Author Topic: Cat flaps through cavity walls  (Read 4634 times)

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Cat flaps through cavity walls
« on: 05 September, 2017, 02:21:30 pm »
Has anyone had experience of a catflap such as this https://sureflap.com/en-gb/pet-doors/microchip-pet-door fitted into a cavity wall.  Obviously I have to buy extension pieces to go through a 275mm approx wall, but my concern is not fitting it (which will be a pain), but dopey mog coping with going through a longer tunnel.  It strikes me as obvious I need the larger flap than what he's currently using ( https://sureflap.com/en-gb/pet-doors/microchip-cat-flap ) considering he wil have to get his entire furriness in there, rather than threading himself through a short narrow bit.

Do any other YACFers have catflaps going through thick walls?  Ny friend Pascal has a 600mm long cat tunnel in his stone house in France, but his cats are skinny, and very adventurous and seemingly totally fearless.  Our Alfie is a chunky boy, and not all that bright.
Wombat

Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #1 on: 05 September, 2017, 02:44:09 pm »
I have a very stupid cat - I cut a hole in our double-brick garden wall. It doesn't have a catflap, but he likes sitting in the 'tunnel' in the wall and looking out.

He's a chunky cat and seems to like it.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Chris S

Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #2 on: 05 September, 2017, 02:51:00 pm »
We had a tunnel with flaps inside and out - none of the cats minded.

Well.

None except for Gizmo, who was unfortunate enough to be there when I inadvertently set the internal flap for OUT only, and the external flap to IN only. We eventually noticed his meowing, but actually had no idea how long he'd been stuck in the tunnel - his little furry face pressed against the internal flap.  :facepalm:

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #3 on: 05 September, 2017, 03:00:47 pm »
;D ;D ;D

Rotate the pod, Hal
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #4 on: 05 September, 2017, 03:03:43 pm »
Cavity Kitteh - Ceiling Cat's dopey cousin.
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #5 on: 05 September, 2017, 03:07:29 pm »
If he can use a normal flap, then a tunnel one will be no issue to fit through. If the head and whiskers fit, so will the rest.

It might take a while to acclimatise - so you'll be starting with both ends propped open and food the other side to that which the cat is on.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Chris S

Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #6 on: 05 September, 2017, 03:10:31 pm »
We found ours needed very little training.

1. Rotate the pod, Hal Open both flaps.
2. Find (indoor) cat.
3. Shove into tunnel.
4. Cat exits tunnel.
5. Cat: "Holy shit, I'm outside. Cool!"


Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #7 on: 06 September, 2017, 09:54:46 am »
Think of what you're proposing to do to the U-Value of that bit of wall, and the air-tightness of the property ;D

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #8 on: 06 September, 2017, 09:57:36 am »
We've had two of these, one I put in in an extension conservatory with no U-value and one we inherited. Can't remember what I used to make the tunnel with, but it would have been made, rather than bought.
It is simpler than it looks.

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #9 on: 06 September, 2017, 11:19:27 am »
Think of what you're proposing to do to the U-Value of that bit of wall, and the air-tightness of the property ;D

Quite!  for my ex-profession, its a very naughty thing.  I may well be putting it in the conservatory, but I'm not sure yet.  Yes, our conservatory does have cavity walls! (well it will have when the bloody solicitors actually do something useful and we eventually get to move there).
Wombat

Re: Cat flaps through cavity walls
« Reply #10 on: 19 September, 2017, 12:12:14 pm »
I doubt the cat will have any issues with a longer tunnel, as noted by mrcharly, cats generally like narrow confined gaps !  They are also a lot skinnier than the fur can make them appear.  When I gave Talisker a bath, and his fur was slick against his skin, he was about half the diameter I expected. :o

Zev took forever to learn how a cat flap worked, I had it propped open for weeks (when I was in the house) before she realised she could shove her way through. :)

Kai was happily using it, so you think she would have copied his example. :-\

I put mine through a solid wall, my house predates common usage of cavity walls, and it's not terribly long, but still longer than a conventional door fitted catflap.  This hasn't worried any of the cats, other than Zev, but I think any cat flap was going to confuse her.  ;D
Actually, it is rocket science.