My 20lb Maine Coon loves the patio, but I'm getting tired of being the door slave.

I've found some pet doors that can be mounted (professionally) in glass patio doors, and was wondering if anyone here had tried that, and if so how it worked out.

Cost looks high but manageable, based on this supplier: Moore Pet - in-glass pet doors

Details:
My patio door is a hinged one, not a slider. Cat is large enough (with back feet on the ground, he can put his front paws up on the kitchen counter and look down at the bowl I'm fixing for him) that it'd need to be a medium size dog door.

Anyway, if anyone has experience with doing this, or with Moore Pet doors, or general advice for cat-patio-entrance-solutions, I'd be grateful for your sharing your thoughts.

What does the wall next to the patio door consist of?

Putting a pet tunnel door in the wall might be cheaper and simpler.

Is there a regular window on the patio?

We put this in the window, works great and built very well.

https://www.amazon.com/Ideal-P...2Y7JZYHMTT3V6RDNYFQ6

At those prices, you are better off buying a storm door with the pet door included. I replaced mine with this, plus they do free installation.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/LARSO...x-79-875-in/50374416

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
What does the wall next to the patio door consist of?

All glass, unfortunately. Well, 'unfortunately' in this context...we like the natural light coming in.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
Is there a regular window on the patio?

No windows, unfortunately.

MIL put in a tall glass panel with pet door kit at the bottom. $125 plus install. It took the cat just a few minutes to figure it out once I got her used to the magnetic catch. But the patio door becomes a fixed pane.

Pet Patio Door Insert

some pictures would help.

quote:

Maine Coon

Damn, that is a big cat! Never heard of that breed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weebcQPRGUE

No knowledge about the door, but I was going to ask about your cat’s personality... I’ve been looking at them and Norwegian forest cats.
Do they shed a ton? Friendly, engaging, tolerate being independent? Sorry bout the drift!

Unless you've got a pane of glass to practice making precision cuts on, I strongly suggest a glazier. If you mess up you'll take out your whole door.

How about a pet door insert, like this one?

https://www.amazon.com/Pet-Pat...id=1613149071&sr=8-6

Question: Is your patio door dual pane glass? If you cut the glass you will degrade the integrity of the thermal properties of the seal around the glass and suffer fogging between the panes.

Maine Coons are the greatest cats, in my opinion. Very dog-like in their nature.
My Roxanne was one, and I miss her dearly. Great personality. </thread drift>

Aren’t most (or all) glass doors made with tempered glass? I’m pretty sure you can’t cut tempered glass without it shattering.

I can't figure out how that retro fit into a glass door works. First I thought that glass doors were tempered glass (pretty sure all sliders are for sure) and tempered glass cannot be cut, it shatters when cut or broken. Secondly even if the glass is not tempered and could be cut most if not all doors have dual panes and cutting them would break the seal and loose the vacuum. You would have fogging issues immediately.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
No knowledge about the door, but I was going to ask about your cat’s personality... I’ve been looking at them and Norwegian forest cats.
Do they shed a ton? Friendly, engaging, tolerate being independent? Sorry bout the drift!

Simba's personality is excellent, as I expected/hoped doing prior research. Got him from a local breeder, got his papers after he was fixed. Pedigreed, pure Maine Coon. I got to meet his mom and dad. Huge, beautiful cats.

Simba, as kitten:


He's friendly and follows me around the house. Likes attention, is smart as a whip and learns quickly. I taught him I'd whistle when I was at the front door, and if he's out he'll come running most of the time when I whistle. On the down side, learning quickly means he figures out cat-toys so they have limited lives. After a while chasing the dot, he figured out it was my hand doing the work, and he just stares at the laser pointer in my hand rather than chasing the dot.

He's vocal, not generally loud but he expresses himself, and you get to know what he's on about after a while. Purrs a lot, too.

He is independent, though, and while he greets me when I come home, when I'm gone he usually finds my wife and hangs with her, or finds a place to snooze. He likes getting petted, and will nap nearby, but after he left kittenhood behind he doesn't fit on laps anymore, and no longer tries.

A 20 pound cat of any breed has a lot of fur, so 'sheds a lot' is probably a fair statement. I'd have to say more like continuous shedding rather than great gobs all at once when seasons change. I have a long-hair Furminator and that works great. He likes to go outside and get 'mulch' so I try to brush him soon after I let him in.

We went large breed because we are in the sticks, and I didn't want to have to worry about any of our local fauna (raccoons, opossums, foxes, etc.) getting my cat. He's 20 pounds of pure muscle, and while he is pretty calm, if he ever kicks it into gear he is one long blur of speed - very high power to weight ratio - and if put to it he's got teeth and claws to scale. So it's more like they'd have to worry about Simba, than vice versa.

For scale, Simba as adult (2 years, 20lb.)


We're very happy with him.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
some pictures would help.

Good idea!

Here's the screen porch door, in the center. It opens inward to the house, and is flanked on both sides by immobile glass side panels.



Current thinking is to have some glass professionals install a cat door in the glass. I guess it could be done either in the door or in one of the panels, whichever would be easier for the installers.

Another option to consider. Put a pet door in the wall in the laundry room or utility room.

I once owned multiple half wild cats that were not content to just stay indoors. Damned if half of them wanted out and half of them wanted in. So I feel your pain. Based your photos, I would talk to the local glass shop or window store about a shortened glass panel on the right hand side that would adapt to a pet door panel.

 
We use Moore pet doors and really like their quality. We prefer in-the-wall type doors, though. We currently have their largest size, which they call the Behemoth, because we have an Irish Wolfhound.
 
Here is a before and after Behemoth picture. I replaced the smaller door when we got the Wolfhound. The dog in the picture is an Ibizan Hound, not nearly as tall as a Wolfhound, but still 70lbs and fast.