Would you buy this cat door?

[speakhandsforme]

(This post was approved by the mods in advance. Please contact katachtig with questions.)

Hello! I'm a longtime, lapsed TCS member. Some of you who were here back at the beginning of the decade might remember me.

My husband and I have two cats now -- one is one of the same ones I had before (Boots), and the other is Lil One, in my profile picture.

Lil One was already an adult and indoor-outdoor when we adopted her, and despite our best efforts to keep her indoor-only, she eventually got her way with months of 4am yowling and door-rushing, and she has a cat door now.

We moved from Colorado to Tennessee and she now has access to all kinds of little critters for hunting, which is where the question from the post title comes in.

She brings in dead and half-dead animals ALL THE TIME. A bell on her collar has not helped. Ignoring her and the critter when she brings it in has not helped.

Finally, after a dying mouse crawled into our wall and left a stench for three weeks, I'd had enough. So I googled ways to keep her from doing this, and came across a cat door with a camera - it locks when it sees a cat approaching with food in its mouth! (You can find it by googling "ben hamm cat door.") The door is not for sale - it was a hobby project by an Amazon employee using their "smart camera."

I'm a professional computer programmer, and I thought it would be a fun, useful home project to make for myself. Then I wondered - do other people need this? So I went to my local small business council, and they recommended doing customer research, so here I am with this poll.

I'd really appreciate some feedback from those of you with indoor-outdoor cats! Any extra comments in the thread about features you might like the door to have would be very welcome.

Thank you so much!

 

[abyeb]

This is a cool idea! Charlie is indoor-only, so I can’t personally participate in the poll, but I just wanted to stop by and wish you the best of luck in your business ventures!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Hekitty is also indoor only, but I grew up in an age when almost all non-purebred cats were indoor/outdoor, so I'll go ahead and bite! YES! I would buy a cat door like that if I had an indoor/outdoor cat. My Gray, whom I have written about here many times, was an excellent hunter, and brought home rats, mice, baby rabbits, snakes, and (on one memorable occasion) a baby alligator, ALIVE, O ALIVE! A door like that would have saved my mother's sanity, and probably delayed her hair going gray by several years. I won't do the poll, as I won't be buying one, but HAVE AT IT! I think it is an idea whose time has come.

Should you want me to take part in the poll, for research reasons only, just let me know.

OH, as an aside, I lived in Chattanooga for many years, at the foot of Signal Mountain. My younger son and granddaughter still live there. I miss my mountains!

 

[FeebysOwner]

I, too, have an indoor only cat. But, I was curious if there is evidence that this form of 'training' works. What is supposed to make the cat realize that they can't get in the door if they are holding something in their mouth, but can enter if they don't? I would be afraid that the cat would get the idea over time that they are not welcome in the house and therefore come back less and less and less over time because they can't get in. Hopefully, you already have answers/solutions to my questions!!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

That's an excellent question, actually. Although cats are VERY bright, and I wouldn't put it past them to figure it out.

 

[Sidewinder]

Hmm, technology is amazing, and perhaps this idea will be useful to some folks... moi, I had time in my first months here to deter the cats from bringing in critters, dead or alive, so they're pretty good now about NOT dragging lizards, bugs, etc., into my home. I don't get all bent if they do, but they're smart enough to figure out what keeps Daddy happy, LOL.

 

[fionasmom]

My concern was like FeebysOwner that the use of a door that only opens if there is no other critter present might deter the cat from entering in the event of an emergency.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

But don't let the concerns deter you! I'm sure there's a way around this, and as I said, cats are very bright. They may figure it out on their own. Worth testing!