has anyone put a cat flap in a glass door?

[mckenzie]

I've just got a quote of £295 + vat as they'll have to replace whole panel of double glazed unit. has anyone else had this doen?
Does it sound a reasonable quote?
Did you have any problems?

TIA

[Hassled]

Yes, we have had this done but it was years ago and I can't remember what we paid, although I can remember sharp intakes of breath and at the time.

Yes, they bring along and fit a matching panel of glass with a circle cut in it. The cat flap instructions tell you what diameter circle you'll need, I think. And no problems whatsoever - it's worth it for the sake of having a cat flap.

[mckenzie]

thanks Hassled. Our two newbies still cant go out yet so I have a few weeks to get it sorted. I'll try asking around locally for a recommendation.

[Deanna1977]

I think I paid about £150 for the cat flap to be put in 4 years ago. It was in a 1/2 partition door. I think they took the cat flap away with them to measure but I can't remember exactly!

£295 seems a bit steep but as it?s a whole one it might be right. But I would get a few quotes before you commit yourself.

[mckenzie]

thanks Deanna

[gibbberish]

We had it done about 2 yrs ago. Think it cost around £250 as they had to replace the whole glass panel.

[whomovedmychocolate]

We were quoted £500 for this (big catflap and big glass panel) so we actually stuck it through the wall next to the door instead - you just need to knock out six bricks if you have a brick house and you can buy a catflap the right size. Is much cheaper and your postie can then use it to (for post obviously, not to come in and eat liver off the floor)

[BertieBotts]

Just want to add a really basic safety point - if you do have a cat flap in your back door, DON'T leave the keys in the door, or anywhere within view of the glass door. My mum always used to do this without thinking and one day when I had forgotten my key I discovered just how easy it made it to break in - I picked up a bamboo pole from the garden, stuck it through the cat flap and hooked the keyring with the end of it, then wiggled until the keys fell out of the keyhole and slid down the pole, then was able to let myself in through the (previously locked) door.

Kind of negates the point about cat flaps being safer than an open window anyway!

[whomovedmychocolate]

DS also got his head stuck in the catflap a few months back.

And I managed to hook the buggy and pull it towards the catflap when locked out (I keep spare money and keys in there as well) so yes BertieBotts is right.

[mckenzie]

thanks very much guys for the words of warning. We do as a rule keep the keys in the lock so that would have to change. DCs are old enough not to try the head trick (I hope). DH if he's drunk - now that's another matter entirely

[duke748]

I just had mine done.

Yes, you do need a new pane of glass with the whole pre-cut into it. Its because any glass below waist height has to be toughened and the catflap hole has to be put in BEFORE the glass is toughened.

They come, measure the glass and the cat flap hole needed. A few weeks later they come with the new glass and install it and then the cat flap.

I kept the old pane of glass in the shed so that when I eventually sell the house I can tell new owners that they can replace the cat flap window if they don't want it there for minimal cost.

I had a whole glass patio door replaced with a new one with said cat flap hole in it for £160 cash in hand.

I rang eveey glazier in my home town and that was the cheapest by far. I also has quotes of £300 plus, so its worth it to shop around.


Hope that helps.


Kerry.

[Polly42]

Hi I am looking into getting a cat flap and was trying to find how much it would cost and who would do it I live in the channel island

[thecatneuterer]

I had it done years ago. I had a huge panel of glass so it was more than that about 15 years ago. It really all depends on the size of the glass. That sounds average though.

[Rachel2502]

Hi McKensie,

Who did you call to give you the quote? Do you have to call the company who installed the windows?

Any guidance would be most appreciated!

[Ski37]

I've just had a cat flap fitted into a window. Apparently because the doors are triple glazed it would have been very difficult to fit one in the door as due to the narrow size of my doors there's not enough clearance in the glass to support a cat flap ( or something like that) . We've made a shelf on the other side that the cat can go onto and he seems very happy with it (spends most of his time sleeping on it). It didn't cost me too much as someone I know used to work in the glazing industry (and to be honest it wasn't me who arranged it) but apparently the people who manufactured the glass/ insert said they have done it before for people in the same situation- and it's a much smaller piece of glass that needs to be replaced.

[NameWithChange]

Just discovered this thread and love it!!! I was just this minute looking at getting quotes for mine and working out what sort of cat flap to get. Thanks Mumsnet!!

[NameWithChange]

P.s what type of flap Anyone got those ones with special collars so that only your cat and not all the local moggies can get in?? Anyone know if any good?

I had a terrible experience years ago with one of those 4 way locking ones - it worked well for ages when the dirty stop out would stroll in late and not be able to get back out but one night someone else got in... and couldn't get out... woke up to a very angry cat in our kitchen, lots of things smashed from the work tops where it had been frantically running/climbing about and cat poo everywhere - absolutely everywhere. V grim. The poor scared bugger went for me when I walked in the kitchen too!

[ParanoidBeryl]

Rather than fitting the cat flap to glass doors, we removed a small pane in our cloakroom it with plywood and got the cat flap installed there.

We have the cat flap that works on the cat's microchip. It works really well, but is quite heavy on the batteries.

[ParanoidBeryl]

PS it means the cat doesn't need to wear a collar

[MissHavishamsleftdaffodil]

We tried the one with the special collars, actually for an interior catflap so one of our cats who was disabled was restricted to a safe area of the house and the others could move around freely. Didn't work. when I pointed out to the seller that all the cats just went through the flap whether they had the collar or not he said reproachfully that our cats must be forcing it, and the flaps weren't designed to stand up to being forced.

I've been enjoying the thought ever since of my tiny little cats forcing their way illegally through the flap like fluffy tanks.

[NameWithChange]

Paranoid does the cat itself actually get chipped ? 😳 how does this happen?!!

[ParanoidBeryl]

It picks up on the signal from the cat’s normal microchip. You put the cat flap on ‘set’ mode, then hold an indignant cat midway through the cat flap and it picks up the signal so only that cat can get through. I think you can programme up to 5 or 6 cats.

[Archfarchnad]

With the SureFlap it can hold some ridiculous number of chips - something like 32 I think. Certainly way more than the average multi-cat household.
And I don't agree that microchip flaps are heavy on batteries - we've had ours over three years, the cat goes in and out all day, and we're on our second battery. First one lasted nearly two years.

[NameWithChange]

Wow. That is fab. No brainer. I never want to live through the poo all over kitchen saga ever again!

[Katkincake]

Thank you for starting this thread. Been mulling over what to do with ours as all external doors are either patio, french doors in the conservatory or an expensive composite door that's about to be fitted. Our new kittens have only been with us 2 days so I've ages to solve the conundrum yet!

With our old house I just got a local company to replace the bottom glass panel with a upvc one which was far cheaper to install would that be an option? (sadly we can't do that in our new house as they're full length glazed) Guess kitties are only going out when we're in!?

[ParanoidBeryl]

Archfarchnad Ours is Cat Mate. 4 x AA batteries last perhaps just over a month. It's not a big deal as we have started using rechargeable ones. The SureFlap sounds much better.