Conference misery::feline_v1

    Hi Tim,
    
    We put in a cat door this summer, but used a screen version instead
    of the wooden door ones.  It's great, we were real tired of seeing
    cats on the window sills and then having to either run around to
    open a door or get howled at.  Obviously the only time the cats
    use the door is during warm weather, but out here in California,
    that's a good part of the year.  We do lock the door at night since
    the cats are kept in after dark.
    
    So far, we haven't had any problems with them bringing other critters
    in with them except for moths, but they usually don't manage to
    catch much more than that anyway.  We also haven't had any other
    stray cat attempt to enter.
    
    It took our cats a very short amount of time to figure out how to
    use the door, maybe a day.  We just spent some time pushing them
    in and out until they seemed to get the idea.
                                   
    I have seen cat doors advertised in various cat/pet magazines that 
    claim they are insulated, so you may be able to use one year round.
    
    Good luck
    
    L.
    

    Kimi and Sura are very pleased with their cat door. It is round,
    made of glass and installed in a glass door. They DO bring prey
    in through it, though for the last few months their only prey has
    been slices of bread (long may it last). I have heard of people
    having trouble with unwanted cats coming in thorugh the door, but
    that's not a problem to us, as our boys have to jump over a two-metre
    high wall to get to the door, and the other cats in the area can't
    handle that. Our cat door can be set two-way, one-way (in either
    direction) or completely closed. This is very useful for keeping
    them in at night, and the one-way setting is great for when one
    is in for the night and the other still outside.

    Thank heavens for cat doors.  We started out in an old fashioned
    flate in Ealing (England) which had sash windows and was on the
    ground floor, not too bad you could put burglar locks on them and
    there was enough room for cats to get through, (one of our cats
    was very small when he started to go out that we had to drape a
    towell outside for him to climb up!!).
    
    The next place was a second floor flat in Isleworth with no cat
    door and we were for ever up and down to let them in, in the end
    we massacred the front door!
    
    Now we have our own place and it has a cat door.  We do get the
    occasional problem with wild life which varies from birds to 
    rabbits, the cat that catches them usually leaves them in one
    piece but we have to get to it before the others do.  The other
    morning I went down stairs and the little cat came rushing up
    to greet me (I thought) I was on the bottom stair and she darted
    behind me and I heard this terrific scream, there on the stair
    behind a plant pot was an adolescent bunny, he had been hiding 
    until she nipped his bottom!
    
    We have many amusing and sad rescue stories.  The best was a young
    thrush.  I went into the room one morning and all the cats were
    there.  One on the sofa, one on the floor and the other under the
    TV.  I heard a tweeting (sounded very indignant) looked around and
    couldn't believe my eyes, this baby bird was sitting under the TV
    NEXT to the cat and they were all ignoring it!
    
    We brought this up and helped to teach it to fly, Chris used to
    take it to work (it needed regular feeding) and put it into a filing
    cabinet, admittedly this didn't go down too well with the boss,
    still we had to get our priorities right.
    
    There have been trecks to the lakes to reinstate rabbits in the
    middle of the night, but yes it is worth having a door, and you can 
    restrict access inside the house if you so wish.
    
    We don't get too many problems with other cats, if any start to
    come around they get told in no uncertain terms either by us or
    the cats.
    
    

    Ref 366.1 
    
    My mother-in-law told us about an advertisement she saw for a remote-
    controlled cat door.  It seems that the door works just like a garage-
    door opener, by a radar attachment on the cat's collar!  Anyone
    hear about this?

    We had an interesting experience with the cat door we installed
    in our last house.  This was an INDOOR cat door, meaning it allowed
    access from the living area of the house to the basement where the
    litter box is kept.  This allowed us to keep the basement door closed
    to prevent drafts, and the kitties could go up and down all they
    wanted....Until we adopted Noel.  Noel wanted no part of the other
    kitties and took up residence in the basement.  Before too long,
    she became The Terror of the Basement and would sit on the top
    stair landing next to the kitty door and attack whoever tried to
    come through.  Needless to say, we added another litter box in the
    upstairs bathroom.  It really did work well for awhile!
    
    Carole
    

    I am using a cat door inside the house - have cut out a section of the
    basement door at the corner - this allows "my five" to come and
    go at will - their 2 swimming pools are located in the basement.
    By the by, swimming pools make great litter boxes for more than
    2 or 3 cats!  I put a 3 ft. inside of a 5 ft. pool - fill the
    3 ft. with 40 lbs. of Zip Zorb (Erikson's Feed & Grain - $4.25 
    a bag) the 5 ft. catches the excess from the paws as they leap
    from the pool.  Sure saves a lot of cleanup!
    
                                 E. T.

    Just heard from a friend in Conn. last night.
    
    She regularly feeds peanuts (in the shell) to a family of squirrels
    residing in her back yard. She also has several cats.
    
    She neglected to feed the wild folks yesterday, so they came inside
    looking for her (via the cat door). No problem, just set a few more
    places for dinner.
    

    A three foot cat litter box!  That must be a B____ to clean.  I
    can just picture it now.  My cats would be in litter heaven if I
    set up a swimming pool size cat box.  Scratch till their little
    hearts content.

    I have used two different kinds of cat door. The first one was operated
    by magnets on the cats collars so only my cats could get in, this
    was useful because there were lots o f moggies we didn't want in
    our house.  It took them a little while to get used to the clicking
    noise but it worked well.
    
    The next  one (new house) doesn't have magnets but it's very good
    at keeping the drafts out as it has seal round the edge.
    
    By the way we have always found that using seethrough doors makes
    it much easier for stupid cats to use.
    
    When our cats were young they used to bring worms in - ugh - they
    used to leave them outside the bedroom door.  They have also brought
    in a bird - which escaped and hid under the sofa till we got home!
    We've also had bit of bread and other leftovers.

I've got any idea.  We've got a dryer vent already cut through the wall,
but not used.  Perhaps I could turn it into a cat door !  Anyone ever
try this ?

/Eric

    Well, now that its established that they work, where can I getone?
    Could you all be so kind as to list names, address, descriptions
    of available doors? 
    My house has an attached garage and the cats can pass throught from
    the house into the garage. To get outdoors from the garage I leave
    one of the vehicle entrance doors raised up about eight inches.  
    This results in other cats, skunks, racoons coming in for free food. 
    I usually leave the food in the garage so the other animals don't come 
    in the house. I have a glass door on the enclosed porch between the 
    house and garage  that I could put a door into as mentioned in one of the
    previous replies if I knew where to purchase one.  There is also
    a door in the back of the garage in which I could put a cat door.
     

    Is my cat, Bonkers, unusally stupid?
    
    I put one of the Johnson pet doors (heavy translucent vinyl flap)
    in the door between the kitchen and my enclosed back porch. Bonkers
    hasn't figured out how to use the door yet. I put her food and the
    litter box out on the porch and when she wants out, she will just
    sit by the door and howl until I come and push her head onto the
    door. When she sees that she can get through the door, she just
    jumps through, but I have never seen her push through herself, she
    always waits for me to "open" the door first.
    
    When she wants back in she will play with the door trying to pull
    it towards her by getting a claw/paw under it and pulling. Before
    it can fall into place she tries to insert her head into the space.
    This usually takes her a few tries. When I stand on the porch she
    howls at me, I push her head through the door, she realizes that
    she can go through that way, and she just jumps through.
    
    The door is designed so that the pet can push its way through from
    both directions. If I remove the pet door (leaving just the hole)
    she jumps through the hole at will.
    
    Any suggestions for training Bonkers to use the door?
    
    	Marty Sasaki

    Re: .12
    
    Maybe a transparent (as opposed to translucent) flap?
    
    For what it's worth, I don't like to leave my windows with the shades
    up at night, and Holly and Sweetie can both insinuate themselves
    between the shade and the glass to look out.  However, despite my
    showing Sweetie how to do this many many times, he didn't figure
    out he could do it himself until Holly came to live with us and
    showed him.  
    

    
    RE:  .12  SHIGEO::SASAKI
    
    I had the same problem with Shawshie.  It took quite a while, but
    he did eventually catch on.  I just continued to push his stupid
    little head thru the door.  He did catch on after a while.  I think
    I also would start with him on the other side of the door, open
    the door, and just as he had his head in the doorway on his way
    in, I'd let the door go.  The plastic flap would bonk him lightly
    on the head, but he soon figured out that he could have his head
    pushing on the door, and see the other side.  I know I was determined.
    I was _darned_ if I wasn't going to have him use the foolish thing
    after I went and cut a hole in my garage door!
    
    Marion
         
    

    
    
    	Question for those with cat doors :
    
    How do you keep all the neighborhood kitties from visiting???  

    you don't!!!  :-)  We have a black Tom that visits regularly for
    meals!!
    
    well actually you can.  they are now making cat flaps with an
    electronic lock that is opened from a signal emitted from a tiny
    device that is fastened to your cats collar.  they are available
    here in the UK, I don't know about the US.  they are not very expensive
    and they work quite well.. there is the occasional chance of the
    neighbours cat having the same signal code as yours; as with the
    electronic garage door openers, but it is not usually a likely problem.
    
    gailann
    

    
    Where can one get cat doors, and are there any pros/cons for those with
    magnets or other closure devices?

    My house has two cat doors. One on the kitchen door leading to the
    'washing' room, the second in the washing room leading to the garden.
    For the cat to get outside he has to pass through two doors... the
    'washroom' is sort of outside since it's an add on with a cheap plastic
    roof.
    
    When Jesse first arrived early last year, he didn't seem to grasp the
    basics of how to use the cat flaps. He'd walk through them ONLY if we
    held them open. When our lodger moved in, and trained him over a long
    period of time, he started using them.
    
    Trouble is, he got so used to being rewarded when he comes through the
    door, he thinks he'll get food if he goes out into the 'washing' room
    then straight back in... ahhhh...
    
    Pete.

    We have a cat door that leads from our back door to our enclosed patio. 
    My guys love it.  They feel they can go in and out whenever they like.
    In the spring I move the litter box out to the patio under a shelving
    unit and they love it out there.  They have screened windows to peer
    our of and a lot of fresh air.  There are feeders outside the windows
    for birds and they do enjoy laying there "protecting" their feathered
    friends.  Now they run out for a bit of fresh air now that it's too
    cold for them to stay out too long.  
    
    They learned to use the door very quickly and also have grasped the
    idea that it can groom them if they walk through it very slowly.  On
    the rough edge of the door there is gobs of old fur.  I've seen them
    slowly go through the door and even back up and stand there with their
    eyes closed rocking back and forth as if to itch......
    
    

It appears that the question has been asked a couple of times in this
note "where do I buy a cat door" -- can anyone answer, please. I'm
interested in this also.  I would like that you could lock as I don't
let my cats out whenever we are away from the house.

Thanks

/Marian
    
    

    
    Most pet stores should have them in stock.  We bought ours at Debby's
    Petland in Manchester.  It doesn't exactly lock, but there's a panel
    that you can use to block the opening from either side.  Depending on
    how much you want to spend, I've even heard of electronic ones that are
    activated by a magnet in your cat's collar.
    
    Sandy
    

    The only ad I've found for one of the electronic key ones was $125
    mail order from an ad in the back of cat magazine about 2 months ago.
    
    I'm considering getting one because of all the wild parties my cat
    has been throwing while I'm at work.  However, $125 is a bit steep
    for mail order based on minimal information in the ad.  I'd sure like to
    find one locally (MA or NH area).
    
    Meanwhile, I think I'll go with a bottom of the line cat door to see
    if that works out better than the broken window + plastic my cat
    is currently using.  I'm encouraged by all the notes saying how much 
    effort it took to teach their cats to use the cat door.  My cat has 
    never had a problem dealing with flaps, but hopefully the neighborhood
    cats might.
    
    thanks,
    dennis
          

    We just had a new house built with a doggie door for the dogs.
    The barn cats figured out how to use it without any instruction which
    caused the contractor to block it shut because he didn't like having
    3 kitty "helpers" 8^). The brand we used is made by Johnson and is
    plastic with magnetic catches. We got it at a farm supply place. Now
    that the dogs are in residence the cats have no interest in using their
    door. We do bring them in to watch TV sometimes when we can make sure
    the dogs leave them alone.
    Sandy
    

Over the last few years, we have had some experience with cat flaps - some of
this may be of use.

The first flap we fitted was a simple rectangular affair with magnets to hold
it closed against a draught and a 'shutter' arrangement to lock the cats in. It
didn't take our big tom very long to work out how to break out through the
shutter - although he escaped by shoving the shutter up in its tracks and it
fell down behind him, so preventing him from getting back in again.

To prevent this unwanted egress, we replaced the flap with one which had a
curved (sort of semi-circular) door set into a tube or tunnel; this one had a
four-way lock: in & out, in only, out only, not in or out. The first night the
big tom pulled the whole thing apart, so I put a couple of large wood screws
through the inside face to hold it to the door. The second night he managed to
remove the flap's door - although (after reassembling it) I couldn't see any
way of doing this without breaking the thing! After that, we rigged up a wooden
door to cover the cat flap - he gave up at this.

In our new house (as of about three years) we installed the same type of flap as
we wound up with previously, complete with a separate covering door inside the
house's back door. This caused few problems, until our last arrival (number
seven - an all-black tom with a psychotic nature). His approach to cat-flaps is
to hurl himself at them at full speed - judging by the crashing noises he
produces; several times he has managed to dismantle the flap, simply by body-
charging it.

However, we found a problem. Said 'latest arrival' managed to get his paw stuck
it the flap one evening (he was lucky that he didn't do it one weekday
morning!). We suspect that he had been poking a paw through at the other cats,
and had pulled back only to find that the flap had closed on his foot, so
trapping it. He had pulled at it, and I suspect that several of the cats who
were now trapped outside the house tried to get in - end result, one paw so
firmly wedged that it took me quite a bit of effort to force it open and release
the captive. After a bit of judicious paw-bathing - he must have had some
pretty nasty bruising around one pad - he was right as rain, but we decided to
go back to the old-style simple flap. It took some of our lot a while to come
to terms with the new arrangement, but they seem happy enough now, and we don't
have to worry about anyone getting stuck again.

As far as other cats coming in, we used to have a bit of a problem at our old
house - one of the neighbourhood toms would come into the kitchen and mark it
as his property. However, one evening I had the flap set on 'in only', to trap
our tom for the night; he came in, followed a few minutes later by the
interloper. I heard the flap rattle and wen to investigate, to see a large
ginger tom squatting just inside the flap looking rather nervous. He looked at
me, and then at the range of feline heads which appeared around the kitchen
door, and decided to run for it.  Unfortunately for him, the flap didn't open -
he stopped dead for a second or two, then went beserk, scrabbling at the flap in
a total panic. I grabbed him and chucked him out - he didn't show his face
again.

Regarding bringing in 'kills' ... our lot are quite capable of bringing their
trophies in through the cat flap - even the big tom, who barely manages to
squeeze himself through, once managed to shove his way in with a fully-grown
rabbit in his mouth! However, this isn't much of a problem, as they usually
prefer to eat or play with them in the garden - we occasionally get a live
(more or less damaged) rodent or bird in the house, though.

One mundane point to watch - our current flap is let into a block-board panel
in the back door, and despite our attempts to paint the raw edges of the hole,
water has got in, and the panel is falling to bits. I am going to have to
replace it soon, and I will make damn sure that the edges of the cat-flap hole
are well and truly sealed this time - it looks like a fiddly job to replace the
panel, and one which I don't want to have to repeat!

Chris.