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From: hopp@nbs-amrf.UUCP (Ted Hopp)
Newsgroups: net.pets
Subject: Re: pet doors
Message-ID: <153@nbs-amrf.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Feb-86 13:24:18 EST
Article-I.D.: nbs-amrf.153
Posted: Thu Feb 13 13:24:18 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Feb-86 20:38:50 EST
References: <193@fluffy.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: National Bureau of Standards
Lines: 27

We put in a cat door to our crawlspace under the house by replacing
the ventilation screen with a swinging door.  The door is about 6 or 7
inches high, and Florence has to squeeze herself down a little to get
in.  She took to it right away; she was very happy about being able
to get at her food whenever she wanted to.

We haven't had any problem with other animals getting into the house.
I think a major part of it is that squirels and other animals don't have
a chance of getting near the house with Florence (not to mention our dog
Ada) around.  One problem we do have is that Florence can now bring
in things like dead moles and birds.  Before, she would show up with
these charming gifts and we could make her leave them outside.  After
a couple of these, though, this seems to have stopped.  She must have
gotten tired of us raiding her treasure trove and set up one outside.
Another problem we had was making the door weatherproof.  During one
particularly heavy rain last summer we ended up with a pool of water
an inch deep and 15 feet across in the crawlspace.  A little regrading
outside took care of that.  The only thing we regret now is that Flo
can come in from a rainstorm (she's stupid enough to go out in one, but
smart enough to come back in) with muddy feet, and we are always finding
little kitty paw prints on things.  (Doggone that cat!-)

Despite these problems, we wouldn't consider being without the kitty door.

-- 

Ted Hopp	{seismo,umcp-cs}!nbs-amrf!hopp