Our Petporte is currently being attacked periodically by a big tom cat who bashes it open with his head. I wouldn’t believe if I hadn’t seen it. This tips the retractable tab into the open position and the door is left flapping freely in both directions.
Our cats are now frightened and unsettled in their own home. One has has been attacked and had a nasty abscess.
Would you have any recommendations for making the door more resistant to entry? I’ve never tried anything along these lines before but now I have the motivation.
I am so sorry to hear about your troubles with the neighbourhood brute! I hope you haven’t any further trouble and your cats are recovered from their ordeal. Both of mine have had abscesses as a result of fights which aren’t fun, and no doubt preventing this scenario was exactly why you purchased the petporte in the first place.
In case you’re still having issues, it’s a little tricky to know what to recommend without seeing how the flap is failing. However I did have a few issues a while back with the locking tab falling open which seems to be what you’re describing. It turned out that there is a metal spring inside the cat flap to keep the tab up which wasn’t seated properly between the two tiny tabs as I’ve tried to show in this photo:
I’d recommend having a look at that and the tab mechanism to make sure it’s in working order first – if in doubt compare it to the other tab mechanism and see if there is any obvious difference. If that doesn’t bring any success I’ll have a bit more of a think.
Fantastic, just setting out to do something similar with a PI and lightwave will let you know how it turns out.
Hi Tom, how did you get on with your PetPorte Pi project? Hannah
Hi Hannah
Our Petporte is currently being attacked periodically by a big tom cat who bashes it open with his head. I wouldn’t believe if I hadn’t seen it. This tips the retractable tab into the open position and the door is left flapping freely in both directions.
Our cats are now frightened and unsettled in their own home. One has has been attacked and had a nasty abscess.
Would you have any recommendations for making the door more resistant to entry? I’ve never tried anything along these lines before but now I have the motivation.
Thank you
Eleanor
Hi Eleanor
I am so sorry to hear about your troubles with the neighbourhood brute! I hope you haven’t any further trouble and your cats are recovered from their ordeal. Both of mine have had abscesses as a result of fights which aren’t fun, and no doubt preventing this scenario was exactly why you purchased the petporte in the first place.
In case you’re still having issues, it’s a little tricky to know what to recommend without seeing how the flap is failing. However I did have a few issues a while back with the locking tab falling open which seems to be what you’re describing. It turned out that there is a metal spring inside the cat flap to keep the tab up which wasn’t seated properly between the two tiny tabs as I’ve tried to show in this photo:
I’d recommend having a look at that and the tab mechanism to make sure it’s in working order first – if in doubt compare it to the other tab mechanism and see if there is any obvious difference. If that doesn’t bring any success I’ll have a bit more of a think.
Good luck!
Hannah