cat flaps

alison6692

Ah, no. Hadn't thought of that. Thanks thats a cunning plan. Will go and do a bit of research.

Thankyou
;D

mumpamela9

We adopted from the RSPCA in Feb, and having shopped around on the net for flaps, I bought a Ferplas one, as it had 'in' or 'out' indicator on it. Was then shocked to find that it had to be fitted professionally, as our double-glazed back door couldn't just have a hole cut in it. A local glazier did it by removing the door, taking it away for about three hours and returning it with the lower glass section replaced by a solid panel (white fairly thick wood of some kind) with the flap in it.
This cost (are you sitting down?) £100 on top of the cost of the catflap. The local pet shop owner seemed to think this was about average. If your door is glass but not double glazed it may be a lot easier.

Fionnuala_2

Hello
If you are going to get a new friend from the RSPCA what about getting one (or two) that is used to being inside all the time, and not letting him/her out at all? Then there will be no need for a cat flap.
In case you think I am heartless, I currently have three kitties but have previously had four. I moved to my last house because it had a nice big garden and was a quiet road, but one cat got run over anyway, mostly because I let him out at 6.00 pm when it was dark. We are now living elsewhere but two of my kitties don't like going out except to sunbathe (but this is Ireland so it doesn't happen much) while the third one is out all day and stays in all night. Not having a cat flap has never been a problem. In fact....if your new kitty does get a personal back door, have you considered what to do if s/he brings her own feline friends round for parties? A friend of mine's cat brought an unneutered tom cat in for some "fun" and the house was kind of smelly for a while...sorry, I meant a long while...

paws_3

Might be easier to get a goldfish !

paulcdb

what you need is a brick... some plastic bags and some box tape ;D :P

Cheap and cheerful, lol

waaag

Hi there, I too could not have a cat-flap in the door, (the kitchen door leading to the garden - as it had little panels in the lower half - it was a double glazed one), so I too had a flap put into the wall, like a tunnel, its brilliant, a builder did it for me, for a few quid, it is a little !!!!!!-eyed though, but solved the problem for me, all my cats use it and even two of them, - for some reason, take it it turns to sleep in it! thus causing a problem of no-one (cats)could get out/in, when they did this .This necessitated having flap number two fitted into the other door from the hallway outside, which is fine, and avoids confrontations with 'personality clashes' amongst my cats! I bought both 'STAYWELL' catflaps from WILKO for about £6 each, a bargain! I have also got them in my outbuildings too, just to be on the safeside, this way they always have a safe retreat from stray dogs/foxes or bad weather. I must say though, in bad weather they prefer to stay put, indoors on the sofa, or beds, they're not daft!! Which brings me to another moneysaving idea - I bought a dyson turbo brush which fits onto my existing cylinder hoover, much like a dyson its a JMB, it has great suction, and now with the turbo brush addition, it has rotating bristles, gets the hairs up perfectly and quickly and solves the pethairs everywhere problem. They are cheap to buy on ebay. If it doesn't fit your hoover pipe you can buy an adaptor from a hoover shop, too.

Murtle

Hi ALison how did you get on with your catflap? Just wondering as i am about to join you on similar venture, although I already have my cats; at the moment they only get to go in and out when I'm there and I would like them to have the opportunity to go in and out when the weather is dry!!!

Mustang

Easy to put cat flaps into walls. You can buy a cat flap + tunnel sections, but cheaper to buy 2 normal catflaps and use these. I did it this way ...

Take out an area of wall 1 brick wide, 3 bricks high. Make sure this is at least 10 cm above the floor level. Ensure insides of 'tunnel' is smooth. I lined the tunnel with wood. I also put some carpet on the tunnel floor which acts as a doormat. Cut out 2 squares of wood that slightly overlaps the hole. I used marine ply. Insert the cat flap into each of these, then fix to the wall, then paint or varnish. I used decorators filler to seal any gap between the wood and the wall. On the outside, I added a small 'lip' above the catflap to direct rainwater away from the entrance.

And think about cat proofing your garden to stop your cats wandering over to that busy road. Cat proofing a garden is relatively cheap and easy and is great peace of mind.