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Q.: We live in a house and have a wonderful, sociable cat that we got when she was three months old. She is very much attached to us, but not at all timid, and goes in and out her cat flap by herself. She has some contact with other cats in the neighborhood. She mixes especially with a particular cat. Apparently there are no conflicts between them; they sniff at each other, play, and chase each other - and at other times they seem rather uninterested in each other.
"The problem" is that this other cat has learned to pass through the cat flap - probably to get to the food bowl (we don't know if it's a stray). It is a bit shy, so it does this mainly when we're not around/at home, so for obvious reasons we can't "train"/scare it away. We found out because sometimes it would smell heavily of cat - which our own doesn't, and a couple of times, when we got up late, we have seen it leaving through the cat flap.
Today when we got home late and had said hello to our own cat, the other one was suddenly in our kitchen - it seems it's been inside to take a nap while we were gone.
There are of course several reasons why it is not so good to have a strange cat in one's house, but my main concern and what I'm really asking is if it is a problem for our cat. She doesn't seem particularly "upset" - there is no visible power struggle - but is it possible that there is a territorial issue for our cat - does this go beyond the bounds of her refuge? In that case - what should we do - it will surely not get any better in the summer with the garden door open.
A.: Judging from your description I don't think you cat is having problems with this "visitor". Actually it's not unusual to hear about outdoor cats bringing home "buddies".
So the biggest problem would actually be that this "buddy" can't seem to learn the use of the litter tray. I don't think you have to worry about diseases, that is if your cat is up to date on her shots. In that case the worst possible infection would be worms, which are easily cured.
If you'd like to exclude the "buddy" from the house, there are electronic cat flaps available which only open to cats carrying a transmitter sending a particular "electronic password" in its collar. It should be available in most pet stores.
This of course doesn't solve the problem in the summer - but I suppose you'll be around while the garden door is open, and in that case the stranger wouldn't come in?
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