Sicy said:
bg, those magnetic things are pretty neat for indoor/outdoor cats. The magnetic thing on the collar will open the flap. Otherwise it wont open. That keeps out raccoons and other animals that you dont want using the flap.
aaaah, i see. that's pretty cool.
as far as the traumatized cats, it can take a very long time for them to get comfortable with people. when my daughter decided her gramma should get a cat, she put up a flyer in our local market because the only way my mom would go along with getting a cat (she wasn't thrilled about the idea) was if the cat was older, spayed, and de-clawed. (we don't believe in de-clawing, obviously, but my mom thought there was no way any cat would meet that criteria so she had her put that in the ad). well, if you can believe it, my daughter's ad was answered, and within days my mom had a cat.
this cat was so scared of anything that moved that my mom would have to tip-toe around her own house. this cat would take fifteen minutes just approaching her food dish, and forget about playing. we were lucky she ever came out from under the bed, for like, months. we have no idea what the previous owners put this cat through, but it couldn't have been good. you could start with the de-clawing, i suppose...
my mom has had this cat for over a year and now (finally) she comes out to see us when we visit, and drags her teaser out to play. she sits in the window (but only when my mom isn't home for some reason) and meows like crazy. the owners asked my mom to keep the name they gave her, which was allivay (the spelling of which we have no idea) we just call her vay-vay now. she's still a little strange, but we love her just the way she is.
just be patient and love them. it takes a long time, but they will grow to trust and love you.
here's a picture of vay-vay from yesterday.
