Celia Hart's blog about what's going on in and around her studio.
Art, printmaking, inspirations, gardening, vegetables, hens, landscapes, wild flowers, East Anglia, adventure, travel.

Tuesday 28 June 2011

New Flat Cap!























The studio assistants have a new door – hopefully it will stop an intruder nicking their biscuits in the night!

The SureFlap scans their micro chips, so when there's an 'unknown cat in the bagging area' the door stays securely locked.

The tabby one 'got-it' right away; the ginger one was suspicious . . . but the biscuits were on the other side . . . no-brainer!

20 comments:

  1. Tha's brill'ant , is that!
    When we have a house where catflaps are possible, I shall consider this.

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  2. Well, She (Dinahmow) may say that, but we bet she'd still lock it at night. We're not allowed out after dinner. Boo!

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  3. Now then I have been thinking about getting one of these for a while and you may have just clinched it. Does it beep when they go in and out? That would terrify Midge.
    Our biscuit-pincher now lives with us but there is another about...

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  4. proper motivation works wonders, eh, little ginger beastie?

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  5. Those must have been very yummy biscuits.
    But does it stop them from coming in with dead mice?
    Wendy- everything terrifies Midge.

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  6. The design has been refined following 'users' comments - there is a little noise from the lock, a whir rather than a beep. Nervous cats should get used to the flap before the lock and chip reader are set up. Could Midge could cope with whirs?

    It's early days but I think the studio assistants have overcome their doubts already

    We haven't tested the 'cat + mouse' senario...

    Celia
    x

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  7. Oh my, so high tech! Glad they can keep their biscuits safe now.

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  8. We had two cats at one time: a fat ginger one called Charlie and a slender grey and white called Oliver (i.e.after Cromwell and Charles I.) Charlie had no problems with our cat flap, apart from the fact he could get stuck if he continued to stuff his face, but Oliver never mastered it. He would sit and look at it but couldn't work out how it worked. In the end we had to prop it open day and night, summer and winter, just so he could come and go as he pleased. Of course, it solved the problem for him, but it allowed other cats in and also, it was blimmin' cold in the winter!
    Margaret P

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  9. That's reassuring; Midge is indeed terrified of everything - can you get cat valium?
    The dear departed Kipper once got a rabbit stuck in our cat flap. I had to undo the door to get it out, and then he didn't want to eat it.

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  10. When we first brought Aragon home from the SPCA, she looked at Henry in wonder. HOW did he go THRU the door?! No chips in our cats. She goes thru like a lady, Chocolat roars thru like an Olympic sprinter.

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  11. Celia, I love those photos, particularly the one of the escape mid-way through.

    Seems like a very clever device.

    Any chance that you might do one of your brilliant videos of exit/entry? With music? Okay, I know I am asking a lot. xo

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  12. Very posh indeed. ;) We also have a biscuit stealer that comes in at night. I'm sure our cats are living parallel lives!

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  13. A friend in the village has an ordinary cat flat and one day in the winter when they were sitting eating breakfast, a fox popped its head through!

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  14. I'm happy to report that the new cat flap is functioning well :-) and the studio assistants are very happy to go without collars!

    Galant - the ventilation grill for our boiler is bad enough without having an open cat flap!

    Hi Wendy - have you tried Feliway? A friend used it to help her cat cope with a new puppy in the house - it worked really well.

    EE - it's amusing to see different cats' 'flap-style'.

    Frances! that's asking a lot ;-)

    Karen - spooky!

    Chrissie - definitely an 'unidentified item in the bagging area' !!!

    Acornmoon - yes, and I'm pleased to say it's the product of a Cambridge company, so the studio assistants support local entrepeneurs :-)

    Celia
    x

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  15. Crikey! I didn't realise so much design technology went into things like catflaps!

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  16. Love the cats in a flap! x

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