Cat Flappery

[Lyn (Slugsta)]

When I lived in a 1ft floor flat my little cat used to go out of the bathroom window (which was off a half landing) and down onto the flat roof of the kitchen below. From there she would get down into the garden, heaven knows how she used to get back up, but she did!

I would love to put some shelves etc up indoors for the cats but hubby won't agree 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

When I got Jaffa and Magpie, I had someone out to give me a quote for fitting a flap in the living room window. The idea was they would climb out onto the outside window ledge and jump down to the ground from there. I'm not sure whether it would have worked and never got to try it as I decided to keep them as indoor cats. I have a neighbour whose cats use the bathroom window to get in and out (ground floor flat).

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Yep, that's what we were thinking, rather than replacing the whole units.

We replaced our front door when we had Ross - paid an extra £80 to have the cat flap fitted (composite door) at the time of manufacture and were very pleased with the job they did.   

[Frances]

Sue, you don’t need to completely replace the patio doors.  If the double glazing has failed you could just replace the glass and have a hole cut in one of the doors at the same time.  I’d try asking smaller companies for prices – they will be used to replacing failed dg and getting their glass supplier to cut the hole is not a biggie. If they do a lot of wooden (sash) windows as well as upvc they will probably be able to fix (or at least improve) the dropped hinges.

I replaced my front and back doors last year – double glazed back door has a cat flap fitted.  I’m currently replacing all the windows – having seen the difference in modern compared to 20 year old technology my original plan of replacing the old glass (with mock Georgian bars ) with plain glass (but not replacing the units) went out the window . 

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

As we're trying to get the two semi feral Gurlcats we have to use the Sureflap microchip scanner flaps we have in the front door and the porch door, I'll admit it hasn't been as simple as it was when we had only the boys. 

The Gurlies are flighty and easily spooked, and "going out the back" through the open patio doors has been their usual exit and entrance to the house.  Our patio doors, as some may know, are a bit the worse for wear.  The DG units have failed, they get a bit misted up, and they've dropped slightly on their hinges requiring a fiendish "shoulder-to-the-door, lift-and-wiggle" technique to open and close them properly.

So, we're considering whether we should just bite the bullet and get another sureflap put in the patio doors, and to hell with the fact it will ruin the units completely.  Replacing the whole unit is unfortunately out of our price league just now, with the cheapest quote coming in at ver £2,000    (they're hardwood units - yes, we could get them replaced with white UPVC ones, for a fraction of the cost, but it wouldn't work with the rest of the house.)

So whilst we're contemplating this further act of madness in pursuit of Cat Happiness, I got to browsing the net (as I do from time to time) and noting all of the wonderful solutions people all over the world have devised for ensuring the cats who prefer to live s indoor/outdoor, can come and go as they please.  Some are wholly ingenious!

Check out some of these:

http://catladder.blogspot.co.uk/

https://uk.pinterest.com/olive434/cat-walks-ladders-and-spaces/

I know people who've had ladders fitted into windows and provided ramps and staircases to let their cats access them, and I'm also debating whether we could punch a hole in the only small available space we have by the patio doors.

Anyone got any creative ideas or examples of their own for inspiration?