Owning a pet comes with great responsibilities. Besides providing your pet with the basic necessities such as food, water and shelter, you also need to make sure that it lives a comfortable life. If your furry friend lives inside the house, then you should consider how convenient and comfortable your house is for your dog or cat. There are some basic pet supplies that most dog or cat owners purchase, such as collars, leashes, scratching posts, toys and crates. However, there is one piece of equipment that is good for both indoor pets and their owners: a pet door. The best thing about having a pet door is that it can benefit both the owner and the pet. It is not always easy to be there for your pet 24/7, and sometimes life gets in the way. A pet door will make your pet more independent, and you will remain a responsible cat or dog owner.
Here are some reasons why pet doors are a popular piece of pet equipment.
You won’t have to wake up in the middle of the night
Sleep is important for your health, yet there are some circumstances which prevent you from having a good night’s rest. Sometimes it is because you are down with the flu, sometimes because you had to work overtime. Whatever the reasons, in the many years we have cared for our pet it is normal for there to be one night when we just have a hard time waking up in the middle of the night. Your pet shouldn’t suffer for that reason though. Dogs should relieve themselves 3-5 times per day. Holding it in can cause urinary tract infections and kidney stones. Having a pet door means providing your pet with the option to go out in your back yard on its own.
Your pet won’t be stuck in the house if you aren’t home
There might be days when you just have to stay in the office overtime and your housemate is stuck in traffic. There is no one to let the pet go outside. The thought of your pet stuck cooped up alone in your house makes you want to find a way to teleport there. Keeping a pet inside for an extended period of time is not healthy. The pet will end up feeling lonely, isolated and stressed out. You should strive to leave your dog inside for the least number of hours possible. About four hours can be considered acceptable, however, this is not feasible for most dog owners. Not everyone has a long enough lunch break to be able to get back home and to work, and not everyone has a housemate that can take on this responsibility. So, this is where a pet door comes in handy. Besides offering the possibility to your pet to relieve themselves when they need to, you also give them the option to leave the house and run around. This way, your dog will get their needed daily exercise.
Your door can remain closed at all times
It is nice to leave the door open so that your pet can come and go as it pleases, however, this is not the best solution. For starters, you might leave the door open and then fall asleep or get lost in some task and forget to close it. Then, some stray animal can come in or something much worse can happen. It is generally safer to have the door closed and why not take all precautions? Then, cats and dogs can learn how to open the door easily but not how to close it. My cousin’s cat used to jump from a cabinet close the door and land on the doorknob in order to open it. Of course, the cat being a cat it didn’t really care much that my cousin preferred having the door closed. It also didn’t care that the heating was turned on and that leaving the door open meant wasting energy. The same applied to when the air conditioning was turned on. She had to get up and constantly close the door behind the cat. Of course, if she locked the door the cat would just meow and scratch the door until it was allowed outside. I think this is reason enough to install a pet door.
Reward your pet with access to the outside
For being such a perfect pet, your dog deserves an award in the form of a pet door! And what does a pet door represent for your dog? What it loves the most – access to the outdoors. Your dog enjoys socializing as much as you, perhaps even more. It enjoys games with its owner, such as playing fetch or tug of war. And if no one is home, then that is no reason for your pet to be bored and sulk around the house. With constant access to the outdoors, your dog will definitely be happier. Your pet will able to go outside and walk around, run around and play around. There is always something new to sniff outside!