Cat flap in a wall

I hope someone can give me some advice.

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?

2. 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............I'm not sure
what else I will do though if it isn't!!

Thanks in advance

Angela

On Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:19:15 +0100, Angela wrote:


I stronglly recommend putting them through the wall or in a window as part
of a program for keeping vermin from using the flap. This is especially
important in relation to opossums and raccoons.

My solution can be seen at
<http://67.54.246.139:9000/tdavis/cats/cat_flap.jpg>

The opening on the right was the original flap, but it was an invitation
to coons and possums, the one on the left (with Tigger on the shelf) is
the current version. The shelf is about a meter from the top step - there
is a full lenght shelf on the inside, one of three above and below the
window. The idea is that the wind will always press one or the other of the
flaps harder against its rim, regardless of whether the air flow is inward
or outward.

The flap is my own design and is still under development, but the basic
idea is *two* flaps, each of which seats (with overhang) against a raised
rim framing the hole - the cats open it the same way they open cabinets:
by pulling it open with a paw. The hinge had to be modified by replacing
the hinge pin with a smaller piece of brass rod to make the hinge very
loose. The flap itself, in its current incarnation, is a piece of Lexan
with a thin strip of wood glued at the top and a a heavier on at the
bottom. <http://67.54.246.139:9000/tdavis/cats/cat_flap2.jpg> shows this
and the detail of the removable hinge pin (cleaning is easy: remove the
pin, take the flap inside, and wash it, then put it back and reinsert the
pin). You can also see the coarse lining of the hole with the same
paterial the wall studs are made of. This is an unfinished design, still
very much under development and testing - the hole lining is unfinished
and the indoor flap is not installed.

After several years of testing various modifications, I can say that the
filal version will use either brass or stainless steel for all metal
parts, a smaller wood block will be used at the bottom, and there will be
some sort of shield to keep freezing rain off the hinge (even though the
flap and most of the shelf are under the eves, blowing rain still gets
to it, though none comes inside except on or with cats). I'll use maple
for the wooden parts and finish them with spar varnish or heavy duty
paint. It is important to provide the wood block at the bottom so the cats
have something they can easily get their claws into.

BTW, in the second picture (taken a few minutes ago), you can perhaps see
the contact area between the flap and Ozy's nose - he's about to push it
open from the inside.

The concept can easily be adapted for use through a window in place of the
screen and lower sash - as long as the cats don't have to leap much more
than a meter up or down.

Of my fifteen cats, only one won't/can't use the flap, but that's
understandable when you consider that he is at least twenty years old, is
very frail, and is unstable on his feet.

--

T.E.D. (tdavis@mst.edu) MST (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
used to be UMR (University of Missouri - Rolla).

Ted Davis wrote:


To keep vermin out, the answer is simple.

Leave the flap open from morning till you turn in.

Keep your cats indoors overnight, and lock/shut the flap overnight.

That's what we do.

All of our cats are indoor/outdoor cats, but they spend every single
night in the house. They were all strays that had a previous history
of being 100% outdoor cats.

No "vermin" will ever get in, because skunks, possums and racoons are
nocturnal and you'll never see them during the day.

If possible, a flap in the wall is better than a flap in a door.

On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:46:27 -0400, Cat Guy wrote:


So are cats - actually all of them are active at some of the same times.
There is no way I could get all fifteen cats inside before sundown -
that's when they prefer to go out, and some of them prefer to come in
around midnight or later ... for that matter, some of them don't come in
at all for days at at a time. If the flap is locked, my cats just tear it
up and come in anyway.



I agree, but in many cases, everything that would have to be built for
vermin proofing would have to be built anyway - if you don't have a porch
or patio at a handy level relative to the inside floor you have to build
them a platform outside anyway.

--

T.E.D. ([Registered users can see links. ]) MST (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
used to be UMR (University of Missouri - Rolla).

"Ted Davis" <tdavis@umr.edu> wrote in message

15 cats? Cat masochist are you? Hell, what's the point with a cat flap? With
that many cats it would be in use all the time. You should wire a generator
to it and recover some electricity.

"Ted Davis" <tdavis@umr.edu> wrote in message
newsan.2008.04.26.16.38.59.891000@umr.edu...
Yes.....I have one that hunts outside most of the night, and only comes in
to sleep all day during the early hours of the morning.....but he is fairly
young (about 4 years old) The others spend most of the night sleeping inside
the house. They do, however sleep near the cat door, and police it to not
allow any stranger from coming in, so I don't have to worry much about the
raccoons and/or possums. Two of them will actually team up to attack
raccoons if they try to come in.....This is highly unusual......Most of the
time cats are loners and won't team up for much of anything.......

On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:59:38 -0700, William Graham wrote:

Some of mine team up for hunting (mostly siblings), but they ignore coons,
possums, and (thankfully) skunks, regardless of who else is around.

I recall one time Mudpie and Fleagor teamed up to drive off a strange tom
cat. Fleagor sat down in front of the stranger where he could show off
his huge size to best advantage (Fleagor is a Main Coon Cat type cat,
though small for that breed, he's huge by ordinary cat standards) while
Mudpie (near the large end of the normal size range) mounted a flanking
sneak attack. The stranger saw them both and decided that a hasty retreat
was in order.

--

T.E.D. ([Registered users can see links. ]) MST (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
used to be UMR (University of Missouri - Rolla).

On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:54:27 -0500, Upscale wrote:


I live well out in the country, where large clowders are quite normal.
What's unusual about mine is they are neutered and allowed to come inside
when they want to. Some hardly ever go out more than once a day, some
hardly ever come in (in good weather), and some are in and out all the
time.

--

T.E.D. ([Registered users can see links. ]) MST (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
used to be UMR (University of Missouri - Rolla).

Ted Davis wrote:



I have 7 cats (one of which is 16 and spend most of his time sleeping)
so basically we have 6 active cats and by 11:30 pm we'll have most or
all of them in the house by that time. We'll close the back screen
door (which effectively closes off the cat door) and open the front
door and let the stragglers in for the night. In the winter (from
mid-november until mid-april) it's too cold for them anyways. Once
they're all in, and all the lights are off and everyone (including me
and my SO) are in bed, everyone settles down to sleep. In mid to late
summer, one or two of them will sleep on the front porch all night,
but those are our 2 most recent strays who are still integrating into
our household.


Well, like I said, cats seem to have no problems adjusting to sleeping
indoors overnight and being active during the day (well, part of the
day anyways).

"Angela" <[Registered users can see links. ]> wrote in
message
news:EaGdneZf6ouOoI_VnZ2dnUVZ8tSdnZ2d@brightview.c om...


I have a similar problem because all the
doors are covered with strong steel gates. I
propose to have a opening made with a 6-inch
hole saw all the way thru the masonry in one
wall and glue the cat flap to this. A small
shield over the outside opening will stop
rain getting in. The cat will have to
squeeze thru though.