Cat people, do they make something that would work like a screen door?

Could you hook up a baby gate in front of the door so they’d literally have to jump 3.5 feet in the air and get around both you and the person on the other side of the door to get out?

The gate would have to go on the outside of the front door. I’ve never seen that in an apartment. Don’t even know if it’s legal.

we used to use baby gate. The kind with the mesh and is spring loaded so you don’t have to attach it with screws.

Um, cats can jump. Is there a problem with getting a screen door? You can teach the cats to not bolt when the door is open. Squirt them with water every time they go near the door, but don’t let them know you are squirting them; do it secretly. After awhile they won’t go anywhere near the door.

I like tinyfaery’s idea. The baby gate won’t work, because anyone who has a cat knows they could sail right over it with ease. It would only serve to keep you inside and delay you chasing your cat, making it’s escape easier.

After a few squirts of water, your cats will not want to go near the door.

I was more envisioning the last time I lived in an apartment. There was sort of a small alcove leading to the door where basically there was just wall to either side of the door (on the inside) extending back about 2 feet. That would be the perfect place (in the apartment I had) to install a baby gate, if you had one that would swing open when unlatched to actually let people in and out (as you door would open to the inside…obviously if it blocks you from opening the door, or if there was no alcove in which to mount it, it wouldn’t work). But as for cats sailing right over it, yes a cat CAN jump that high, but if you’re standing in front of the gate, opening the door, the cat could not jump to your left as he/she would be between the gate and the door, and couldn’t jump to your right, because you would be blocking the right side, the only way your cat COULD get around would be to go over you, or go through your legs, and jump straight up between you and the gate and land on the other side, avoiding your crotch, and being able to get out around the person on the other side of the door. If it were set up right, it would be next to impossible.

I’ve no alcove. My apartment door opens right out into the hall. I never heard of a screen door in an apartment.

The baby gate might work. Right now I only open the door a little and one cat will slip through. I would put a gate outside the door and STILL open the door a little, only there would be the gate. If the cat jumped on top of it, I’d be there to intercept. Right now, even with the door SLIGHTLY open, one cat gets through. The kitten will too once she realizes it.

But there isn’t a single apartment with such a gate. I was hoping for something INSIDE (the door opens INSIDE so I can’t put the gate behind the door).

The thing you need inside the gate isn’t architecture but teamwork. You keep the squirt guns handy, and while one person is talking nicely to the cats, the other one is squirting them whenever they go near the door. You can trade off so they never get it that the water is coming from their humans.
If they think God doesn’t like cats near front doors, they’ll settle down really fast.
Cats are VERY religious, you know.

I live in a house right on a main, busy street. One of my cats tries to bolt every time the door is open. I handle it by only opening the door a little bit, putting my foot and leg in the very narrow gap to block her escape. If I then need to open the door wider to admit someone, I “shoo” her away with my foot, then open the door.

What happens when it’s a pizza delivery?

YOU should get a screen door. If I had a house, I would.

Remember, I have THREE cats. It’s super hard to take a box from the UPS guy or the pizza man or a neighbor in need.

Maybe you could get some sort of mesh fabric and tack it up over the bottom half of the door frame?

But I’d have to put it in front of the door, on the “hall” side. I think stuff like that is against Co-op rules.

I was thinking something like a mesh that would be about three or four feet high. I could attach one side to the edge of the door on the inside of the apartment and the other end would attach to the doorframe on the inside of the apartment. I could open the door wide enough to take a pizza but there would be a mesh screen four feet high instead of just “opening”. It would be invisible until you opened the door and, of course, easily removable. Maybe I should invent it.

I think we’re thinking the same thing actually, I guess I wasn’t clear enough. Yeah, you couldn’t just tack it to both sides of the door frame cuz how would you open the door, but if it was tacked to the side of the door frame where the door opens, and then to the edge of the door it would just hang there slack when the door was closed but would produce a “screen” when the door is open.

I also wonder, do they make those invisible fence collars for cats?

Then we ARE talking about the same idea! We could make millions!

Actually, what I thought you originally meant was mesh about four feet high that would be attached to the left and right sides of the doorframes in front of the door, visible from the hall. It would be like a screen door, only mesh and four feet high. That’s probably against rules. But the flexible mesh would work. I wonder why other people don’t have that problem. With one of my cats, it’s a game, i.e., “let’s see if I can make it out!”. And it’s always when you’re in pajamas or something.

Yeah, I can see how you thought that! I re-read it and that’s the mental picture I got too.

And if that fails, might want to check into a cattle prod.

When I need to accept a delivery, I go outside and close the door, using “foot shooing” on the way out and on the way back in. I do have a storm door, but it’s on the outside (as usual) and you have to open it to let anyone in or take a delivery.

I think you could make your “flexible screen” idea very easily. Buy a roll of window screening from the hardware store, and pick up some self-stick velcro, too. I’m thinking you could even put some velcro on the hinge side of the door (inside your door) as well as the opening edge and door frame. That way, you could attach the screen all the way across the inside of your door when it’s not in use. Then it wouldn’t just be hanging there slack. Neater that way!

My goodness, this seems like a complicated problem! My cats never go outside, so they never bolt for the door. I don’t think you could even push them out! I do have a pantry over my stairs that is about a foot and a half off the floor. I love it because my cats do bolt for any closet or pantry door that opens. Depends on how aggressively your cats want out, but maybe something low enough for you to step over would be enough of a deterrant for them.

@augustinian, if I know something’s coming, I will go outside the apartment and close the door. God forbid I get a few boxes from Dominoes then coming back in will be impossible. It’s the surprise knocks that get me. My attention will be on the person for a brief moment and the cat slips out.

I have 3 of them too. There’s one who is REALLY aggressive at trying to get out. I found it recedes a bit with age. Our oldest cat when she was just a kitten, we kind of broke her of the habit accidentally. We got about a foot of snow one day when she was still very kittenish, and we opened up our deck door. The cat launched herself outside, and landed, all 4 paws in a snowbank. She got this extremely surprised look on her face, her back arched like she’d been confronted with an enemy and she just froze there for about 10 seconds, the literally leapt back into the house. After that, she is actually somewhat reluctant to go outside.

We have another one though who is about 4 now, we got her when she was about 1, and every time we try to open a door, she tries to get out, but she’s skittish enough that we can scare her back. But there have been three occasions when she got outside at night, we didn’t know it, and the next day she was standing on the front step beating on the door wanting to come in. But you can let her in, she’ll grab a bite to eat, and an hour later she’ll try to get out again.

I have one solution to the surprise knocks that works for me….if I don’t know that someone’s coming over, I don’t answer my door! Usually it’s just someone asking for money anyway, and if it’s a neighbor, they’re persistent enough that eventually I do answer it.

Case in point. Knock at the door earlier today. It was the Super. First thing, my attention was on the Super (Why is he knocking? Is something wrong? Is there a leak from my apartment?). BAM! Cat runs out.