Should you Get a Sliding Cat Door Insert?
I live in an apartment with a screened porch. My cats love to go out and enjoy the sunshine by napping or birdwatching. My last apartment also had a screen porch, and the cats were always wanting to go out so I knew when I moved I needed to do something as I work from home and was constantly getting up to let them outside.
I had been looking at sliding door cat doors for a while. Renting has the downside of limited options; this was about all I could do. The problem was I kept seeing that these doors were hard to install and had many issues with noise and causing high heating and cooling costs.
However, when I moved to my new apartment, I realized that having the door open for them would only sometimes be an option as I live near a noisy freeway, and my desk is located right next to the sliding door.
To solve the problem, I finally broke down and bought a cat door for my sliding door, and I love it.
Check out Pumpkin using the door on Instagram here
Installation: It was not as hard as some made it seem, but not simple either
Installing the door was very simple. I inserted the door, and it popped into place. The directions say to screw it in, but I didn’t, and it’s been fine. If I wasn’t looking to ensure I didn’t have a high electric bill or was worried about the freeway noise, that would have been it. However, I needed to do a bit more since there were a few gaps between my sliding door frame and the new cat door.
I tried a few things to insulate between the cat door and the frame of my sliding door. I ended up using high-density insulating foam tape, and it worked well. Once I had that figured out, I moved to the other side of the cat door. The door would not close completely, which is a common issue. I tried the insulated tape, but that did not work; then I tried a thinner insulated tape, which did not work either.
What I ended up using was a fuzzy weather stripping tape for windows. I put the tape on one side of the cat door and then on my siding door I did the same thing on the other side. I only needed to do this part of the way up the door and it’s worked great.
The last part I had to deal with was the area between the sliding and fixed doors. This area always stays open, so you will want to block it to help reduce noise, bugs, and heating and cooling costs. The kit came with draft stopper tape cut to fit the door; however, since it was hot that day, the glue melted while it was in transit, and I couldn’t use it. It wouldn’t have worked anyway, as it was too thick for my door.
The directions also stated to add it to the stationary door. My apartment door does not have a solid edge on that door. I ended up buying this silicone draft stopper tape from Amazon after trying a few other things, including a pool noodle, and it worked very well, but I ended up putting it on the sliding side of the door and not the stationary since the slider did have a flat area for me to attach the tape.
Do I recommend this cat door
Was all that work worth it? Yes, not only is there no draft coming in through the window, but there also is less noise than when it was just the sliding door! I’ve had the door installed for over a month, and it’s been nice.
The pet door itself is sturdy and doesn’t feel cheap. I like that it has the glass above the actual cat door. However, I would love to see an option allowing you to change the glass for a screen. I don’t need it as my patio is enclosed with screening, but I can see where that would be useful.
Overall I do recommend this cat door. It’s sturdy and is an apartment-friendly cat door. I can easily remove everything I added to the door, which will come right off when I’m ready to move. That makes it perfect for any rental space.
You can get the same cat door I have by clicking here and visiting Chewy.com. Your purchase will be able to help support this website and is appreciated.
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