How Do You Choose The Right Cat Door For Your Cat?
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. 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.
You want a cat door that's appropriate for your cat - and your cat alone - unless you're after a flap to be used by pets of varying size (if you own cats and dogs, that is). A flap is just a short passage way - both animals can use it. Pushing the flap open is something they might discover on their own, curiosity and all. You can set the lock on many flaps to open inwards, or outwards. 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. For that, you're going to need a snappier, most sophisticated cat door.
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. 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." 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. You don't want uninvited animals in your house - stealing food, pooping on your carpet, and stressing out your cat. 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.
Now, just because you've put in a door just for your cat means the cat immediately understands your intentions; far from it, you might need to train your cat to use the flap. Bring it to the flap after it's installed and push the flap open to show the way out. If you chose the electronic door, as opposed to the traditional ones, make sure your cat wears the special collar - a sensor - that triggers the electronic door to open. Your cat has to get used to the event - of the door's opening - as linked to his vicinity to it. You can use treats to entice the cat to the door if it's still shy.
