cat flap in a wall

[Angela]

I hope someone can give me some advice if any of you have done this.

Before I have always had a cat flap in a door but now I have a new house and the back door is a large double glazed door which would just cost me to much to have a flap put in. A builder friend has offered to put one in the wall for me. Has anyone any experience of doing this? I have a couple questions:

1. As it's a cavity wall do cats have a problem going through a tunnel?

1. The actual door seems to be on the inside leaving the tunnel exposed to the elements (or have I got that wrong?). What's stopping it filling with rain and allowing water to seep into the cavity wall?

Knocking holes in walls is quite a drastic thing to do so I don't really want to do it unless it really is the right thing............though I'm not sure what else I will do if it isn't!!

Thanks in advance

Angela

[The Natural Philosopher]

I'll join in this as well. Been meaning to do the same but have been held back by similar misgivings.

[Andy Hall]

Not really unless it's a very old cat.

Because the rain doesn't really drive in horizontally, unless you live in Newcastle.

There are plastic tunnel liners that can be fitted together in sections. You can glue these together with plumbers solvent weld if you like

It's better than using a DG door.

[EricP]

Go for it. A hole in a wall costs a few pounds to get rid of but a hole in a door, particularly a plastic one costs serious money to remove, as two neighbours are finding out :))

[geoff]

In message , Angela writes

This doesn't appear to have been discussed for several years

Yes, they will go through a tunnel, but it might need training. You might need to keep the cat flap open for a couple of weeks while it gets used to the concept.

Mine has no problems going through such a tunnel, although, being a cat, it will play the game of trying to get you to open the door just for the sake of it

[geoff]

Nah - it'll never work

[Adrian C]

Friend of mine installed a 'dog' flap in his house by making a hole through a wall, the only issue he did initially have was that for most of the ground floor of his house, the inside floor level was considerably higher than the outside level.

However, one room - the downstairs loo - had the least outside drop so the tunnel was installed there!

It was a small loo, room for one person only - or make that one person and a dog, if ye were unlucky to be on the throne and the animal had just come scurrying in by your side!

Privacy Nil!

:-)

[scm]

I have just 'converted' an old boiler flue into a cat tunnel by lowering the hole a couple of bricks and lining the 'tunnel with ply. The Tunnel is about 1 brick wide by 3 high The Cat Flap is on the inside. The Cat manages to come through fine, but boy does he complain that it is not as convenient as the old one in the conservatory was!! SCM

[The Medway Handyman]

Get rid of the cat - problem solved.

[Owain]

Might just be easier to use a low-level doorbell and train the cat to ring for entry.

Owain

[geoff]

You are joking, aren't you ?

Mine makes a big fuss to be let out of the front door, just to appear at the back 5 minutes later - on it's way to the front door just to play the same game again

You don't train cats ...

[Andy Hall]

Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

[chris French]

In message , geoff writes

In the end we had to stuff one of our into the tunnel to make it go through the tunnel and flap.. Once she'd done it once she was fine.

We had similar thing, though ours went through two walls eventually, as the hole to the outside was in a corner hidden by cupboards, washing machine etc.

I lined the hole with ply - the plastic tunnel extensions seemed expensive compared to a bit of scrap ply, with the flap on the outside (no good though if you want a locking flap)

[Angela]

My friend has suggested using the extension tubes as well as a plywood tunnel as well to be absolutely sure it wont leak.

Thanks for all advice, I think I will go ahead.

[Rod]

If the tunnel has even a very slight slope it would only fill with water when you are being flooded.

(Only partly tongue in cheek do I ask this!) I assume that if the catflap has any transparent area it requires Fensa registration or building control approval? And do the catflaps themselves need to have any approval (BBA?, BS/EN?)?

[Lobster]

No, we have one which works fine.

One of our cats had to wear one of those plastic conical collars recently following an combat wound which she kept picking at; as the collar diameter was larger than that of the tunnel we set up a litter tray inside for her the house. But oh no, somehow she still managed to negotiate the tunnel - just took rather longer than usual. It was sight to behold!

Our tunnel has a substantial wooden frame built into the house side, to which the catflap is screwed - thus if we ever need a new cat flap, maybe of different dimensions, it will be pretty easy to fit, ie won't require 'building' work.

Well for a start the tunnel slopes outwards slightly, so any rainwater would run outwards. Ours is in a solid wall, and is lined with mortar.

David

[robgraham]

Absolutely - as well I know - not only for food and water, but "I want to play now", "I want to be petted now", etc. His only attribute is that he is Bagpuss personified, otherwise he would have been out the door long since.

Rob

[Gib Bogle]

Backwards? What goes up the chimney down, but won't go down the chimney up?

[The Wanderer]

Depending on what sort of cat flap you want to instal, it would be possible to have a flap on the outer end of the tunnel.

If you want one of the 'four way locking' types, you're more or less bound to have the flap on the inner end of the tunnel, but if you go for a Staywell 700 series, this flap will sit quite happily on the outer end with a security drop-down panel on the inner end.

[Lobster]

You'd think so, but she's not that bright - no, she just battled through forwards...

David