Z was deceived by Eloise cat

For several weeks, Eloise cat has asked to come in by the side door – there are front and back doors, but the side door to the porch is the one we always use.  We knew she went out sometimes by her cat flap in the back door, but were not sure that she could come in that way.  There wasn’t really any evidence.

When I first invited her to live with me, I had an ordinary cat flap.  But RasPutin, the feral tom, started to use it and that was out of the question.  So I bought a new one, at over £90, which could read a cat’s chip and refuse entry to any other.  This worked will – Eloise, Rummy and Chip were recognised and have used it ever since, as far as we knew, until recently, when I knew Rummy was using it but wasn’t sure about either other cat.  Any cat can go out, it’s the ingress that is down to the microchip.

This morning, I heard a bang on the cat flap and then Eloise’s plaintive mew.  So i went and let her in, dried her – it’s rained all day – and fed her.  Which was big of me, as she’s pretty well ignored me ever since Tim left.  Later, she went outside when the plumber left (another story darlings, but plumbing stories aren’t the most fascinating on the whole) and then whined to come in again.  By now, I was convinced that the flap didn’t work for her.  I had no idea how to put it right though.  I would, I suppose, have had to deactivate all the cats’ chips, assuming that’s possible, and then reinstall each one.  But I thought it would be more useful to dither for a few days, because that solves a surprisingly lot of problems.  As it did today…

This afternoon, I was peaceably cuddling the Aga and reading the paper when I heard a bang from the cat flap.  I went through to check and couldn’t see a cat for a moment, until I realised that a wet Eloise was sitting on the freezer, mightily pissed off that I’d caught her out.  I dried and cuddled her, which has had no effect as I haven’t seen her for hours again, but she’s been rumbled.  The cat flap still works, as well it might, at that price.

The fridge thermometer is another matter entirely.  I don’t believe a word it says, within a couple of degrees.

5 comments on “Z was deceived by Eloise cat

  1. Mike and Ann.

    I remember seeing a cartoon many moons ago. Can’t really remember the cartoon, but the heading for it was “Never trust a smiling cat” which struck me at the time (as indeed it still does) as solid good sense.

    May also be applied to plaintive cats, disreputable cats, and indeed – most cats.

    Reply
  2. Liz

    We like to see birds in our garden so I try to discourage any cats from hanging out there, however plaintive the look they might give me. A new one has started making a nuisance of itself and I went out in the rain this morning to try and persuade it to leave. It gave me that “surely you cannot mean me?” look when I first went out to try and shoo it politely away. I ended up chasing it around the garden until it took the hint and jumped over the gate. As soon as it sees either of us, it looks thoroughly put out by our very presence. Cats really think they own everything, don’t they?

    Reply

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