How To Measure Your Pet & Choose a Pet Door

OPENING WIDTH: a little wider then the widest part of your pet. OPENING HEIGHT: measure from the top of the shoulders to the chest just behind the front legs. We recommend the "Cardboard Test" to ensure correct size for your pet. Using the OPENING SIZE measurement in the charts, cut a hole in a piece of cardboard, and see if your pet can pass through easily. Or wedge open a house door the OPENING WIDTH, and block off the OPENING HEIGHT (starting just above your pet's shoulder) and call your pet through. Pets duck their heads as they push open their door and step through it, so ideally you should install the pet door with the top of the opening just above your pet's shoulder. But any position will do as long as your pet can open the door and get through comfortably. If you have any questions please feel free to call us.

Choosing a Pet Door

TWO WAY. All doors open both ways so pets can come and go, and close after pet has gone through. Magnets keep them shut, except Plexidor models, which operate on a spring mechanism.

LOCKING. All doors have a lock or close-off cover to keep your pet in or out.

INSTALLING. All measurements in this catalog are approximate (and may be changed without notice by the manufacturer), so please wait for your door and instructions to arrive before you cut the hole.

FRAMING DEPTH. Measure the thickness of the house door where you want to install your pet door. A standard exterior house door is 1 3/4" thick, so if you choose a pet door with a FRAMING DEPTH of at least 1 3/4" it will extend through your house door and cover the rough cut edges. Or it will cover the gap between the inner and outer skins of a hollow core door. If you prefer to do the framing yourself, or if you have a thinner house door or panel, we have pet doors with framing depths from 0" to 2".

PANELED DOORS. You will need to build up recessed areas with wood battens or shims thick enough to make a flush surface for pet door frame.

METAL DOORS. Use a sabre saw with a metal-cutting blade to cut hole, and use sheet metal screws instead of the wood screws supplied with door.

ALUMINUM PANELS. To install a pet door in an aluminum panel (e.g., at the bottom of a screen door), cut hole as for Metal Doors. Use small bolts or sheet metal screws instead of the wood screws.

WALLS. The framing depth of the pet door doesn't matter, as you will need to frame the depth of the wall with wood (forming a small tunnel through the wall). Then you mount the pet door frames to each end of the tunnel. The flap will be on the inner or outer end of the tunnel, depending on the model.