A couple of disadvantages of a "kitty door"!

[MossRoad]

Mine do moles!

View attachment 4300603

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.

View attachment 4300602

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!

View attachment 4300604

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!

View attachment 4300606

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

View attachment 4300607

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!

View attachment 4307521

That's a Vole.

 

[drssg]

That's a Vole.

View attachment 4307822

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!