Patio door - how to let in fresh air but keep cat inside?

[midnightvelvet01]

We got our rescue Ragdoll last October & she's my first cat so this is the first time I've been confronted with this :)

We have double French doors into our back garden & I'm missing having them open in this weather, can't risk the cat going outside as our back garden is not secure & there are 3 big bruiser cats 2 doors down who she hides from already if they come close to the house. So I need to keep 1 cat in & 3 cats out :)

I've had a look online & you can buy special hinged doors at about £150 for one door, which is too expensive. Or people seem to be recommending velcro & pet mesh. So line the inside frame of the door with velcro, glue velcro onto the mesh & stick them both together.

What does everyone here use for their indoor cats?

Thanks

My mum used to have a wire filled wooden frame that fitted in the gap which was less to keep the cat in but more to keep him away from the dogs - she hasn't used it for a couple of years though and just has fans going - much easier !

No idea sorry (helpful!) but I'm wondering the same thing, so marking my place for ideas.

I use flat cats on my upstairs windows. He'll make them to any size though.

You can buy the mesh that Flat Cats are made of and stick it on the frame with sticky back velcro or magnetic tape. However I would be wary of this on a door if someone didn't realise and walked into it as it could be pushed off.

I have aviary panels (some were bought second hand, some new) made into an enclosure around the patio doors and windows, and over the top. You can buy panes with a door in so you still have access to outside via the door and your cat can also enjoy sitting out. I did have to cobble the panels together to make them tall enough for clearance as they were bought for a previous house, but they work fine. If you do this, join them together with wire rather than cable ties as they can break over time, and make sure you have a good catch on the door part.

Panels can be made to measure or standard size.

We have screens on our flat windows (kind of like the fly doors they have in Australia). DP fitted them so that they can be taken down if necessary - they cover the whole window and it means we can have fresh air and no cats escaping!

I just bought a long length of mesh and the hooky side of sticky velcro, attached the velcro to each window and cut the mesh to fit with a decent overlap. You press it on with the back of a spoon and it works very well. It kept our two inside after we got them, and has done a good job of keeping flies out ever since!

I have wondered whether to sew the fluffy side onto the mesh though, to stop me having to press the mesh onto the hooks it hurts if you use fingers

I find sticky velcro needs replacing after a little while as it starts coming away with the screen.

Magnetic sticky back tape might be better.