Childproof Cat Door

Hi,

We had the same problem, so we put the litter boxes in the basement and put a small cat door in the door to the basement. It is not necessarily a child proof cat door but my daughter cannot get through it. She has stuck her hand in there before but it is just soft plastic that swings back and forth so there is nothing for her hand to get stuck on. We bought it at petco in the dog section. The small dog door fits both of our cats just fine. There was an adjustment period for the cats, but they are both fine with it now. Hope this helps.

We have our litter box in a walk-in closet and a baby gate in the doorway. We did this because of the dog getting in there. I'm sure you could find one at pet store like petco or petsmart.

I don't know that there is such a thing as a child-proof cat door, to be honest, though if one had been advertised as such, I certainly would have bought one. We went through the exact same dilemma. I was worried that my daughter would be able to squeeze through it (she can't) or get her fingers caught in the door. We had the type that had a hard plastic door (not the rubber kind like the other response below - I had wanted to find one, but couldn't at the time). We just removed the door itself and the cat goes through the opening. My daughter can't fit through, but does peek through to see where the "dee dee" went (very cute). We've had no problems. Another option might be to install a top of stair gate and leave the door ajar. My parents went that route when I was a kid, and it seemed to work fine (as long as your cat is brave enough to jump the gate).

Good luck!

Our litter boxes were always in the basement, but we *used to* be able to leave the door open all the time. Once the baby came, we got a cat door at Petco and installed it. We actually left the flap off and the cats have no problem going in and out (even my fatty).
~c.