Seeking help with microchip selective large Catflap

sunshineclare · Feb 24, 2017

Hi guys,
Hoping you can help. We have 3 cats. 2 are Maine coon kittens so likely to grow large. All 3 are microchipped.

We'd like to get Catflap that only lets our microchipped 3 in or out. We especially liked this one:
https://fetch.co.uk/sureflap-dualscan-microchip-cat-flap-296472011 As you can keep some in and let others out at the same time.

Only problem is the actual flap part is really small.

Does anyone know of a Catflap maybe in the USA that does the above but with a larger flap? Thank you if you can help! Xx

Willowy · Feb 24, 2017

Look for one sold for dogs. You should be able to find a variety of sizes. I'm not sure if the microchips in England and the ones in the US are compatible, so be sure to check that before you buy one.

Like this one from the same site

: https://fetch.co.uk/sureflap-microchip-pet-door-296477011

betsygee · Feb 24, 2017

sunshineclare said:
Hi guys,
Hoping you can help. We have 3 cats. 2 are Maine coon kittens so likely to grow large. All 3 are microchipped.

We'd like to get Catflap that only lets our microchipped 3 in or out. We especially liked this one:
https://fetch.co.uk/sureflap-dualscan-microchip-cat-flap-296472011 As you can keep some in and let others out at the same time.

Only problem is the actual flap part is really small.

Does anyone know of a Catflap maybe in the USA that does the above but with a larger flap? Thank you if you can help! Xx

I wanted the same thing--selective but in a larger size. I emailed the SureFlap company and they said they had no plans to make it in a larger time at this time.

That was about six months ago, I think.

sunshineclare · Feb 24, 2017

Willowy said:
Look for one sold for dogs. You should be able to find a variety of sizes. I'm not sure if the microchips in England and the ones in the US are compatible, so be sure to check that before you buy one.

Like this one from the same site : https://fetch.co.uk/sureflap-microchip-pet-door-296477011

Willowy thanks I already saw that one the size is perfect but it doesn't do the same thing. You can only set the times you want ALL cats to be able to use it or not.

The smaller one we can have our 6 yr old neutered moggy going in and out however he wants and the kittens staying in as they're not neutered yet. We are hoping to have one litter of kittens as my boyfriends elderly mum would love a cat to keep her company and another friend recently lost her mum and life partner and they had 5 Burmese cats, all lived to over 15 yrs old and all are in kitty heaven now, would love to give her one or 2 beautiful new souls to love and care for xx

We will definitely get them neutered if the female doesn't get pregnant on her next heat, but also the cat flap we have, lol, there's been this really sweet neighbouring black and white cat outside last week or so it's ever so sweet. I think the kitty word has spread we have great cat food lol... The simple flap we have is set to in only so we let the moggy out when he asks and the kittens in unless we too are outside which isn't much as its sooooo cold now!! Anyway I got home and this other cat was trapped in our kitchen couldn't get out lol!' It looked guilty and worried and I stroked it, went to get it some food which it didn't eat - lol I know I shouldn't feed it but it's sooooo sweet... I let it out and it's not been back since!! But anyway just thought a cat flap would be great but at £80 want it to be big enough!!

sunshineclare · Feb 24, 2017

I did also think maybe us and uk microchips might not be compatible thank you for mentioning that. Just figured most things are bigger and better in America so more choice hopefully [emoji]128578[/emoji]

sunshineclare · Feb 24, 2017

betsygee said:
I wanted the same thing--selective but in a larger size. I emailed the SureFlap company and they said they had no plans to make it in a larger time at this time.

:slant: That was about six months ago, I think.

Yes Betsy gee thank you I called them too a few weeks ago and they said they were planning to make the same selective one bigger but not any time soon. Silly really as it can't be that hard!!

sunshineclare · Feb 24, 2017

image.jpeg

sunshineclare
Feb 24, 2017

Here's the kittens!! Mojo on the left, Mia on the right. Xxx

betsygee · Feb 24, 2017

sunshineclare said:
image.jpeg

sunshineclare

Feb 24, 2017

Here's the kittens!! Mojo on the left, Mia on the right. Xxx

Awww, so cute.

sunshineclare · Feb 24, 2017

Asked about sizes for this https://www.viovet.co.uk/Cat_Mate_Elite_Chip_Disc_Super_Selective_Cat_Flap/c27324/ will update when they reply [emoji]128578[/emoji]

talkingpeanut · Feb 25, 2017

sunshineclare said:
Willowy thanks I already saw that one the size is perfect but it doesn't do the same thing. You can only set the times you want ALL cats to be able to use it or not.

The smaller one we can have our 6 yr old neutered moggy going in and out however he wants and the kittens staying in as they're not neutered yet. We are hoping to have one litter of kittens as my boyfriends elderly mum would love a cat to keep her company and another friend recently lost her mum and life partner and they had 5 Burmese cats, all lived to over 15 yrs old and all are in kitty heaven now, would love to give her one or 2 beautiful new souls to love and care for xx

We will definitely get them neutered if the female doesn't get pregnant on her next heat, but also the cat flap we have, lol, there's been this really sweet neighbouring black and white cat outside last week or so it's ever so sweet. I think the kitty word has spread we have great cat food lol... The simple flap we have is set to in only so we let the moggy out when he asks and the kittens in unless we too are outside which isn't much as its sooooo cold now!! Anyway I got home and this other cat was trapped in our kitchen couldn't get out lol!' It looked guilty and worried and I stroked it, went to get it some food which it didn't eat - lol I know I shouldn't feed it but it's sooooo sweet... I let it out and it's not been back since!! But anyway just thought a cat flap would be great but at £80 want it to be big enough!!

Sorry, how old are they now?

sunshineclare · Feb 25, 2017

The female is exactly one year old TODAY [emoji]128578[/emoji][emoji]128578[/emoji][emoji]128512[/emoji][emoji]128512[/emoji][emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]10084[/emoji]️ The boy was the runt of a litter of 7, so he is smaller than her but super stocky[emoji]128512[/emoji] He is younger though only 10 months old. They're ever so close though and very sweet together. They both get on great with the older male too. I know what you're going to say talkingpeanut to just get them both neutered and we were intending doing that when we got them both, we never intended on having kittens at all we just wanted some pets of our own as we hadn't adopted the next door cat at that time. Mia the female is a super sweet, gentle soul and she was very timid when we first got her.

We've had her since she was about 11 or 12 weeks old. So around last July. She's only now starting to be a bit braver and friendlier. We are both self employed so are home a lot during the day we we've really bonded with them both.

I've read mixed reviews that it's better for the female to let them have 3 heats before neutering. Others say there's more risk of manmary cancer if they don't get neutered. Some say both males and females grow faster, develop stronger bones, get bigger, etc both without and with neutering at various stages. There really is so much conflicting info out there.

I've also read that professional breeders say don't let mum cat get pregnant until around 18 months old. Not sure if that age would be higher or lower with Maine Coons. We thought that's not a great life for a cat being kept in essentially isolation all that time so we let ours mix indoors.

One thing I completely agree with is to not let cats just Do whatever being neutered. We just didn't have the heart to do it when she was just learning to be friendlier and trust us more! Even before she came on heat she hardly went out even when we were outside in the garden!

Phone about to die..!

sunshineclare · Feb 25, 2017

Got a charger! Sorry the last paragraph was supposed to say I agree cats should be neutered ASAP, as there's already far too many cats in the world.

We have a great animal shelter near us, we live in london uk. I tried to volunteer for them taking dogs for walks but like most things in london there's a huge waiting list!! Seems there's way more volunteers than dogs needing walks there! I'll ask about cats. The reason I didn't was the person I spoke to was the dog person and cat person was busy!!

I've been reading loads of the kitten threads on here to learn as much as I can about it! You guys are super helpful! As I said above the main reason for thinking about kittens was my boyfriends mum and my good friend. We are not in any way doing it for money, we just love cats. We tried to adopt my boyfriends mum a rescue cat from battersea cats and dogs home, one of the most famous homes in london. They insisted on her coming in personally. She's 85, 95% wheelchair bound, it's about 45 mins -60 mins from her house in west london to them depending on traffic and she can have toilet issues so didn't want to do the drive. Her carer, her son, my boyfriends brother came to their interview and they liked him but refused him to even meet any cats as she wasn't there.

We my boyfriend and I adopted a cat from there, but sadly he didn't get on AT ALL with the cat we have now adopted, see my post "grumpy cat" that i don't think anyone replied to! So we ended up spending around £150 to battersea and took the cat back as there's lots of other neighbouring cats in our area and he wouldn't have been happy. I don't mind they money as they do great work; after that we decided to get a kitten and then a friend for her [emoji]128578[/emoji] Mojo is small and doesn't really know what to do yet. He tried a little last time she was in heat but wasn't long enough and kept falling off and trying to cuddle instead, lol!!

So we are hoping nature will take its course in a slightly delayed way as we read Maine Coons develop slower, and male cats are "ready" later than females, as he was so small when we first got him we were never worried about her getting pregnant as he was completely not interested and she only had her first heat just after the new year aged around 10/11 months.

I said to you before I was intending to start a new thread about this... As this was about large cat flaps, lol! Just been reading and learning and purraising people [emoji]128578[/emoji]

talkingpeanut · Feb 25, 2017

sunshineclare said:
Got a charger! Sorry the last paragraph was supposed to say I agree cats should be neutered ASAP, as there's already far too many cats in the world.

We have a great animal shelter near us, we live in london uk. I tried to volunteer for them taking dogs for walks but like most things in london there's a huge waiting list!! Seems there's way more volunteers than dogs needing walks there! I'll ask about cats. The reason I didn't was the person I spoke to was the dog person and cat person was busy!!

I've been reading loads of the kitten threads on here to learn as much as I can about it! You guys are super helpful! As I said above the main reason for thinking about kittens was my boyfriends mum and my good friend. We are not in any way doing it for money, we just love cats. We tried to adopt my boyfriends mum a rescue cat from battersea cats and dogs home, one of the most famous homes in london. They insisted on her coming in personally. She's 85, 95% wheelchair bound, it's about 45 mins -60 mins from her house in west london to them depending on traffic and she can have toilet issues so didn't want to do the drive. Her carer, her son, my boyfriends brother came to their interview and they liked him but refused him to even meet any cats as she wasn't there.

We my boyfriend and I adopted a cat from there, but sadly he didn't get on AT ALL with the cat we have now adopted, see my post "grumpy cat" that i don't think anyone replied to! So we ended up spending around £150 to battersea and took the cat back as there's lots of other neighbouring cats in our area and he wouldn't have been happy. I don't mind they money as they do great work; after that we decided to get a kitten and then a friend for her [emoji]128578[/emoji] Mojo is small and doesn't really know what to do yet. He tried a little last time she was in heat but wasn't long enough and kept falling off and trying to cuddle instead, lol!!

So we are hoping nature will take its course in a slightly delayed way as we read Maine Coons develop slower, and male cats are "ready" later than females, as he was so small when we first got him we were never worried about her getting pregnant as he was completely not interested and she only had her first heat just after the new year aged around 10/11 months.

I said to you before I was intending to start a new thread about this... As this was about large cat flaps, lol! Just been reading and learning and purraising people [emoji]128578[/emoji]

My first question is whether the breeders of both of your cats are supportive of you breeding. Do you have rights?

Your female should not have a litter until she is 18 months old. This is especially true for a breed that is slow to develop.

You also can't count on your boy being a late bloomer. Your girl could have silent heats, or they could mate before you realize she's in heat.

It's not safe to carry on as you are now.

sunshineclare · Feb 25, 2017

Hi talking peanut,

The breeders of both our cats aren't the super cat show pedigree type contract breeders. We don't have any contracts.!

We looked at some of those and didn't go down that road for various reasons:

- they all insisted we keep the cats indoors for life. We didn't want to do that. I can see how Maine coons could easily be run over by cars as ours don't seem to realise danger like that! I know they only say that because they've invested so much time, energy and money into their kittens and only want the very best for them. As do we. They can't get out the front at all. I grew up in the countryside with a cat and dog and couldn't imagine keeping a cat indoors unless it was injured or ill. Mojo loves going outdoors so much! Mia not so much but she likes having a tentative sniff around!!

sunshineclare · Feb 25, 2017

- we both personally think cat shows must be awfully traumatic for cats! I've never been to one so don't know, but just looking at pictures and summaries of them online and reading websites of these various cat associations, just seems a strange environment for cats! So much travelling? Loads of hectic noise? Long days? Waiting around? Being preened and measured and weighed and ogled...? I don't envy cats having to do that! Please share your thoughts if I'm missing something and cats love it! I can't see how they would!!

sunshineclare · Feb 25, 2017

What's the scientific reasoning behind females not having a litter until 18 months old, other than their bodies are fully grown and developed? Or maybe that's the reason! It does seem mad that cats could get pregnant as young as 4 months. They were revered in ancient Egypt weren't they fit their breeding prowess!

sunshineclare · Feb 25, 2017

Fit = for!

talkingpeanut · Feb 25, 2017

sunshineclare said:
What's the scientific reasoning behind females not having a litter until 18 months old, other than their bodies are fully grown and developed? Or maybe that's the reason! It does seem mad that cats could get pregnant as young as 4 months. They were revered in ancient Egypt weren't they fit their breeding prowess!

Yes, you are right that they are not mentally or physically prepared until at least 18 months. If you want to keep intact cats of both genders, you need to have separate quarters set up for each of them. It is not safe for them to be both normal family pets and to be used for breeding.

In terms of cat shows, I've never advocated that. With most reputable breeders, you do have to enter a contract that you will treat your kitten a certain way. Most do want their cats indoors only. Almost all require that you spay and neuter. This is to ensure that their cats are treated well, but also that you don't profit off of their cats.

I am not sure by the sound of it that you have gone to reputable breeders. Do you know anything about their medical history? Cardiac conditions?

It's incredibly irresponsible to leave them alone and let nature take its course. If you do decide to move ahead, you will need to know the mating dates so you can appropriately track the health of your female and the litter.

sunshineclare · Feb 25, 2017

Hi talking peanut should I start a new thread for this?!

To answer your question: so Mia we got from a lovely polish lady, she does breed cats and has lots of experience with Maine coons, both mias parents are her pets and they are indoor only cats, I'll attach photos of Mias parents. They were both of a decent age, I think both parents about 2 or 3 years old.

She brought the cats over from Poland a few years ago and i have copies of both the parents pedigree certificates. She just hadn't registered them with wherever you register them with in the uk to get the special stamp from that association.

Honestly, we asked for copies of the Certs just to check it was all what she said it was rather than we were dead set on getting the finest champion pedigree cat possible. Just wanted to make sure they weren't cross breeds. I don't really know how to read the certificate! I never ever met a Maine coon cat until last year nor heard much about them. It was my boyfriend who told me about them and how unique and intelligent they are! I have to agree they are amazing cats!

Mias human parents had Maine coons for many years so we liked and trusted her.

Here's Mias mum, she was fairly timid like mia, not sure if that's a trait they inherit!! I guess she was tired bless her though, her litter was 4 kittens, they were all healthy and all found lovely homes [emoji]128578[/emoji]

image.jpeg

sunshineclare
Feb 25, 2017

Here's Mias dad, he was soooooo friendly and soft and lovely and strong [emoji]128578[/emoji][emoji]128578[/emoji]

image.jpeg

sunshineclare
Feb 25, 2017

sunshineclare · Feb 25, 2017

Here's our bendy fluffy soft growing slowly more confident Mia [emoji]128578[/emoji][emoji]128578[/emoji]

image.jpeg

sunshineclare
Feb 25, 2017

She weighs 4kg, she's quite skinny / lanky, she just hurt her foot and I asked the vet about her weight and she said she's totally fine and healthy and everything feels fine, she's on the thin side of healthy but nothing to worry about.

Do you have any ideas of what to do so she can put on weight or do we just do nothing and she will grow when she needs to? We have Orijen cat and kitten dry food down all the time for all 3 of our cats, mia LOVES this, more than wet food but she loves the wet food too depending on flavour:
http://m.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/orijen/45156
Then for wet food we feed them all applaws :
http://m.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/applaws/applaws_wet_cat_food/288992
Either ocean fish, mackerel and sardine (Mias favourite!) or chicken and just tried chicken with pumpkin, she loves it!!

We give our 3 cats one 156g tin of this split 3 ways, twice a day. We also occasionally, maybe once or twice a week give the 2 kittens raw minced beef or lamb. Just that nothing mixed with it just human grade, organic if possible. Minced meat. As mojos human mum gave her Maine coons this and they were all in amazing health with super shiny coats and mojo is super stocky and strong!! Do you think this diet is ok for her? We have been through many brands of cat foods and this seems the best we can get. Don't know enough about homemade and raw feeding to only feed them that so I don't, I know how important it is for them to have a balanced meaty diet.

There's lots of fresh filtered water at various places around the flat which they all like. Mia never eats a lot in one go, but comes back for more often [emoji]128578[/emoji] She's had all her working treatments and feline flu vaccines etc.

I'll get to mojo [emoji]128578[/emoji]

Seeking help with microchip selective large Catflap

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Just what part of meow don't you understand.

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Just what part of meow don't you understand.

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