Giving dog access to go potty when we're out

[DaveC426913]

TL;DR

Where can I put a doggie door, and how do I stop the cat from using it?

I just can't seem to find a satisfactory solution to this. I'm not sure you will either, I'm just hoping maybe some external thoughts will inspire a new line of thinking.

• We have a 50lb big black Spitz. Arthritic. Old, kinda crotchety and anxiety-wrought. Yells at anyone except us.
• We have a 1yo kitten (raised from feral). 100% indoor.

An extremely rare moment of the cat not trying to blood let the dog, and the dog not trying to bite her in half:

• We go out regularly, a few times a week, for up to five hours at a time.
• Dog has started to have trouble lasting that long, and we have come home to puddles on the floor.
• We live in the back half of a four-story backsplit. Our children live in the front half. Currently, the dog hates them, so they can't help.
• We occupy a living room (with sliding door walkout) and bedroom on the main floor, and the basement, which is quite large
• There are exactly four existing exits:
  • LR sliding doors,
  • back door into sunroom (too hot/cold to be habitable - think: locked in a parked car, but bigger),
  • basement (exits into garage), and
  • door into upper household (which makes the dog very yelly).

I'm trying of think of ways to get her access to outdoors that don't put the cat at-risk.

Currently, the best option is:

• Throw the cat upstairs to the kids, or downstairs in the basement. Provide a secondary litter box.
• Get a doggy door that slots into the sliding doors. Put it in when going out, remove it when coming home.

Things I have thought of:

• Animal-sensing gadgets are not foolproof. The cat will manage to get out - whether due to its sneakiness or our dumbness.
• Blow a hole in the brick wall of the LR (there is only a five foot section that is exterior wall). This solves the inserting/removing aspect of the doggie door, but it doesn't to solve the cat getting out problem.
• She does have a doghouse out on the patio in shade, but that would only do for a few months in the spring/fall, and she'll bark the whole time.
• Replace one of the panels in the sliding door with a doggie door. Same up/down sides as above.
• Giant, stinky, doggy litterbox in the LR or basement. (A horrible option.)

Are any of these doggy door inserts for sliding glass doors intended to be inserted/replaced daily?

 

[DaveE]

You've probably already done this, and it probably won't help, but checking with your Vet may be useful.

 

[BillTre]

For a lot of money you can probably get pet doors triggered by a dog or cat collar.
It should be operable by one but not the other animal's presence.
I did a search on this: "collar triggered dog door" and found many, but for hundreds of $s.

 

[DaveE]

Are any of these doggy door inserts for sliding glass doors intended to be inserted/replaced daily?

Why would you need to do that? Every pet door I've seen has a panel you can slide in place to block it closed.

 

[DaveC426913]

You've probably already done this, and it probably won't help, but checking with your Vet may be useful.

At first, I thought you meant a checkup to check her kidneys or something. You mean ask about solutions...

 

[DaveC426913]

For a lot of money you can probably get pet doors triggered by a dog or cat collar.
It should be operable by one but not the other animal's presence.
I did a search on this: "collar triggered dog door" and found many, but for hundreds of $s.

Yes, but I am certain the cat is spry enough to outfox such a system.

Anytime the dog is near the door (including passing through it) the cat has an opportunity to escape.

 

[DaveC426913]

Why would you need to do that? Every pet door I've seen has a panel you can slide in place to block it closed.

Because this is a full glass sliding door. I can't just cut a hole in it to insert a doggie door.

(Googled example:)

What they offer instead is a full height, 16" wide panel that fits in the door.

Not only does that mean we have to squeeze through our "front" door that's now only 18" wide, but it leaves our house perpetually unlocked.

 

[DaveE]

At first, I thought you meant a checkup to check her kidneys or something. You mean ask about solutions...

Yes, OK, well both, I guess. I was really thinking of meds for incontinence. But yes, also check for illness like diabetes etc.

 

[berkeman]

Maybe consider adding weight/resistance and maybe a magnetic assist hold-closed thing to a traditional dog door, so that the cat can't push it open. You still have the issue that the cat may try to tailgate the dog through, but if the door is weighted enough it may not be able to do it (especially if the dog normally does not like the cat near them).

 

[DaveE]

It's not a replacement for a real Vet, but the Merk Vet manual has good info.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/searchresults?query=incontinence dog

 

[jack action]

A doggy door accessing an outdoor cage where the giant, stinky doggy litterbox is. For example:

By using the keywords catio and dogio, I found this source: https://k9-kennelstore.com/other-pr...nnel-systems/individual-dogio-components.html, and here's their promotional video:

​

 

[DaveC426913]

A doggy door accessing an outdoor cage where the giant, stinky doggy litterbox is. For example:

View attachment 372727​

View attachment 372728
View attachment 372729
View attachment 372730

By using the keywords catio and dogio, I found this source: https://k9-kennelstore.com/other-pr...nnel-systems/individual-dogio-components.html, and here's their promotional video:

​

Yes. I plan to build a catio.

 

[DaveC426913]

It's not a replacement for a real Vet, but the Merk Vet manual has good info.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/searchresults?query=incontinence dog

Dunno. Five to six hours alone doesn't seem like an incontinence problem. Maybe that's easy for younger dogs, but Luna is 11 or 12 now.

 

[DaveE]

Dunno. Five to six hours alone doesn't seem like an incontinence problem. Maybe that's easy for younger dogs, but Luna is 11 or 12 now.

Ask a real Vet. They know more about this relatively common problem than me, you, and all of PF combined. Maybe they can help, maybe not. The fact that I said incontinence isn't relevant, I don't really know what I'm talking about.

Also, I used to train infrequently at an agility facility inside a big warehouse. They had a fake grass (AstroTurf?) place for dogs to pee inside about 10' x 8' or so. After your dog, or many others, eliminated you had to spray with an enzymatic cleaner. It really didn't smell bad at all. IDK if or what they did to it otherwise, but I think an indoor potty area doesn't have to smell bad if you have the right process in place.

 

[sophiecentaur]

At first, I thought you meant a checkup to check her kidneys or something. You mean ask about solutions...

Solutions are all over pet owners groups. Many physicists are not keen on pets so your responses from PF may be limited.
Or maybe a very heavy duty mechanism/spring which your large dog could use but not a little cat. A collar operated lock would seem to be best but could you rely on the kitten not slipping out in amongst the dog's legs when the flap's open. Trouble is that the kitten could find itself the wrong side of the door with no help from the dog to get back in.

It really didn't smell bad at all.

Oh no??? Thus speaks a real pet lover

 

[Baluncore]

TL;DR: Where can I put a doggie door, and how do I stop the cat from using it?
I'm trying of think of ways to get her access to outdoors that don't put the cat at-risk.

Maybe the inner sanctum, a restricted indoor enclosure for the cat, something that folds up like a child's playpen, floor to ceiling, but with chicken wire and climbing structure on the internal frame.

Then a dog flap for the dog to escape the house when it wants.

Once they are separated by the wire fence they cannot threaten each other, so they can relax and learn to be friends while alone. That should also end any separation anxiety.

 

[DaveC426913]

I'm trying of think of ways to get her access to outdoors that don't put the cat at-risk.

Maybe the inner sanctum, a restricted indoor enclosure for the cat, something that folds up like a child's playpen, floor to ceiling, but with chicken wire and climbing structure on the internal frame.

Then a dog flap for the dog to escape the house when it wants.

Once they are separated by the wire fence they cannot threaten each other, so they can relax and learn to be friends while alone. That should also end any separation anxiety.

Sorry, by "risk" I simply meant the cat getting outside.

True, they get along like classic dogs and cats do (which is not), but I'm not worried about that. They do fine together in the same room.

And If I simply wanted to separate them, I could lock the cat in the basement (with a litter box) ... but that doesn't obviate the problem of setting up and tearing down some version of a trapdoor/airlock every time we want to go out (because, if it's up all the time, then the cat can get out).