How To Measure Your Pet & Choose a Pet Door

OPENING WIDTH: a little wider then the widest part of your cat or dog. 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 doggie door or cat door and step through it, so ideally you should install the dog or cat door with the top of the opening just above your pet's shoulder. But any position will do as long as your dog or cat can open the door and get through comfortably. If you have any questions please feel free to call Pet Doors USA.

Choosing a Pet Door

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

LOCKING. All dog doors have a lock or close-off cover to keep your pet in or out.  Most of the cat doors have locks that close off the access for your cat.

INSTALLING. All measurements in this catalog are approximate (and may be changed without notice by the manufacturer), so please wait for your pet door and instructions to arrive before you cut the hole.  If you are installing a large dog door thru a wall the plexidor fits between studs 16 inches on center.  If you are installing an extra large dog door through a wall call for pre-construction instructions.  If you need to install and extra large dog door through an existing wall it can be done.  Call us and we can recommend an experienced dog doors installer.

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".  All plexidor small cat doors, medium and large dog doors and extra large dog doors have a framing depth of 1 3/4".  The plexidors door units trim out the cut hole very nicely.

PANELED DOORS. The Plexidor frames are very strong.  The plexidor pet door frames can bridge the dips in the panel doors with ease.  With the lower quality dog 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.  The plexidors have small, medium, large dog door and extra large dog door wall kits.

"Our life has been heaven and the reduction in air conditioning bills will more than pay for itself in no time. I just can’t say enough about how happy we are with the Plexidor and all it’s done for our ‘doggy’ boys and us."
---Charles and Bonnie Wallace, Texas