It was many years ago that I ruined the property value of my house by installing a cat door leading out to the screened-in porch. At the time, there were two cats, Bubbles and Rump. Bubbles came with the house when I bought it because the sellers saw she was more friendly with me than she was with them. Rump was a stray that I befriended on Halloween and she decided I was her new owner and this was her house.
Both cats enjoyed going “outside” on the patio, and as cats are wont to do, they would request to go out, or more accurately, request the door be opened so they could decide if they wanted to go out. And if no one was there to open the door, well, tough shit. So, I purchased a cat door so they could help themselves.
As it turned out, Bubbles never understood how to use the door, but Rump figured it out on day one and used it for the rest of her times. In the middle of the night, you would hear her knocking on the door before she pushed her considerable girth through the opening. The door had a lock, but it was rarely used.
I can’t even remember how I installed the door. I know I didn’t have near the collection of tools I have now. And so it’s not really a surprise the installation is not as good as it could be. The one big issue is the opening isn’t as even on the outside as it should be. Also, over the years, the plastic has turned yellow from the sunlight and from having a dirty cat in and out for years, the door and channel was full of hair and cat litter. With the expectation that a new cat is coming to the house, it was time to replace the door.
Surprisingly or not, it seems the model of door I have was discontinued a while ago. But there’s still some places that sell what’s left over. And so I bought one. About $40. It’s been so long, I can’t remember what I paid for the original. And this time, when I install the new door, I can correct the opening and it should look much better.
So the old door, as I said, was old and yellowed and dirty from years of use.
While I had the old door off, I used a file to open up the door hole where it touched the plastic. I also superglued the tunnel to the inside frame for stability. When I got it all assembled in place, this was definitely for the best. You can see in the gross close-up of the old outside view how the tunnel had separated from the inside frame.
The new install is nice and white and you can particularly see how the tunnel is in better shape now. It actually almost protrudes past the outside frame.
All ready for a new cat. Coming this week.