Kittens and Catflaps

For many years now we have had only non-pedigree cats and kittens, the nearest to a pedigree being rescued Siamese/Chinchilla (we are 99% sure) cross, Sylva. Now, non-pedigree cats are, generally, pretty quick on the uptake, comes from those wild roots, from never knowing where the next meal is coming from, from ancestors living on their wits. OK, there is the odd Winnie the Pooh (bear of little brain), such as our Aslan, handsome face, beautiful eyes, lovely ears, not much in between them, but, on the whole, they catch on quite early. Certainly our experience has been that most of them don’t need any assistance to use the cat flap (to a safe, secure back garden cats’ playground), they watch the others and soon figure out just how they are getting from inside the bungalow to outside in the garden and by 5 months old absolute maximum they are in and out with the rest of them as often as they want during daylight hours (the flap is locked from evening meal to breakfast).

After much deliberation and searching, in the late summer of 2007, after 13 years of owning and showing non-pedigree cats, and, in my case at least, after 33 years of owning non-pedigree cats, we obtained our very first pedigree kittens, usual story, went for one, couldn’t decide, came back with two. Adorable kittens, irresistible, Selkirk Rex, a fairly new breed, only arrived in the UK in 2002, not yet at championship status under GCCF rules so a challenge on the show front. Half brothers, Jack (Crinkles Jack Frost) and Josh (Crinkles Reed), aged 181/2 and 141/2 weeks respectively. Now, most people “in the know” will tell you that Selkirks are not always the brightest buttons in the box, lovely cats, affectionate, but with a tendency to lie on the back of the sofa and fall off. Or, in Jack’s case, go asleep on the mantelpiece, roll over and fall off. So we weren’t expecting miracles,

At first they were not at all bothered about going out, nor curious about where the other cats suddenly disappeared to through the wall of the study, although after a while they did sit on the inside doorstep and gaze longingly through the glass door at their new friends playing and climbing outside. Then, one day, Josh shot through the door after us as we went out to the garage room. It was still warm, and bright, and dry, so we let Jack out too, bringing them both in after 5 minutes, just a “taster” at this stage. From then on they would shoot out after us at every opportunity, they loved it. We let them out for longer each time, unless it was very cold or wet, when they would be “confined to barracks” and wondered how long it would take them to work out the cat flap. Josh in particular would watch with interest as each cat disappeared through the flap, then would gaze in amazement as the cat in question suddenly reappeared on the other side of the door. Outside! He would go and look at the cat flap again, but still he could not seem to figure it out. He obviously believed that all his new feline family were miracle workers and magicians of the highest degree!

Then one day in December 2007, as they reached the ages of 61/2 and 71/2 months old, by which age any self respecting moggy would have been popping in and out for a minimum of 6 weeks, if not a lot longer, Pat phoned me at work - “guess who’s figured out the cat flap!!!!”. It was Josh, of course, younger but ever so slightly brighter (not that that was saying much), than Jack, who does handsome very well but intelligence not quite to the same degree. Both kittens spent the day running happily in and out. Good job it was not raining, and that they did not have a show to go to – picture the scenario, wet day, mossy run (just waiting for a dry enough spell to get it power-washed) , kittens now using the cat flap – for newly bathed red kittens with pale ginger feet read newly bathed red kittens with green feet!

Thrilled that they had, finally, worked it out, I excitedly texted two close friends with the good news, then upon my return home went eagerly into the office to watch the kittens’ exercising their newly found skill. At going through a hole in the wall where the cat flap used to be. (Pat is to be excused her error as she is partially sighted). Oh. Perhaps they weren’t quite so bright after all, although, in all fairness, they had worked out how to get through a gaping hole from the study to the garden. Who broke the cat flap is still a mystery but the finger points at 18lb Douglas. It has been a bit of a squeeze for this super sized cat to get through a medium cat sized cat flap for a while. Anyway, damage done, not only to the cat flap but also to the kittens’ pride, no point in crying over spoilt cat flaps. Off to the nearest pet superstore to buy a replacement but in the meantime we left the hole open and refitted the cat flap at night – this could be done by prising the frame open a bit and slotting the flap back in but it would then only move if pushed hard which some of the cats managed but the kittens were bemused. One minute they could run in and out through a hole, the next there was this immoveable barrier, yet some of the others could still pass though it. What was going on???

In the past, whenever a flap has been damaged beyond repair, we have simply bought another of the same type and size, removed the inner surround and flap and replaced it with the new inner surround and flap. Simple. But the last time we had found the need to replace it had been over four years ago – pre Douglas - so this time I read the boxes carefully and discovered that medium cat sized cat flaps were “suitable for cats up to 7kg (15lbs) in weight”. Er ………. OK, look at the big cat sized flap. “Cats up to 10kg (22lbs)" – just the job! Having measured, I reckoned we might just fit it in, so took a chance and purchased it. Got it home, tried it for size, and discovered that whilst the existing hole would be big enough, the flap would have to be off centre slightly to fit in and that a small area of external brick would have to be removed to allow the flap to open fully.

My DIY skills are not what they used to be (my excuse is that I have an important “0” birthday fast approaching) so we called upon our local gardener/handyman/DJ (yes, DJ), Leon, to see what he could do. Leon came armed with cutter and tools and as he was measuring up the job outside I removed the remains of the cat flap from the inside. To find an even larger hole and one which, moreover, did not in any way fit with the new cat flap. Now without seeing the room you may have difficulty imagining this but the hole in the wall is adjacent to the end of a fitted wardrobe top box support (the study used to be the spare bedroom) and, this stands about 3 inches proud of the wall. The hole is right up against this support and for the new flap to fit we would have had to make a new hole further to the left, have found a way of filling in part of the original hole and replaster the area to take screws etc, and all this if we could leave enough room between the edge of the new hole and the electric socket.

All was beginning to look impossible until Pat had a bright idea (she does occasionally). Why not get some wood, make a sort of framework around the existing hole, and screw the flap onto that? Leon considered this, we did some measuring and after a brief trip to the local DIY superstore, came back armed with a length of wood, screws and wall plugs. I would like to say at this point that all then went according to plan, that the job was done in 15 minutes and that it was a doddle. But this is our house we are talking about (OK, bungalow then, 10 out of 10 for observation) and things never, ever go according to plan (and if you don’t believe that then just take a look at the “Dream Kitchen” story elsewhere on the website). Over an hour, several rethinks and a lot of sweat later the job was, finally, done. Not the neatest of jobs, not the most attractive of jobs, not the cheapest of cat flaps either (cost of flap equalled by cost of labour even though Leon is cheap, and then extra materials to add on top – wood etc) but after a bit of filler here and there to seal the gaps and stop the draughts, and after a lick of paint, it will be just fine.

And the cats, especially big D? Singularly unimpressed with all our efforts and expense on their behalf. Douglas hasn’t even looked at it yet and the others, with the sole exception of Vincent who is out there as I write, are still trying to work out how to get out as the magnetic closure on it is far stronger than the other one was. They come in and sniff at the outside air filtering in though the gaps, decide the gaps are too small (even an anorexic mouse would have trouble), stare out through the cat flap and wander off. All my attempts at assistance – holding them and gently pushing the flap open with their paws and/or heads - have come to naught; they give me that feline “you have to be joking” look and stalk off in disgust. And the kittens? They have just resorted to staring out longingly through the door before finding somewhere comfortable to sleep. Ah well, tomorrow is another day and maybe by the time they are 6 years old they will have worked it all out.

UPDATE The day after and several of them have finally got to grips with the new flap, alas, still not poor Douglas, for whose benefit the whole exercise has been. He strolls in, looks at it, then turns round and walks off, giving it the "Far too much like hard work" look. Vincent, who did fine last night, took a while to remember what it was all about but has mastered it now; little Max was OK after being shown how to push it open; Peppurr, who we thought would have problems as she always pulled the other one open instead of pushing it, is also fine; Dancer has coped, as have Toby, Rascal and several others, and we are still not quite sure if Darius is the cleverest or the least observant of the lot, as he shot straight through without even stopping to look, though whether that was because he sussed it at once or because he didn't actually notice it had changed is still under debate! Jack has been watching them come and go intently but then just looks at them through the glass door, so we think the Selkirk usage of the flap is still some time away but .... watch this space!

FINAL UPDATE (2009)They all eventually got used to it within a few days, even Jack, who we let out one day, then, after 10 minutes went to find, only to see him snoozing on the sofa. He had worked out how to get in but it took him another few weeks to work out how to get out!!!! Josh, being, as I said, the slightly more intelligent worked it out sooner and was coming and going for a good month before Jack sussed it. The one who put them all to shame, however, was later addition and another half brother, Murphy (Curlu Nate). He had it all sorted at 17.5 weeks old!!!!!