installing small cat flap through interior wall

11 years ago

We are putting a second floor on our house (all new construction) and would like to have a "cat tunnel" through the bedroom wall to the laundry room, where her litter box will be.

All the cat doors I can find online are designed to be installed through a door, and are not deep enough for a wall. There are a couple of larger doors (meant for small dogs and/or cats) that can be installed with an additional "wall extension" kit, but we really don't want something that big. Also, they're meant for exterior use and have a lot of weatherproofing that we don't need.

I'm wondering if the contractor can build a tunnel through the wall and install a cat flap just on one side -- do you think that would be possible? Any better solution that you can think of? I haven't talked to him about it yet because I have no idea how reasonable that is and didn't want to sound like an idiot.

Comments (9)

zyllah
11 years ago
I want to do something like that too.
dekeoboe
11 years ago
Cat Mate has an extension kit that works with their cat flaps. I found a number of other companies also offer this option. Try searching using the word tunnel.

I'm not sure why you need a flap. If you decide you don't need the flap, here is an article about an interior cat hole http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/tips-building-a-cat-tunnel-in-62280
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Mom23Es
11 years ago
Have your cats used flaps before? We have two cat doors in our current house, and neither of our cats would go through the flaps. We had to take off the flaps. Our cats were about 9 and 6 years old when we installed the cat doors. Maybe you can't teach an old cat new tricks? ;-)
minperkins
Original Author
11 years ago
dekeoboe: My husband wants a flap. I was originally assuming it would just be a tunnel, but he's worried about "acoustic privacy" (even though it just leads to the laundry room). Thanks for the link and the search hint!

Mom23Es: No, our cat has never used a flap, and she's 10. I read a lot of reviews of various cat doors and nearly everyone said their cats got the hang of it pretty quickly, but all cats are different! Ours is pretty spritely and not easily fazed (phased?) -- when we moved into our rental for the renovation, she barely missed a beat.

I'll investigate the "no flap" option -- maybe I can convince hubby.
brickeyee
11 years ago
Box in the opening with 2x lumber between the drywall layers on each wall and install the flap on one side.

2x is easier to hit with the drywall screws to fasten it in place.

It does not need to be attached to the framing.
auroraborelis
11 years ago
What about this:

[Contemporary Bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103)
wagnerpe
11 years ago
I think the problem will be that unless you built it yourself, you are going to end up with overkill. Every "through the wall" cat flap I found is secured via microchip or otherwise to prevent unwanted critters from coming in the house. On the website I've added, the through the wall flaps are $100+, but the interior door cut out is about $30.

Here is a link that might be useful: All kinds of cat flaps/doors
minperkins
Original Author
11 years ago
We decided to just have the contractor box out a tunnel and finish it off simply (probably not as beautifully as in the photo Laura12 posted). I looked up a bunch of different flaps online and took sort of the average of the rough cut dimensions, and told him to build it 6.5w by 7.5h. That should be big enough for the cat to get through, and small enough that if we decide to add a flap in the future, there will be something to attach it to.

Knowing our track record, it's quite likely that once the house is finished, we will never get around to installing the flap, which would be fine with me!
Ann Shaffer
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I had to teach my ten year old cat to go through the cat flap. I pushed her head gently through the flap and encouraged her to follow through. I did that from both sides quite a few times. It took a while, but she eventually got the idea and then started using the flap on her own. They say to use treats to reward them when they go through (at your insistence) but my cat does not like treats. I got frustrated, but after I did it a bunch of times over several weeks, I gave up. Then she started using it on her own. Just like a cat! Had to be her idea. Now she loves it.