Help me contain my cats

October 4, 2016 12:10 PM

BLUF: new house, shared with parents, cats confined to one side of house behind pocket door. Most adventurous (and strongest) of Gang of Four insists on prying open pocket door. Need suggestions for securing door. Snowflakes inside.

I just bought a house with my elderly parents. What made this house particularly desirable is that all the common rooms (LR, DR, kitchen, family room, laundry room) are in the center mass of the house. There is a "wing" on the right side of the center mass with a master bedroom and office. That is my parents' room. On the left hand side of the house is another "wing" with another master bedroom, plus two additional bedrooms and bath. That side of the house is behind a pocket door.

My parents like my cats, but are not cat people. They probably wouldn't mind the cats having the run of the house EXCEPT that my mom has expensive furniture, and she does not subscribe to my philosophy that cats are more important than, well, just about anything, but certainly more important than furniture. I have tried to tell her that her furniture will not give a shit when she dies, but my cats love her and will sit at the door waiting for her to come home, but she remains unmoved. Fine. The cats can live behind the pocket door. It's 1500 square feet of space, so there's plenty of room for them.

Problem: My biggest, strongest cat is also the most curious and the most restless. He has figured out how to get one claw into the hairline crack that remains when the pocket door is closed, and work that crack until it's wide enough for a paw, and then he's out. And after he's out, the other three think, "what the hell, we should go too!"

I need a hardware solution that will allow me to secure the pocket door from either side, while allowing a human who might be on the other side to open and go through.

posted by ereshkigal45 to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

Best answer: Wouldn't a child lock work?
posted by AFABulous at 12:15 PM on October 4, 2016

Best answer: Here's one specifically for pocket doors.
posted by AFABulous at 12:16 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

The cats want to be with the people, and the good windows, which are all likely in the living room, dining room, and kitchen areas. Could you put a locking door -- maybe even more secure than a pocket door -- in front of your parents' "wing" so that the expensive furniture could be there, and the cats could be where the people hang out most often?

They have active little brains that want company and stimulation...
posted by amtho at 12:21 PM on October 4, 2016 [5 favorites]

We re purposed a vintage door for a pocket door to close off our bathroom. There was a crack between the door and the jamb after we hung the door, so we took some strips of lumber, like 1" x 1/2" and attached them to the jamb on either side of the door which made sort of a "slot" for the door to slide into on the jamb. Crack covered up. This may thwart the big kitteh, as well.
posted by sarajane at 12:21 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Amendment: I get that the parents have a lot of furniture and a lot of say, and that this may be the best solution for everybody, and that the "use a different door in a different place" answer is not what you're looking for.

It's just - the big active cat wants a thing, and if you can provide that thing it might help solve the problem your parents see.
posted by amtho at 12:22 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Are you willing to put Soft Paws on the cats? That'll help with the furniture issue too.
posted by brujita at 12:46 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Since you need to lock and unlock the door from both sides, regardless of which side you're on, you may be best off installing a door stop in the track (on the floor or up top, whichever is less annoying for you to reach( that allows the door to open enough to put your hand through and remove the stop, but not wide enough for your cats to do their boneless thing and slip through.

The stops that I've seen are basically pegs that go through a hole through the door and the track. If you hang a peg on both sides of the door, you can use the peg to poke the other peg out, if it's currently locked from the other side.
posted by crush-onastick at 1:06 PM on October 4, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks. I'll check out the two hardware solutions at Home Despot tonight.

I know the big cat wants a thing. The big cat has always wanted a thing. That thing is whatever is on the other side of any closed door - closet doors, cupboard doors, bathroom doors. He has many things on his side of the pocket door, including three other cats, huge sliding glass doors with views of the yard skwirls, cat trees, heated cat beds, toys galore, and two humans who are cat people and live for his entertainment. By Spring, he will also have a catio. He will never not want all the Things, no matter how much he has, but I adore him nonetheless.

And soft paws are just a big No. Not only would I not put all of us through the trauma of constant application and reapplication to 72 cat toes, I'm not entirely convinced they don't carry some of the same trauma as declawing, i.e., the cat feels defenseless because his claws are out of commission.

Thanks for the ideas! Will try them out tonight.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 1:07 PM on October 4, 2016 [8 favorites]

Best answer: Assuming this isn't a temporary thing; rather than the add on child locks I'd use a pocket door privacy lock [more] to replace the current passage handle. You might end up needing to buy two sets so you can install a hand turn on both sides (normally they are minor tool unlock on one side). A bricks and mortar locksmith might be able to set it up cheaper than one of the home improvement borgs.
posted by Mitheral at 2:36 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

You could just go old school and lean something heavy against the pocket door from the outside. That stops my Big Cat Who Always Wants A Thing That He Can't Have from getting through my pocket door. A giant coffee table art history works for me.

Humans would have no problem getting around it, but it would stop your cat.
posted by guster4lovers at 6:12 PM on October 4, 2016

Is there room on your side of the pocket door to add a baby gate in front of it, to keep him back from being able to paw the crack open? It would mean an additional barrier to open. We literally have a 'cat lock' (airlock for cats) to keep cats where they belong, so I feel your pain.
posted by Northbysomewhatcrazy at 7:03 PM on October 4, 2016

Response by poster: Wow. Mitheral definitely went above and beyond with excellent long-term fixes. I'm going to order one of the child locks recommended by AFABULOUS for now, but I'm going to take a hard look at the pocket door privacy locks to which Mitheral linked. This is definitely in the realm of doable with the combined talents of the handymen in my family and their vast collection of power tools. I'm planning to be in this house for the long term, so it would be effort and money well spent.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
posted by ereshkigal45 at 7:59 PM on October 4, 2016