Saturday, January 1, 2011

Cat door: A tutorial

Ever since we have moved, I have had my cat box in my laundry room.  Ick.  I was used to having it downstairs and so I hated having it so, well, obvious.

Well, my smart hubby and me took care of that this week! 

Start with a plastic cat mat, purchased from the PetSmart. 


Bring out a ruler, sharpie, and cutting utensils.  Use the ruler to cut the mat according to the size dictated by the hole in your door (ours was 8.5 x 8)

Throw in some fleece to edge the cat mat with (I used an old scarf that had a nice finished edge).  I was worried that the cut edge of the cat mat would trap my cats ears and tails, so I thought a nice fleece edge would make the whole experience of going through the cat door a little nicer.
 
Use a hot glue gun to glue the fleece to the edge.


Voila!!

Enter the door. Shane had already cut and trimmed the door before we decided to do a cat flap.  Here he is sanding the door (or maybe caulking, the kid loves caulk more than me sometimes. It's much smoother and neater, for one...)

Add a little wood glue, and a a staple gun for good measure.


Glue and/or staple the cat flap to the door.  Cover it with trim. Tape and/or clamp. This step might have to be repeated.


Enter some cats. 


Yeah, they pretty much ignore the cat door. You may have to show them what to do. (Translation: push them through the door and wait for them to come back through it on their own.)

Ta da!  They can get through one way, hopefully they will figure out how to go through the other way.

2 comments:

Amy Sorensen said...

your house still smells new. I can totally tell by watching the video. The video!!! You calling "kitty, here kitty kitty kitty"!!! Awesome!!!!

Kasandra said...

Becky, haven't visited you in so long. This is a great idea, you guys are so industrious!!
Happy New Year...