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Installed in a Wall Sometimes a pet door installed in a wall leads exactly where you want your pet to be in the house — for example, a utility room, kitchen or laundry room. This can be an unobtrusive way to get a pet in and out of the house. It involves cutting a hole in a wall and installing a pet door frame, flap and sometimes a tunnel for deeper walls. Do not attempt this yourself unless you have the right tools and some mad wall-cutting skills. This is a project best taken on by a carpenter or trusted handyman. This handsome dog door in Denver was custom-built through a wall using a standard pet door mount. HighCraft Builders framed the door with a rubber flap for the pet to pass through. It’s air- and weather-tight, says Hannah Hill of HighCraft. The wooden door closes and locks like a normal door.
Installed in a Door A simple pet door meant to be installed in a home’s exterior door has a frame of aluminum or plastic and one or two hard or soft flaps that pets pass through. Of all the pet doors, this is usually the easiest to install yourself. Consider that plastic can be flimsy and break; flaps and aluminum tend to expand and contract with changing temperatures, eventually becoming warped. Most pet door companies sell replacement flaps. Models with dual flaps tend to be more energy-efficient; some extreme-weather models utilize three flaps. Some have lock-out panels that can be slid into place for security when the door is not in use.
Shark enclosure. This funky catio was part of a home remodel in San Jose, California, and lets the owners’ love of their favorite hockey team shine through. The homeowners have four kitties and are “huge” San Jose Sharks fans, Sara Jorgensen of Harrell Remodeling says, so the shark logo on the catio screen was a must. The laser-cut metal screen is from custom screen manufacturer Decorative Screens Direct in Australia. The metal is thick enough to not flex and can withstand kitty hijinks. “We chose this product because there is no way they can claw, bite or squeeze through it,” Jorgensen says
Custom-Built Catios You can get as creative as you want with a custom-made catio. Some homeowners include ponds, cat-friendly foliage, chandeliers and even lounging areas for the humans. Unless you choose to design and build it yourself, the best pros to include are architects to design the space (unless you use a predesigned kit) and carpenters to build it. Room to climb. Above, Boris and Gabriel lounge on one of the many perches in a Santa Fe, New Mexico, catio custom-built by architect Greg Reid of Plan A Architecture at his own house. The tree is for scratching and climbing. The screening is two-by-two kennel fencing from Lowe’s. Reid used eight four-by-four cedar posts set into concrete-filled holes for the structure, with two-by-two fir beams and rafters. The roof is corrugated steel panels left over from the house construction.
Where will you put the cat food? "I feed them in the pantry on the countertop," Pelgrims says. "Not ideal, but I don't want our dog to fill her belly with the more expensive cat food." Cat food can be messy and, if you use wet food, smelly. You'll want to consider where you're feeding your cat. If you have a dog, you'll want to put the cat food up high somewhere so the dog can't reach it. Make sure you have an ideal spot that the cat can access easily, and make sure you're OK with seeing the food every time you walk by. Built-in nooks like this can help keep food and water bowls tucked away
Where will you put the litter box? Most cat owners will have a litter box inside, which creates a dilemma when it comes to how you set up your interior. “Smell is a big part of design,” says Laura Denberg, an interior designer who specializes in space planning and kid- and pet-friendly spaces. “You can have a beautiful room but if it smells bad it’s going to be terrible.” Many people put the litter box in a bathroom, something that Denberg is against. “The bathroom, to me, is not an option,” she says. “You’re not going to clean it every 15 minutes. It’s going to smell no matter how diligent you are.” Setting up boundaries can help, too. "In our house, there are two no-go areas for the cats (and dog) — the bedrooms and the laundry room are now off limits," Pelgrims says.
And since bathrooms tend to be high-traffic areas for you and your guests, the more you can separate that litter box from people — as well as odor-absorbing things like clothes and linens — the better. A basement is a good option, but not everyone has that, and some people have turned it into a second living area. Denberg suggests taking over a little-used closet or unused portion of a room. Ideally, you want nearby shelves to be kept off the ground by about three feet. Don't store linens or coats in the closet. Instead, use the space for storing things in plastic bins with lids. Then, install a berber carpet or deep tile that will catch litter more easily so it doesn’t get tracked out. If possible, cut a pet hole in the bottom part of the door or wall.
Are you OK if your furniture gets a few scratches? Cats scratch. Plus, they're natural climbers and your furniture will become their jungle. If you care about your stuff, you’re going to want to protect it somehow. Because of this, Denberg says cats are a bit more difficult than dogs when it comes to interior design. "Cats get on furniture, are more invasive," she says. "They get on kitchen counters. Cats have more available cubic footage than dogs. They can get anywhere.” Most homeowners respond by giving cats other things to scratch on, which often satisfies this need. But while scratching posts are good, "nobody wants to look at them,” Denberg says. Plus, they don’t always prevent cats from testing out their claws on other things. If this is a problem, you might want to consider removing that precious piece of furniture for a while, or covering it. In this Philadelphia home, the owner wrapped a wardrobe post with rope for a design-minded alternative to the carpet scratching post
You can build a pet door through a wall yourself if you’re super handy, but there are major considerations to watch for, such as what’s behind the walls. “I wouldn’t ever suggest that a homeowner cut into their exterior walls without knowing what they’re doing,” Kollmeyer of Robert Edson Swain says. “All sorts of things are packed into walls, like electrical or plumbing that could certainly ruin someone’s day if they were cut into. Also, any openings in exterior walls need to be well waterproofed so that rain doesn’t leak into the stud bay.”
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