Cat Door - Let Your Cat Roam Around As It Pleases

If you're getting tired of "serving" your cat, of opening the front door every time it wants to go outside, then simply have a cat door installed. 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.

The flap could also be replaced with harder materials, but the principle is the same - when your cat gets used to the door, it uses it to go out and come back in as it pleases. 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. All they have to do is push on the flap to open it. Some flaps can be set to open only to one side, such as towards your house's interior, or exterior. But this does not limit other animals - rodents, racoons, squirrels, cats and dogs you don't own - from entering your house. You need a more sophisticated type of cat door for that.

You want an electronic cat door to ramp up your security - it's designed to limit access to your house, limit it only to your cat. You will find the same configuration in many electronic dog doors - a special collar and a special door. Only your cat and walk in and out of your house - it should wear a special collar that the electronic doors recognises and opens the flap upon sensing. Some pet owners are annoyed to find racoons, feral cats, and neighbour's intrusive cats inside their homes - and you want none of that. 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.

Some cats, especially those accustomed to ordering you around, won't adjust to the cat door immediately; you have to train them. 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.