Generally speaking, cat doors are great. They allow our pet cats to come and go as they please without us having to open and close the door every time they want to leave or re-enter the house.
There is also the option of locking a cat door so you can keep your cat inside; for example at night time or during events such a bonfire night when they may get scared.
Occasionally, there may be an issue with a cat door, especially when unwanted visitors start to appear – unwanted cats may cause the following problems:
- Eating your cat’s food
- Spray marking your walls or furniture
- Fighting with your cat, possibly causing injury and stress
To work out how to stop other cats coming through your cat door, you need to understand a bit about the nature of cats.
Why do other cats come into my house?
Curiosity: We all know that cats are curious by nature, some cats simply wish to explore their neighbourhood and find new human friends to get attention from. These cats are sometimes welcomed into houses by other cats’ owners, as they don’t appear to pose a threat to the resident cat.
Hunger: Other cats may go searching for food. Cats have small stomachs and therefore need to eat up to 20 small meals throughout the day. If a cat is only fed once or twice a day by it’s owner, it will likely go off looking for food elsewhere.
Conflict: One of the most disruptive reasons for a cat entering another home is to fight. Dominant cats may wish to enter other cats’ homes to seek out the resident cat and fight. It is also possible that a dominant cat will spray mark to further assert its dominance. These cats may be attracted to any food that is left out in the home, particularly if they are only fed twice a day by their owner.
Cats are creatures of habit, once another cat starts using your cat door, it can be very difficult to break the routine.
What can you, as a cat owner, do to prevent other cats from coming through your cat door? Read on to find out…
How can I prevent unwanted cat visitors?
Follow the steps below to keep out unwanted cat visitors:
- Ignore other cats. Even if your neighbours’ cats are friendly, you shouldn’t give them attention if they come into your garden. You should also never feed them, as this will only encourage them to keep coming back, and could make them more likely to enter your home uninvited.
- Only let your cat use the door as an entry/exit. Try to avoid letting your cat use an open window to gain access to your home. Other cats may see this and decide it’s the purrfect way for them to enter too.
- Keep cat food out of sight. Make sure that all cat food is placed well away from the cat door, if passing cats look in and see the food they will find it difficult to resist entering.
- Contemplate getting a new cat door. Consider upgrading an old cat door to a modern, secure cat door. Pet Tek offers a range of multi-magnetic cat doors. These cat doors help to prevent stray cats from entering your home by the attachment of a small magnet to your cat’s collar. This activates the multi-magnetic system in the door and allows entry. Once the cat has entered, the locking latch repositions itself. The benefits of the multi magnetic cat door system are:
- No batteries are required, meaning lower running costs and no chance of your cat getting locked out due to battery failure.
- A four-way locking system allows for owner flexibility around pet movements.
- Generous sized flap opening.
- Flap is manufactured from durable, high impact polycarbonate.
- Wood and glass fitting models available
If you follow the steps above you can minimise the chances of unwanted cats coming through your cat door.
Pet-tek International Ltd (PTIL) was established in 1999 to manufacture quality pet doors. All our products are manufactured with the emphasis on quality. PTIL currently exports to over 20 countries either to sole agent distributors or specialist end users of pet doors. If you are a wholesaler to the pet industry, glass industry, a DIY chain, garden centre or a specialist pet door installer please make contact to obtain more distributor information.