Careful When Choosing Cat Doors
If you’ve grown annoyed of having to let your cat out when it wants to, then you should think about getting a cat door. The simplest cat doors, or cat flaps are just plastic flaps – easily blown open by the wind unless weighed down, or installed with a magnet. Of course, there are flaps of harder but lighter materials – but the point is the same: to accustom your cat to leave and come home when it wants to. This benefits the owner, who is freed from tending to the cat when it wants to go out, and the cat who may end up scratching furniture or getting into a potty accident when it doesn’t get what it wants.
Make sure the height of the door is just right for your cat, unless you have bigger pets sharing a home with you – like bigger sized dogs. Both animals can use the flap, it’s not a problem. They just have to push the flap open.
Some flaps can be set to open only to one side, such as towards your house’s interior, or exterior. You have to keep in mind, now, that because your cat can come and go as it wants, so can other animals (or small kids) of roughly the same size. You should get a different kind of cat door for that.
Electronic or automatic doors are meant to keep away other animals from entering your house – actually the same principle works on small kids and burglars. The same principle is used in automatic dog doors, which makes use of a devices in the cat’s collar and in the door, which “interact.” The door opens upon sensing a device worn by your cat – a special collar; that way only your cat get in or out. Remember, you don’t want uninvited animals pooping inside your home, stealing food, ruining furniture, or engaging your cat in territorial wars. Your cat is to wear a collar with an infrared, radio, or magnetic device – which serves as the trigger for the electronic door to open.
You may need to train your cat to use the cat door. Just show your cat how the flap works – push it open for the cat to see up close. If you installed a full-automatic cat door, you must make sure your cat wears the special collar that activates the doors. Your cat has to get used to the event – of the door’s opening – as linked to his vicinity to it. If your cat is shy, you can use treats to entice it to get close to the cat door.