PetSafe Aluminium Pet Door, Small

I bought this to replaces cat flap that did not survive the arrival of our young Rottweiler. She likes to poke her head out the flap and see what is happening on the other side, but her collar catches and strains the frame. The cat tends to leave at speed sometimes, (especially if one of the dachshunds has heard him move). And yes, it is a madhouse! We've had a number of cat flaps over the years, all plastic framed, all died eventually. Last time I had the whole lower panel of a upvc back door replaced and a new Staywell cat flap put in (not his Aluminium one). It took the fitter half an hour to replace the panel and 1 1/2 hours to fit the cat flap - it was a nightmare. So when the 'kids' finally ripped out the flap and shattered the plastic frame I started looking for a new one that might survive, and be easy to fit. What a dream! Firstly it arrived the following day. Since it is December, and the weather is unusually mild, I was hoping to get it fitted on the Sunday before the wind and rain returns. Secondly it is strong. The slim aluminium frame is reinforced at the corners, and the flap is a soft plastic, so less likely to shatter. (It reminds me of the plastic curtains you can see at a butcher's shop; on the entrance to the chiller- thick and flexible). The inner cover is thick, reinforced plastic, and will lock the flap relatively firmly, but do consider your security. A strong kick will tear it out, and the medium flap is large enough for a small child to climb through. My solution is a lock on the utility door, so that all they can get to is the utility room, and the key for the back door is not in the utility, so all they could steal would be things small enough to go through the flap. Thirdly it was a dream to fit! Being square, the shape to cut was easy. Measuring was also simple, the template was very clear, and once in place drilling for the bolts was easy. The downside is the bolts. They are plastic, and, even though the instructions are very clear that you should not over tighten them, it is all to easy to misjudge it. This tears the head off the bolt and makes it useless. But, full credit to PetSafe; an email via their website from me was followed up buy a phone call from them the following day, a couple of quick questions, and they have posted a replacement bolt! Now, please don't rely on this, but if you do the dumb thing, it is nice to think they will rescue you!

IMPORTANT FITTING TIPS TO FOLLOW. Was a bit unsure what size to order, I have a Boxer dog and she's very lively, clumsy and daft as armpits but was worried if a bought a large flap it might present as security risk. After a bit of tempting (standing outside with a chicken leg) she eventually came thru it, I immediately went indoors (with chicken leg) but she was reluctant to come back in. After studying it for a few mins I realized that the outside step was a few inches lower than the kitchen floor so I placed a paving slab on the doorstep and bingo she came in straight away. She now uses it with ease and it makes me smile watching her go in and out. She's not a large boxer but has no trouble with the size, as I say I think the height is probably the most important factor. FITTING: I fitted it in to an fairly old upvc door and actually overlapped a catflap fitted by previous house owner. Warning, old upvc is very brittle so if you are jigsawing it out make sure you use the finest toothed blade you have and set it on a slow speed, I had a couple of bits breakout but fortunately the wide frame has covered them ok. IMPORTANT you get 4 long plastic bolts to hold the 2 halves together, use a manual screwdriver (I used my small power driver and even being careful snapped one bolt, Petsafe bless them posted me a replacement foc) and DONT do them up tight, just barely finger tight will do as they expand & contract with temp and I have had one break after 2 weeks. There are no sealing gaskets round the frame but as it was a lovely snug fit I thought ok no problem, wrong, as soon as we had some heavy rain it leaked water on to kitchen floor. Took it back off and ran a bead of silicone around all areas and refitted and perfect now. Don't make my mistake, put a decent bead around it when you first install then you'll have no problem and wont have to faff around with the plastic bolts. QUALITY: seems well made and magnetic strip keeps it closed in all but the strongest winds and it comes with a very nice slide on cover that locks in to place if you want to shut it off at night or if weathers really ghastly. I believe the soft plastic flap is replaceable if it ever wears out so all in all I would thoroughly recommend this product. **UPDATE** 30/11/2015: Am still loving this flap but as I live on an Island now the strong winds have started I have found that the flap will blow open and let an unwelcome draught in to the house. I contacted PetSafe (0800 046 14 14) for advice and their friendly & helpful customer service team suggested that I should fit an additional plastic flap (the same as the original one, undo the four silver screws at the top of the flap and slip in) as this will make it a bit heavier and should help. Ordered it from them over the phone for £11 very straightforward.

Golly! Things have got better. If you remember to measure much more often than you commit to cutting, then re-check, you will be fine. The Paper template deserves a re-design. The metal frame creates an overlap which works well. I love the flexible (and quiet) door design. The dogs did not hesitate to use it. A winner which does not leave me feeling cheated over the price.

The cat flap seems excellent; it's well constructed and quiet. However, our (wooden) door is 10mm thick. The entire cat flap assembly consists of two metal parts (each a panel to sit flush with the door and a short "tunnel" going through the door). The two "tunnels" slot into each other. When slotted together, the gap between the insides of the two panels is about 25mm. If the door is thicker than this (presumably up to the length of the supplied screws), I'd imagine there's no problem. However, if you have a 10mm door, there's 15mm worth of gap, so there would be hard edges and the whole thing wouldn't stay in one place. Unless the suppliers expect you to cut the aluminium down (which I doubt given the position of the serial number, and the likely sharp edges it would produce), or I've missed some feature, I don't think the Amazon description of "for doors from 9.5mm" is correct. We got round this by using some 18mm-thick wood (an old shelf), cut to a rectangle the size of the outer edge of the flap (about 200x300mm), with a 150x245mm hole in the middle the size of the "tunnel", plus 7mm holes for the cat flap's screws to go through; this then adds to the "sandwich" so instead of panel/door/panel, we have panel/door/extra wood/panel, and this works fine (and looks OK). So: be prepared for some woodwork if you have a thin door!

Our little Dachshund took around 2 minutes to work this out once I'd fitted it and it's saved us untold 'accidents' in the house allowing her to come and go as she pleases. It was very simple to fit & only took me about 15/20 minutes. Although you can feel a slight breeze now it is in, it is far easier than leaving a door ajar or being at the beck and call of the dog when they want to go out. The screen for the inside of the door not only adds a solid feeling security measure when you are away or overnight, but does help with weatherproofing, keeping the cold and wind out. The aluminium frame also adds a rigidity that is reassuring for longevity and security. The only issue I have with this was the plastic screws used to connect the two sides. These feel like they might not last or strip the thread if over-wound, however I would still recommend this without hesitation.

These doggy/cat doors are fantastic and so much better then the plastic ones that break after a while of your pet running in and out of them. Made from strong metal with a flexible rubber type flap door. It nice and quiet with strong magnets. We have two sizes the medium on the white door and a small on the brown door. One is used for a cupboard we use as there cat litter box room and the other on our bedroom door so our sphynx cats can come and go as they please but with the shutter that comes with it we can shut them out if needs be. Had them for a few months now and are lasting brilliantly! I also love that you can get replacement flaps for them without having to buy a whole new unit. Yes they aren't the cheapest but 1,000% worth it! Easy to install with the instructions and so handy to have a paper template to follow when cutting that you just tape to the door so it doesn't move. I guess the only negative I would give this door is that the screws are plastic. We snapped one when putting in but thankfully the pack came with a spare!

Scaredy Cat Loves It! My cat wouldn’t use his old cat flap as the clicking freaked him out when his micro chip was activated. This cat flap just clips together with the magnet which he is okay with. I also wanted a cat flap that had a slightly larger flap as the first one was quite small - so I don’t think he felt safe when he was going through, (other cats etc). This cat flap is perfect for us - if I want to lock him in, I can just close it off. I did have it professionally installed - so no drama there.

I have thought long and hard about fitting this pet flap into my door but finally decided to do it. My 12 year old bedlington terrier kept waking me up at night to go out and sometimes I came down to a pool of pee so decided to get this. It’s one of the best thing I have done for her. She learnt in 5 minutes how to use it. I put her food out and some treats so she kept going out to check if anything nice was left for her. The door itself was installed by my builder and it’s very quiet. It does get blown open in strong winds but this shouldn’t be a reason not to get one. My sleep is completely undisturbed and no more mess by my back door. Not to mention the fact my dog can go outside whenever she needs to so no holding it in until I remember to let her out. What can I say? Amazing! If you love your dog - you will get one today. Here is a video of my friends dog who used it when on their visit

The information did say it was not suitable for security screen/or I did not see it. Tried to modify it without success should have returned it.

Très bonne qualité et très grande notre malinois est ravi et nous aussi!

Conforme à mes attentes

Parfait, facile à installer, durable dans le temps

He tenido varias gateras de las baratas, y todas al poco tiempo se han roto de una u otra forma, hasta que compré la Staywell. Tengo una desde hace varios años y sigue en perfectas condiciones, acabo de comprar otra igualita para otra puerta. El marco es de aluminio, la cortina es de una resistente goma transparente, con un imán en la parte inferior. Tras varios años de uso no se ha deteriorado, ni descolgado, ni despegado, tan solo muestra signos de uso por acumular algo de suciedad. No se ve en las fotos, pero viene acompañado por una tapa de plástico rígido que se desliza desde arriba hacia abajo para bloquear la puerta por el lado de dentro, las otras gateras baratas suelen bloquearse con un mecanismo de 4 posiciones que acaba rompiéndose a causa de los golpes que le mete el perro al intentar entrar con la puerta bloqueada, y de todas formas normalmente solo se usan 2, las de abierto o cerrado, por lo que la compuerta de la Staywell acaba siendo mejor opción. Por último, a pesar de ser más cara que otras, al final ahorras dinero porque sabes que va a durar muchos años. Totalmente recomendable.