How To Prevent A Kitten From Using A Dog Door.

[SBHC]

Hello again everyone. Our kitten is doing great, she's almost 3lbs now. We're going to let her free roam the house soon, she was too small to be out with our dogs before. The concern I have is the dog door and our neighborhood. Even if she were to wear a collar and have a chip we have hunting/aggressive dogs to every side, which would end very badly.

The door is magnetic, but I'm not sure if it's strong enough to stop her from using it, or if she'd follow the dogs out. Do you have any tips or suggestions?

 

[abyeb]

Something you could look into is a “smart door” like this one: PetSafe Dog & Cat SmartDoor Plus

It reads pets’ microchips, to control entry and exit.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! What about a door that's activated only by chips on the dogs' collars? oh, abyeb just posted what I was thinking about

 

[SBHC]

I have thought of it, but we already have a door and for 5 dogs that would be very expensive. If there's no other choice then by all means we'll use it.

 

[Daisy6]

Does the door have locks on both sides?

 

[SBHC]

The only lock it has is the slide in door from the inside, it's a 2 flap dog door with magnetic strips to hold it still for wind, both flaps have them.

 

[Kieka]

I have thought of it, but we already have a door and for 5 dogs that would be very expensive. If there's no other choice then by all means we'll use it.

One door would work for all the doors. Most of the microchip doors work off your dogs indentification microchip so you don't have to buy any additional pieces or control units for each dog. The bonus is it keeps out unwanted neighborhood critters. The problem you'd run into is that most of the doors are locked to come in, not go out. If your home has a door in the room leading to the outside you can put the microchip door in that one so the kitten can't get to the outside door.

I can guarantee that your kitten will eventually get curious and follow a dog out. At 3 pounds it is unlikely it can exert enough pressure if the door has magnets at this time. But there may be a time soon when it will be able to get out. It's good that you are looking at options now.

 

[SBHC]

I have thought of reinforcing the door with neodymium magnets to require more force for now. If keeping her out of the back yard is not possible is there a way to prevent her from getting over the fence or under? Since the dogs have dug out many times we've put the C&C grids on the ground, it's helped. But I'm sure it would be easy for her to climb our 8ft wooden fence.

 

[Kieka]

I have thought of reinforcing the door with neodymium magnets to require more force for now. If keeping her out of the back yard is not possible is there a way to prevent her from getting over the fence or under? Since the dogs have dug out many times we've put the C&C grids on the ground, it's helped. But I'm sure it would be easy for her to climb our 8ft wooden fence.

Yes, you can build on to the existing fence in a way that won't let the cat climb out. One way would be to afix plastic siding/roofing all along the fence so that it creates a section your cat can't climb over. You'd need to do about a three foot section starting about four feet up. Another is PVC rollers along the top of the fence or creating an overhang that blocks the cats ability to climb over. One important note with any of these options is you can't have trees of branches that would allow your cat to bypass them or get onto the roof of your building.

 

[Daisy6]

If you can solve the door issue now, your kitten will never try to climb a fence.

 

[SBHC]

Alright, thanks everyone. I will work on the door first and prepare just in case measures for the fence.