How to Stop Other Cats Coming Through Your Cat Flap

Cat flaps make life so much easier for many people because having one fitted on a kitchen or other door, allows for our feline friends to come and go as they please. You can keep your pet in for the night when needed, especially when things might get a bit noisy outside whether it's Halloween, bomb fire night or over the festive season, by simply locking the flap so pussy cat can't get out. However, there is a downside to having a cat flap fitted which is that other cats can get into your home too and this can be a real problem.

The Problem Neighbour's Cat

A recent survey carried out here in the UK showed that quite a high percentage of people have a problem with a neighbour's cat, sometimes not even letting their cat come out of a cat flap when they want to go out into the garden. If the owner's cat did manage to get outside, they were immediately chased back inside by the neighbour's cat and worse still, the neighbour's cat would follow them into the home so they could fight with them.

The problem many people face is what to do about it and how to go about making sure their cat is not being bullied by a neighbouring or other cat in the area, which can prove quite problematic. The other thing you need to establish is why other cats come into your home.

The research carried out came up with the following reasons why cats tend to go into other people's homes:

• 25% of cats will use a cat flap to gain access to your home because they are looking for food
• 21% of cats come into your home in search of attention
• 21% of cats gain access to your home because they are looking for shelter
• 18% of cats go into someone else's house so they can fight with the resident cat

Understanding a Cat's Nature

It's important to understand a cat's nature, some of them are extremely inquisitive and others are real extroverts which means they just love visiting their neighbours. There are some cats that never cause a problem and which are therefore welcomed into the home when they do decide to visit. However, there are others that become a real nuisance because they steal food, they mark their territory and in a worse case scenario, they fight with the resident cat, causing them injuries and stress.

The survey also showed that food played a vital role in why cats fight when a strange cat entered into another cat's home. Many owners leave food down for their pets because they know cats have small stomachs and need to eat anything from ten to twenty times in any one day. Therefore their cats are never that hungry and will not go in search of food in other people's houses.

However, if cats are fed just twice a day by their owners, this increases the chances of their pets going in search of a meal somewhere else and the easiest way is to go through a neighbour's cat flap and help themselves to the food they know will always be there.

Solution

The solution is to ensure cats are fed ad-lib in order to prevent them from being hungry enough to go to a neighbour's house in search of a meal. The problem is that some cats are greedier than others so by leaving food down for them all the time increases the chances of their becoming obese.

Don't Interact with Neighbouring Cats

It would be virtually impossible to stop a neighbour's cat from coming into your garden. However, you should avoid interacting with them and never offer them any food as this will only encourage them to come more often which could mean they end up going into your house which could stress out your own cat. Other things you need to do which would help prevent a neighbour's cat from coming into your home includes the following:

• Make sure all pet food is well away from the cat flap
• Try to avoid letting your cat into the home through an open window which may encourage another cat to do the same
• Invest in a top quality secure cat flap that only opens when your pet approaches because of the link in their microchip – bear in mind that cats are clever and some will follow your cat so closely they still manage to get through the flap. The other thing to bear in mind is that if your cat stays close to the cat flap, it won't be locked!

The other advantage of installing a secure cat flap is that you can keep your pet in at certain times of the day, namely first thing in the morning and last thing at night when they are more likely to catch any wild birds that regularly visit your garden.

Conclusion

Keeping unwanted cats out of your home means investing in a good quality secure cat flap and not interacting with any pussy cats that regularly visit your garden. Cats are very clever creatures and they are also quite persistent which is why you need to nip a problem in the bud because once a neighbour's cat makes a habit of gaining access to your home, the routine would be very hard to break.