cat flap - recommendations?

angchris

my rottweiler did exactly the same thing the other day by scratching at the door :mad: funny thing was it fell off then he stuck his nose in the door and kept whimpering :rotfl: i have mine kinda wedged in place with sellotape atm and covered with the see through plastic that covered my moniter screen when i bought it, the draught coming through is really bad so another cat flap is needed me thinks... i have seen cheapo ones on ebay for about £3/4. hope you get your fixed soon...angchris xx

Crazychik

Same here with my boxer - no suggestions, other than replace it.
I was lucky to put an advert on freecycle, and was given one exactly the same, so I replaced the flap!

The only thing I could suggest, is probably buy a thin piece of plastic perpex, and improvising with that!

Pink.

Hi nickiboop,

You should get more help with this on the pets board so I've moved your thread across.

Pink

eira

Friend of mine suggested getting a flap for a small dog-I have lost umpteen car flaps to our pet ferrets/the dog's nose and ginger toms. Apparently you can buy ones with rubber flaps or something. Alternatively just settle for the bottom of the range model (the locks don't last anyway) and steel yourself to replacing them. there are also ones that open in response to the cat's microchip. (Our cats go through discs and collar as well)

Psykicpup

you can get 'dog' flaps too lol! they come with a solid plastic piece that slides in to block it off if its not a good time for doggy to go out! - I had the medium size one for our collie cross & Labs seemed to fit ok (a little slower I admit lol) if your lab is a big boy/girl you may need a large one tho...
The cats didnt really notice it had been changed to be honest & having a doggy the other side keeps most (yes only most!) other !!!!!!s out......

Be_Happy

Has anyone else had the problem of a cat which is completely unable to open a cat door. I've had cats of all sorts for over 40 years, but am drawing a complete blank here.

We got cat 2 years ago from a rescue centre, she was a stray and is estimated at around 12. Her behaviour is unlike any other cat. She is very much part Persian, seems completely unused to life in a house, but can't hunt and is very 'dainty', so has never been a farm cat. If she was pedigree, I would have wondered if she had been kept as a breeding cat in an outside cattery. She won't lie in a cat bed, or on soft furniture (lucky me!) but only lies on the floor, window sills, or even on the coffee table - anything hard. She is very friendly, but won't sit on your knee.

Anyway, back to the door problem. In the house she is completely unable to open any room doors - won't push them at all and will just wander away and lie down. She is terrified of touching the cat flap. I've tried all the usual things, pushing her gently through it, putting her favourite food on the other side, but no luck. One evening last winter I realised we hadn't seen her for around four hours and found her huddled outside on the doorstep covered in snow - she had made no effort to come through the flap. The flap was specially selected as the lightest one available.

We now have the flap tied open during the day and closed at night with a litter tray beside it, but with the weather getting colder I'd really like to shut the flap.

Anyone come across a solution to this?

woofwoofwoof

I assume as you've had cats for over 40 years that other cats have used the cat flap in its same position? The only reason I ask is that maybe the cat flap could be too high up the door, we had to attach a little step either side of our door so that our cat could actually walk through the cat flap - they like to be able to put all four legs on the floor at the same time (eg front legs on inside step, hind legs on the outside step, half in, half out, if you see what I mean).

Fen1

Have you got an opaque cat flap? A see-through one might be easier for her to comprehend.

Alternatively (might take a bit of work here) is to make mini-curtains to hang half-way down of your internal doors so that she gets the idea of going through something. Imagine the swing-fit curtains used on dormer windows: hinged pole attached to either the frame or the door, onto which there is a light weight see-through fabric hanging to the floor. You keep your doors ajar with the pole flipped open, so she can pass through the curtain. When the door is closed, just flip back the pole to the wall or to the back of the door.

A ready-made hinged pole could be adapted from a swinging tea-towel rod.

Be_Happy

Thanks woofwoofwoof. I understand what you mean about the height. Our cat's problem though is that she won't touch the flap with her head or even her paws to push it and when we've tried pushing her through it she panics when it touches her back, even though I've held it so it drops gently on her.

Our other cat (killed on the road 3 weeks ago, sadly) had no problem with the flap. We used to shut it and hope that this cat would see what was happening and copy it. She watched, but wouldn't make any attempt.

Thanks Fen1. It is a clear door and occasionally when we've tried keeping it closed she sits looking through it, but that's as far as it goes. I have considered rigging up some kind of curtain as she will brush through a curtain and we'll probably go down this route.

Levitz

Be_Happy wrote: »

Has anyone else had the problem of a cat which is completely unable to open a cat door. I've had cats of all sorts for over 40 years, but am drawing a complete blank here.

We got cat 2 years ago from a rescue centre, she was a stray and is estimated at around 12. Her behaviour is unlike any other cat. She is very much part Persian, seems completely unused to life in a house, but can't hunt and is very 'dainty', so has never been a farm cat. If she was pedigree, I would have wondered if she had been kept as a breeding cat in an outside cattery. She won't lie in a cat bed, or on soft furniture (lucky me!) but only lies on the floor, window sills, or even on the coffee table - anything hard. She is very friendly, but won't sit on your knee.

Anyway, back to the door problem. In the house she is completely unable to open any room doors - won't push them at all and will just wander away and lie down. She is terrified of touching the cat flap. I've tried all the usual things, pushing her gently through it, putting her favourite food on the other side, but no luck. One evening last winter I realised we hadn't seen her for around four hours and found her huddled outside on the doorstep covered in snow - she had made no effort to come through the flap. The flap was specially selected as the lightest one available.

We now have the flap tied open during the day and closed at night with a litter tray beside it, but with the weather getting colder I'd really like to shut the flap.

Anyone come across a solution to this?

Our cat is exactly the same. He will just wait patiently by the cat flat or closed door until someone comes along to open it for him. We gave up trying to teach him and use two clothes pegs to keep the cat flap open (luckily we have a porch so it's not too draughty) and just leave all the other doors ajar enough for him to get through.

He was a rescue cat too, our old burmese was very adept at hooking open doors with his paw, but this one doesn't really try and won't push any door with his nose! We've just put it down to him being an individual. Also he gets more attention this way!