Best Electronic Cat Door: Cat Flap Buyers Guide

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Cats are independent animals, and a cat flap will give your pet more freedom. Let’s look at how to choose the best electric cat door for your home and pet!

If you are a cat owner, you know how independent cats are. Sometimes they like to chill indoors on a windowsill, shelf, or chair. But cats also like going outdoors, walking through grass, rubbing against foliage, and hunting small animals and insects.

Cat flaps and doors give the cat and owner freedom to go about as they please. You’ll no longer find yourself continually opening the door for your pet.

There are two categories of cat doors: manual and electronic, and there are many subcategories between the two. Today, we will focus on electronic cat doors only. You have to assess your needs and choose a door suitable for you and your feline to choose the best door for you.

The Benefits of an Electric Cat Door

Electronic cat doors allow your feline to enter and exit the home without your help. Traditionally, owners of cats and dogs used simple flaps made of some form of hard plastic or vinyl that covered a hole cut in a door. But at times, this type of setup became problematic.

Cat flaps let the pets come and go without restraint, which is not always beneficial for your feline. Cats could exit the home in the middle of the night, where harm could come to them from larger animals, people, and cars. The opened flap also left homes vulnerable to other animals, rodents, harsh winds, and inclement weather.

The benefits of an electronic cat door remedy these situations and build a routine with your feline. Below are some of the benefits of an electronic cat door:

Pet Independence
Prevents other animals from entering
Controls the time your pet can be inside or outside

These benefits are great for owners of cats who want their pets to be independent but aren’t always around to let them out. So, how do you select the best electronic cat door for your feline’s needs?

Best Electronic Cat Door: Buyers Guide

Nothing is worse than making a purchase, coming home, and finding that it is not what you wanted or needed. So before buying an electronic cat door for your beloved pet, you should consider several things.

Types of Cat Doors

Electronic cat doors vary in their capabilities. Therefore, it is good to know your needs when cat door shopping.

All electronic cat doors work with an activating device that triggers the door to open when your can comes near the door. Let’s look at the different kinds of electronic cat doors:

Magnet: A magnet is attached to the cat’s collar, and the door opens when the cat is close enough to the electromagnetic piece on the cat door.
RFID: Doors with Radio-frequency Identification will electronically read a microchip implanted in your pet or a key fob attached to its collar.
Two-Way Locks: The two-way locked doors allow your pet to come in and out.
Four-Way Locks: You can program the door for in only, out only, and the normal in and out feature.

Material

You can install most electronic cat doors on most but not all doors. You will have to cut a hole in the door, so materials like metal or glass are not good options for installing a cat door on your own.

Also, the material that the flaps are made of matters. Cat door frames are either plastic or metal. Plastic is ok for most cats but can break after some time. Metal cat doors are more expensive but durable and last longer than their plastic counterparts.

Flaps made from plastic are ideal if you live in a place that does not get below 0F. If the weather gets colder than this, the plastic will crack and break. Plastic is also ideal if you don’t plan to be in your current location for a long time.

Vinyl flaps are light but sturdy. They are strong enough to accommodate a larger animal, such as a family dog, but light enough for a cat to enter and exit with minimal effort.

Doors made out of K-9 Composite last up to 30 years, which is the most durable kind of electronic pet door. It can withstand harsh weather and is insulated.

Size

Size matters. Before taking off and going shopping for a new electronic cat door, take measurements of your cat. You need to know the length of your cat and the measurements of the widest point of the cat. Take these measurements with you and compare them to the cat doors available to get the correct size.

Cost

Not everyone has the budget to select a cat door without considering the price. The price of an electronic cat door will depend on the material it is made of and its capabilities. You can buy a low-end door for approximately $15 and a high-end one for $200.

Although staying within your budget is always the best, don’t take shortcuts on paying for the door you need. You will be out of money and still not have the proper equipment you need for yourself and your feline.

Technology

As mentioned above, the doors can be opened by magnet, RFID, two-way, or four-way locks. In all instances, the cat’s collar must be close to the cat door to trigger the opening mechanism.

Because of this, anything without the code or microchip can get through the door. Therefore, you won’t have to worry about outside critters getting into the home.

Easy to Fit

As long as you have a door made out of compatible material and cut the hole to the correct size, you will be able to fit your new cat door without issue. However, be careful while measuring the hole you will cut so that you don’t make it too big. You can cut it more if you’ve cut it too small the first time, but cutting it too big will require a replacement door.

Best Electronic Cat Door: Conclusion

An electronic door can give you and your cat so much freedom. So take your time and shop around to purchase the best electronic cat door for your needs.

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