Cat Doors

There are a variety of ways to install cat doors so your pet can go in and out by themselves.

Do you have a cat that goes outdoors?  If so you 
probably get annoyed from time to time letting it 
out.  Having to get up and open the door a few times 
every hour can really get to a person.  A solution to 
this problem would be to purchase one of many cat 
doors available.  

The most common type of cat door are the ones that 
have a flap.  These flaps keep the opening closed, but 
let your cat push it open to get out.  You can usually 
find these where ever pet supplies are sold.  If you 
are going to install a one of these for your cats in an 
interior door to allow your feline access to the rooms 
you want it to be able to get in, then a cat flap hat 
that has only one flap is fine.  If you are putting it in 
an exterior door that leads outside, you may want a 
pet door that has more cat flaps than one.  This will 
help keep the outside air from effecting your heating 
and cooling bills.  

You should take into consideration what material 
These pet panels are made of.  Interior cat doors that 
are made of plastic will be just fine.  However, an 
outside cat door should be made of metal.  Plastic 
will become brittle.  Metal will not.  

Besides cat doors providing access to other areas of 
the house and outside,  they can serve as a barrier to 
seperate on animal from another.  If you have a dog 
and the cat wants to get away form it,  pet doors will 
do the trick.  That is as long as the size of the cat 
door is not big enough for the dog to fit through to.  
You can also keep the cats food  and litter box in 
a room where only the cat can get to it.  Dogs like to 
eat just about anything, even what is in a litter box 
sometimes.  

If you go to a pet store or shop online, be sure that 
the opening for the cat doors that you buy are large 
enough for the feline to fit through safely.  This is 
very important.  You do not want you beloved pet 
getting stuck trying to go through one of the cat 
doors and injuring itself or even killing itself.  Any 
place that sells cat supplies should have at least one 
or two cat doors for you to look at.  You will want to 
make sure that if you are going to get additional cats 
in the future that when you mount pet doors, they 
will be big enough for those cats to.  You will also 
want to make sure that the petsafe door you 
purchase does not have any rough edges.  
Everything on it should be smooth.  This will prevent 
your kitty from scratching itself going in and out of 
the cat doors.  

When your cat goes through this pet door, it should 
not have to exert a whole lot of pressure to get the 
thing to open and go through it.  To much pressure 
needing to be applied will discourage your cat from 
using it and could result in the kitty getting stuck.  
That would be just awful if you came home to find 
your pet stuck and strangled.  

Teaching a cat to use a patio pet door or any other 
type of door such as one in sliding glass doors can be 
take some effort on your part.  Some cats take right 
to using it, some do not.  What you need to do first is 
actually show your cat where the pet doors are.  
Then show them that the flaps can be pushed open.   
After the installation of a cat door in a wall, window 
or other place, pick up your kitty, bring them to the 
cat door and show them how it works.  You may get 
a stubborn cat that refuses to use the one of these 
ideal pet doors in the beginning.  Just be sure that 
you do not let them out the regular door when they 
want to get out.  Bring them over to the cat doors.  
Eventually your cat will "get it" and start using the 
cat doors.