A couple of disadvantages of a "kitty door"!

[MossRoad]

Mine do moles!

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And catch Killdeer, glad it didn't bring it in the house, as soon as he dropped it at my feet, it took off flying! Swartzy ran after it, kept jumping but it got to a tree ... And got away!

I felt bad for Swartzy.

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No pictures, but they will jump up and swat a barn swallow out of the air ... They leave the wing tips ...

And snakes are good fun entertainment too!

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I don't mind non-venomous snakes outside, had a few inside when I bought the house, I evicted them, and now that I have the cats, they keep them away!

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It was quite a battle getting this one out, I was quite surprised how strong it was! 5'+ black rat snake!

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That's not a mole.

 

[MossRoad]

When I was born, our cat was 3 years old. All 5 of us kids slept in one big room before my dad built the addition with 4 bedrooms. There was a 2 way cat door in one of the windows in that room. The cat would bring us "food" fairly often, in the form of chipmunks, mice, rabbits, squirrels, various birds, and once even an opossum. She had a weird meow when she had food for us. It got to the point that if you heard that specific meow wake you up in the middle of the night, you'd just start screaming for MOM! to come and take care of a dead/dying critter in the bedroom.

That cat lived to be 21 years old, passing along around my 18th birthday.

I never knew they made cat doors that could read the implanted chips. I always thought they needed an RFID tag on their collar. Pretty neat!

Amazon.com

 

[Shawn T. W.]

That's not a mole.

That's what I've always called the short tailed rodents ...

Here is another one with a mouthful of grass ... Whatever it is!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I got another coat of paint on the maze/baffle this morning ...

Gave the spoiled kitties some canned cat food this morning along with there flea/tick medicine ...

Using the bagged wood heating pellets served two purposes ... Elevates it so I don't have to bend down so much, and "if" I drip a drop ... The bags are gonna be thrown out anyways once empty!

 

[MossRoad]

That's what I've always called the short tailed rodents ...

Here is another one with a mouthful of grass ... Whatever it is!

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That's a Vole.

 

[drssg]

That's a Vole.

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I learned something today!

I also referred to anything with a short tail as a mole. I noticed that some of them have the bigger "hands", but I never gave it much thought.

 

[MossRoad]

I learned something today!

I also referred to anything with a short tail as a mole. I noticed that some of them have the bigger "hands", but I never gave it much thought.

If you see nickel-sized holes in mole tunnels, it's most likely voles. Moles are meat eaters (bugs, worms, etc...) while voles eat plants and roots. Moles won't damage plants or eat garden veggies, while voles will. So many folks associate mole tunnels with plant damage when it's most likely the voles using the mole tunnels as an highway and eating the plants.

Moles always plug any holes in their tunnels. They don't like sunlight.

Anyhow, mole, vole, mouse... it's all cat food.

 

[sixdogs]

Some friends of mine installed a kitty door. Then one night a skunk used it. By the time they got the skunk back outside the house was unliveable for a couple weeks!

There was a convict on the run from another state and happened to bail out along the road in a rural location not far from here. They searched and searched and finally found where he had entered a home through the dog or cat door. He was thin enough to get through it and no one was home.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

My door is 8" wide, 12" tall ... Mines considered a "medium" size ...

Gonna take a small person to get through that small of a tunnel ... I had to make an extension, as the cabinet wall doesn't fit snug against the exterior house wall ...

And if it's really for a dog or three, they better hope it also isn't home, or real friendly!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Anyhow, mole, vole, mouse... it's all cat food.

Yup!

This is what I call a "field rat" ... Tasty too!

There body is 4" - 5" long ... Here it is after I wacked it in the head with a wrench, I didn't want it climbing up into my truck and "getting away" and then start chewing on my wiring! (Just after this, Blazer looked up at me with the "You broke it" look mentioned above!)

This is one they sampled 1st!

 

[drssg]

Yup!

This is what I call a "field rat" ... Tasty too!

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There body is 4" - 5" long ... Here it is after I wacked it in the head with a wrench, I didn't want it climbing up into my truck and "getting away" and then start chewing on my wiring! (Just after this, Blazer looked up at me with the "You broke it" look mentioned above!)

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This is one they sampled 1st!

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I have a bloodhound that also gives me the "you broke it" look. He is terribly inefficient at killing the poor thing. He just keeps throwing it up in the air and grabbing it again. I attempt to step on it to put it out of its misery. He sees this coming and keeps grabbing it and running away from me.

 

[rangerfredbob]

I once saw my cat playing with a near bald mouse so when he set it down to chase it I stepped on it to put it down then threw it in the bushes... the cat was MAD, so it ran off and came back with a different one like 3 minutes later, it had all it's fur so he was good to go lol...

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Mine are fed very well ... They do eat what they catch, sometimes ... But they sure like to play with there live food quite a bit first!

 

[ponytug]

@sixdogs Thanks for the story.

@Shawn T. W. I wouldn't be totally complacent, but my experience with thieves is they just break a window or jimmy a door, so I don't think it makes much difference, and I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Just for perspective: After spelunking one day, we were goofing around at the house, and on a bet, a middle aged friend, who was 6'4" made it through a 8"x12" opening in one of our barred windows on the house. As an 8x12 opening is a 40" circumference, that's not exactly a tiny waist size. Yes, I made it through, too. No, neither one of us was prime linebacker material.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Yes, but a even 1" bar is much easier to get your shoulders through/past than a 9"-10" thick wall ...

I figure if someone is determined ... They can get in ... But I do my best with what I got to make it difficult and "not worth getting caught" ... I have two different camera systems, one via "wired" internet via Star Link, the other via a cell SIM card that "report" directly to me, then I have a 24/7 monitored security system with not just the typical door/window switches, but also motion and glass breaking sensors, and fire/smoke ... that uses Internet, and has its own backup cell SIM card, all hooked to UPS's and a backup propane generator ... Plus a couple of "nosey neighbors"!

Eventually once I retire in 30 months I'll have a couple of furry eared alarms too (dogs!) that will be using this door system, that why I built it so much bigger than required for my kitties who are mostly for rodent control, but have wormed there way into my heart! I never had much use for cats before, but they are independent enough that I can leave them there for weeks at a time by themselves and a couple of feeders, can't really do that with dogs ...

 

[Jstpssng]

Soon, people will have implanted chips

I've seen them offered for dementia patients.

 

[MossRoad]

I've seen them offered for dementia patients.

My wife has a friend whose mom is in a locked down dementia ward. Apparently, a favorite pastime of the patients is to attempt escape. They watch people push the codes on the door locks, or listen to other people's visitors blurt out the code, or just run out behind the staff or visitors. This friend's mom escaped and the police found her a good two miles away in a bad neighborhood near downtown. She was all scraped up and dirty, so who knows what route she took. But somehow they figured out who she was. The facility didn't know she was gone!

Of course, lawsuit is pending and they moved the mom to a different facility.

Chip might have stopped that. I suppose there would be a lot of pushback from people getting the chip, but probably a lot of support from families and staff responsible for their care.

Of course, this comes to mind....

 

[drssg]

My wife has a friend whose mom is in a locked down dementia ward. Apparently, a favorite pastime of the patients is to attempt escape. They watch people push the codes on the door locks, or listen to other people's visitors blurt out the code, or just run out behind the staff or visitors. This friend's mom escaped and the police found her a good two miles away in a bad neighborhood near downtown. She was all scraped up and dirty, so who knows what route she took. But somehow they figured out who she was. The facility didn't know she was gone!

Of course, lawsuit is pending and they moved the mom to a different facility.

Chip might have stopped that. I suppose there would be a lot of pushback from people getting the chip, but probably a lot of support from families and staff responsible for their care.

Of course, this comes to mind....

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I think the key code is a security flaw. My FIL is in a similar facility. All the employees have magnetic access cards, and everyone needs their assistance to get in or out.

I can see the convenience of allowing visitors to come and go freely, but that clearly involves some risk.

 

[grsthegreat]

Reminds me of the time me and an apprentice were working on electrical issue at a teenage mental health facility. We were only allowed limited tools and they had to fit in pockets. The apprentice was working on transformer for magnetic lock mechanism while i was working on emergency light ballast. All within drop ceiling lock box. My apprentice shorted out transformer….which released all magnetic locks. Also smoked out ceiling. Luckily no fire. I went down to whisper this to charge nurse, who silently went and rounded up burly male nurses that went and stood at all 4 doors. No one came in or out while i ran back to shop to pick up new transformer. No one was the wiser. Could have been a real mess.

Couldnt blame the apprentice because we had to work on circuit live. Crap happens.

 

[Torvy]

We have a cat door for the barn cats.

One important option is to put it about 3 feet off the ground. That keeps most other critters from coming in.

We built a small ledge for them.

Some doors, like ours, have 2 flaps. That keeps all but the strongest winds from getting in.

The cats can't bring critters into the house because they only get to come in when the wife gives them one-off access.