sharp edges in the glass, I then replaced the casing of the old unit, only to over-tighten a screw and put a great big crack across the glass. So I've currently got a sheet of glass in the bottom half of the door, held together with lots of gaffer tape, with just the outer case of a cat flap in it!

[boxtops]

LOL chris - every time we buy one, the hole's a different size.....

[Buenchico]

Thanks, Boxy.

While the kittens were still small I covered the gap with cardboard and sticky tape (which meant that I had to get up several times each night to let Patches in and out!). Initially she went berserk if any of her kittens went anywhere near the door but she eventually started making it clear that she wanted to start teaching them about the big outside world. However I was sure that they were still too young.

Patches finally convinced me that she needed her kittens to be able to play outside when I went to the pub for a few hours one evening. Before I went out I fabricated a new cat barrier made of two really thick pieces of cardboard held together with a layer of stout 'stick fixers'. I fixed that to the remains of the old cat flap with more sticky fixers. Then I put gaffer tape all around the edges. Finally I reinforced the cardboard itself by sticking several layers of gaffer tape all over it, before going out confident in the knowledge that no cat could possibly get through that lot. When I came home there were four kittens, carefully watched over by their mum, happily playing outside! (She'd not been able to remove the cardboard; she'd simply scratched through several layers of gaffer tape, one layer of stout cardboard, a layer of sticky fixers and a further layer of cardboard - I resolved never to disagree with her claws!).

[wolf63]

Black Spot needs to diet.

Chris - Patches sounds hilarious. She will teach her kittens to ignore the stupid human and just do what you want. At least you will never get bored. I hope that the kittens all get on once they get into adulthood. My two tolerate each other and no more. Siblings!!

Brinjal - I think that many people underestimate cats. Neither of mine are Einstein material but Frankie is pretty good at manipulating me and finding food. Princess Stupid is just so stupid that it amazes me that she made it to 9 year old.