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Cat flap in greenhouse door?

BeefleyBeefley Posts: 52
in Problem solving
Has anyone managed to put a cat flap in their greenhouse door?  Long story short, neighbour's cat has taken to living in our greenhouse, mainly because he doesn't like their 10 (!) other cats and various dogs .....   We are happy for him to come and go as he pleases and he has a warm box in there to sleep in if need be (the neighbour knows he is here), but obviously with winter about to set in properly it's too cold to leave the door ajar, both for the cat and for the plants that are in there.     Has anyone put a cat flap in a greenhouse door?  I've googled it but it doesn't come up with much, other than some guy who put a homemade "out" only cat flap in so cats didn't get trapped inside his.  Thanks in advance.

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Posts

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    Replace the glass in the door with polycarbonate and cut a cat flap size hole in that.  Should be pretty straightforward to do - famous last words!
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Will the neighbours finance this venture?  Does it normally go "home" for food?

    My answer is send it home.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    edited November 2022
    We have a cat that has adopted us. He has a perfectly good home, but with another cat and a poodle. He prefers to sleep under a dismantled compost heap against a fence , or on a  chair under the parasol in summer. After a year of chasing him round the house, we gave in. He has one space on an old quilt in the front bedroom he uses for a long nap every three days or so. The rest of the time he has an outside kennel raised off the ground on a table.  It has a cushion in it.  His owners fetch him in a cage to go to the vets every now and then.  This ones called Ollie as well.
  • BeefleyBeefley Posts: 52
    Thanks all.   "Our" cat sounds like the two Ollies.   We have tried many times to reunite him with his owners, but he is normally back at our house before we are.  He is a beautiful, friendly cat and I expect we'll end up formally adopting him, as his owners are indifferent at best. 
  • KiliKili Posts: 1,104
    @Beefley   I'd suggest you confirm that the cat will use a cat flap before you go to all the trouble of fitting one. Our cat simply refuses to use our cat flap. I have to wedge it up with a cardboard tube else she just sits looking at it all day. Maybe speak to the owners to confirm.

    'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.

    George Bernard Shaw'

  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    Going to stick my neck out on this one. Firstly,did the cat or owner say he dislikes the other animals? If I were you, I would speak to present owners,then if its agreed, the cat is yours. The food,vet Bills, insurance. Is there any reason why you would just want it in the green house? We always had 2 dogs and 2 cats, they all got on absolutely fine. I have had cats taken over by neighbours, several times ( I still paid all the outgoings) same with my oldest daughters beautiful cat,she's moving in a couple of weeks,and cannot get him back. My friend next door, she has "taken over", 2 cats, told me the owners were fine about it........until they both separately,(one lived opposite, the other round the corner) turned up on her doorstep to give her what for. She was most indignant!! I had my daughters cat last time she moved,4 years ago. He had never used a cat flap ( we've had dog flaps 25 years) we gave him a litter box,were keeping him in the conservatory. I actually saw him watch the dogs go out,and follow them!  
  • EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
    Nanny Beach said:
    Going to stick my neck out on this one. Firstly,did the cat or owner say he dislikes the other animals? If I were you, I would speak to present owners,then if its agreed, the cat is yours. The food,vet Bills, insurance. Is there any reason why you would just want it in the green house? We always had 2 dogs and 2 cats, they all got on absolutely fine. I have had cats taken over by neighbours, several times ( I still paid all the outgoings) same with my oldest daughters beautiful cat,she's moving in a couple of weeks,and cannot get him back. My friend next door, she has "taken over", 2 cats, told me the owners were fine about it........until they both separately,(one lived opposite, the other round the corner) turned up on her doorstep to give her what for. She was most indignant!! I had my daughters cat last time she moved,4 years ago. He had never used a cat flap ( we've had dog flaps 25 years) we gave him a litter box,were keeping him in the conservatory. I actually saw him watch the dogs go out,and follow them!  
    I wonder if your friend got the impression that the neighbours were OK with her adoption of their cats due to a misunderstanding. She might have said something like “your cat seems to love our greenhouse/back bedroom/shed, he pretty much lives with us now, doesn’t he?” They laughed and said that’s fine. She assumed that they didn’t care if she took over their cat, but they thought  she was just having a friendly, jokey chat about their wandering moggy. Hence the confusion when they had a go at her a bit further down the line for trying to steal their cat from them. Because, how do you really know that someone is indifferent to their pets unless they’ve said so in plain terms? It’s too easy to  believe what you want to be the case, and with with neighbours it can get a bit awkward.
    Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


  • CrankyYankeeCrankyYankee Posts: 504
    There are all kinds of weatherproof boxes you could fashion for the cat - what about doing that and leaving it near the greenhouse?  If you have something he's been sleeping on already, you can put that in it so it smells familiar, too.  Most feral cat organizations have great instructions for setting them up.

    New England, USA
    Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    pansyface said:
    I’ve met that problem, Kili, especially with the flaps that are linked to the cats’ microchips. They don’t like the click, I think.

    Does your cat have an absolute favourite food? Our new cat would sell her soul for a thin shaving of gjetöst cheese.

     We stuck tiny bits of it round the flap so that she became accustomed to the noise when her head got close to the flap.

    After a few days (and quite a bit of cheese) she finally managed to go through it. 😊

    Would it really be necessary to have a such a setup for a greenhouse catflap?  Surely all that is required is a method of entry and exit which it will use.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Having flipped through this thread, and also the one about litter.  Cats, ugh!!!
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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