How hard is it to put in a cat "door"?

[Lachesis]

I want to put a cat door in from the garage to the house and move their food, water, litter, cat tree and cat condos out to the garage... (a bigger bedroom!! LOL).
*But* I want to put a cat door on the door. It's metal... I want them to be able to come and go in the house...

Suggestions? I assume a hole would have to be cut? Who would/could do this?

The garage door stays closed. We use it for storage only.

[Former User]

Originally posted by Lachesis
I assume a hole would have to be cut?

Never done any cat doors myself, but yeah, you definately need a hole!
My friend has several cat doors, they installed them by themselves!

[Edwina's Secretary]

My dad recently put one in (for their dog but same door) and he did it himself -- he is 80. You will need carpentry skills though -- key hole saw and the like. Might be easier to just hire a carpenter.

[sasvermont]

I put one in a window.....using a kit.

[Lachesis]

Ugh this is a heavy door too Not one you could easily take off and throw in the car *lol*. I might see if a local place could cut a hole in the door...

[Logan]

I'm thinking of the window version myself. Especially since Butter has decided that coming in and out through the window is a "cool" thing for a cat to do!! I can't tell you how many loose screens I have on my storm windows because of him finding me in whatever room I am in!!!

[Lachesis]

Whats a window version? This door has no windows it's solid metal....

[Pam]

We have a cat door but it is on an inside door (from the kitchen to the basement). My husband put it in pretty quickly but I don't know about a non-wooden door. That sounds a little trickier! This works really well for us because we have always had dogs along with our cats, and this is one way that they can't possibly get to the kitties' food and especially their litter boxes!

[K & L]

That's how we have our setup. We have a doggy door from the laundry room to the garage, and then another one from the garage to the outside cat run. You do have to cut a hole in the door, but as long as it's not a steel door it's fairly simple. We had to do this with a steel door also, it just took a lot more time.

[Logan]

I believe that they make them to fit into an open window (not a door). I don't have a suitable door to put one in because I have glass storm doors on both of my entries. I haven't even started researching this yet, but I guess you put it in a window that you don't mind "giving up", as it would be like a window airconditioning unit and be there all the time. I'll let you know if I ever get that far!!

[mruffruff]

You definitely need a hole somewhere!

If your garage isn't steel, I would recommend putting the hole in the wall instead of the door. It really doesn't take a lot of skill, but you do need to follow directions.

I put one in a window. No cutting, but I can't open the window either. Do you have a window in the garage?

Mary

[wayne0214]

Lachesis, they are fairly simple to make and install. (1) cut a 12" square hole in what ever you plan to place the pet door into. (2) I suggest that you make the swinging door, mounted from the top, out of something transparent, so your furkids can see through it before they open it up. Making it of opaque material may cause hesitency for them to enter because they cannot see what is on the other side. Perhaps using a piece of clear plastic or plactic coated screen would suffice. (3) You will need to obtain two small hinges so that the door will swing either way when your cats use the door. (4) Be sure that there is something available to connect the hinges to on the top of the hole. If a board doesn't exist there you may have to inside-frame the hole with 1" x 1" pieces of wood, or perhaps one piece of wood will do, mounted at the top of the hole. (5) after securing the "hanging wood", Drill 4 small holes into the wood that will be used to hold up the door by the hinges (using wood screws) using the holes in the hinges for a marked reference point. Drill and secure the hinges on the plastic door piece using, perhaps a set of #6 or #8 screws with matching nuts, would suffice. Be sure the door part nearly covers the hole but not enough to allow it to grab or touch the frame after it begins to swing. (6) You may have to pick up your furkids and run them through the door a few times to teach them what it is for, in both directions.

I have made several of these and they are simple to make and intall. Be sure that you have all of the tools and materials before cutting any holes in the door or wall. Mark everything with pencil so you will know where to drill holes and install screws. I hope this helps

........wayne

[Lachesis]

I found out the door isnt metal just one heavy door!!! so this might just be possible yet!!!!

Thanks so much Wayne and others!!

[wayne0214]

Lachesis, I forgot to mention that it is best to hang the door piece from the top-center of the hole, and not on the outsides.

Also what tools you will need: a screwdriver, pencil, a square, ruler, a key-hole or equivalent electric saw, and (electric) drill. As far as making the door piece of something transparent you may also need a hand file to file off the edges of the plastic, or an electric sander will also suffice, so they won't cut themselves should any of them decide to back out once entering. Cats do this sometimes. This is the reason why I suggest that the door material should be transparent to help eliminate this problem.

[sammi]

We just put in a new doggie door last weekend and it came with a video telling you exactly what to do and the tools!