Pets of all kinds are fantastic companions and make great additions to any family. As pet owners, our number one goal is keeping these furry friends happy and healthy. All of the decisions that go into caring for a pet—finding them different toys and supplies, reserving the time to walk and play with them, and other factors—can be daunting, especially for busy pet owners.
No matter how much we prepare, there are always some unforeseen circumstances that affect our ability to care for our pets. A great way to alleviate this stress is by using a pet door, allowing your pet free access between your home and the outside world. A pet door is a useful tool in caring for your dog or cat and helps create a wholesome, joyful environment for your pets. So, what exactly are the benefits of installing a pet door?
1. Make Your Pets Healthier
Using a pet door has an amazing effect on your pet’s health. Pet health is one of the main concerns of all pet owners, and one of the hardest to correctly gauge. Cats and dogs have their own ways of talking to us humans–barking, meowing, scratching, whining, and body language are all tools that they use to communicate with us.
This works in many situations, but since they can’t use words, it’s not foolproof. We don’t always immediately understand what they need and aren’t always available to bring pets outside right when they need to go.
It puts a lot of stress on a pet’s body to hold it in when they have to use the bathroom, and holding it for long periods of time heightens the risk of urinary tract infections and other dangers that cause your pet discomfort and require more resources like time, money, and energy to address in your already busy life.
With a pet door, your pets can go to the bathroom whenever they need without having to wait, and you no longer need to make sure that your pet is getting outside enough or have to keep an eye out for signs that they need to go.
2. Give Your Pets More Exercise, Making Them More Agile
With increased access to the outdoors, they’ll have an outlet for all of their energy, and get the exercise that they need in the process, becoming more fit, agile, and healthy. The ability to go run and play when your pets get restless lets them blow off some steam and familiarize themselves with their surroundings. While allowing your pets to get the exercise that they need, pet doors eliminate the need to painstakingly plan your day around your pet’s needs, and alleviate worries that your pets aren’t getting enough time to play around to stay fit.
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3. Allow Your Pets Their Freedom
The freedom to roam, explore, and enjoy the world is a key factor in the happiness of your pets. Pets love the freedom to travel indoors and outdoors with ease, and pet doors take away the owner’s stress about keeping them either inside or outside for too long. Cooped up pets are likely to become bored and dissatisfied with their situation, leading them to exhibit negative or unwanted behaviors. In having to rely on their owners to let them go outside, pets often don’t get enough time outdoors.
Happy pets are those that can investigate their environments and play around outside, able to scope out their territory and inspect whatever interests them within the safety of your backyard. Animals are meant to explore their area freely—in fact, most dogs and other territorial animals want to protect their owners from potential dangers, which is why they often hunt around their spaces. Pet doors give your pets the free outside access that they need to stay content and carefree in a safe, controlled way.
4. Keep Pets Active and Busy
Pets must receive regular mental stimulation to be content and remain alert in their environment. Without fascinating things to keep your pets busy, they can grow bored and discontented. Dissatisfied pets turn to attention-seeking, potentially destructive behaviors, and have the potential to damage your home.
A pet needs frequent sources of excitement and interaction with the outside world to feel fulfilled, just like humans do. With free access to the outdoors, pets can explore and investigate things that interest them, whether it be an outdoor toy, a bug, or other natural things they find in their surroundings.
Giving your pets outdoor access can also help improve their attitudes, making them more confident and pleased with their domain. Pet doors provide pets the option to go out and explore when they feel bored or restless, offering them different things to occupy their attention and allowing them to feel satisfied and happy.
5. Lessen the Stress on Your Pets
While pet doors can help alleviate physical stresses on your pet, they can also help reduce mental stresses as well. Not being able to go to the bathroom when they have to can cause a lot of anxiety for your pet, especially if they are older and already house-trained. Your pet loves you and wants to make you happy, and it knows that having an accident will have the opposite effect.
This divide between their desire to please you and their need to go to the bathroom makes them feel very tense or distressed. With a pet door, this situation that puts our pets under the undue stress of trying not to disappoint us by having an accident is easily avoided. Your pet can then take care of its business on its own, leaving both you and your pet happy and stress-free.
6. Solve Pet Behavior Problems
Problems like these are caused by pets feeling cramped up indoors, being unable to spend enough time outside to burn off all of their restless energy, or your pet trying to get your attention to bring them outside. With the use of a pet door, your pet can have the time to play outside, get the mental stimulation that it requires, and take care of its other needs like using the bathroom.
This leads to a content, healthy pet, as well as fewer indoor accidents for you to handle. Introducing pet doors to both young and old pets who have less control over their needs allows you to have an easier time potty-training your pets and solves other behavioral problems.
7. Convenient for You
One of the biggest challenges that comes with owning a pet is the dedication of your time to take care of their bodily needs. While most of the time, we’re readily available to help our pets with whatever they need, there are times when our obligations conflict and it’s hard to give our pets the care they deserve while juggling everything else going on in our lives. With the use of a pet door, there are no more late nights or early mornings to let your pet go to the bathroom.
Even when you’re not with them, there’s no reason to worry that your pet hasn’t gone outside enough, as they have access to a safe outdoor space to take care of it themselves. Aside from bathroom needs, pet doors help by taking pressure off of you to make sure you and your pet go on enough walks to get out their restless energy and to get enough exercise. You can relax knowing that your pets are doing what they need to do all on their own.
8. Convenient for Your Pets
Not only is it convenient for you to have a pet door, but it’s also convenient for your pets to be able to take care of their needs quickly. Without creating a major distraction for you, your pet can go to the bathroom, run around, and explore like it needs to do. Just as you might get tired of having to act as your pet’s doorman at all times, your pet can get tired of having to wait for you to grant them inside or outside access, especially when they have to go to the bathroom badly.
In the same way that you shouldn’t have to worry about your pet having an accident, your pet shouldn’t have to worry that they won’t be able to hold it until you can help them. A pet door is the best way to ensure that your pet can address all of its needs–going to the bathroom, getting exercise, staying mentally stimulated, and more–while allowing you to focus on other things.
9. Help Ensure Your Pet’s Safety
Pet doors also provide them with easy access to shelter to get away from natural outdoor dangers, such as wild animals or hazardous, unpredictable weather. Whether going inside or outside, pet doors allow your pet to get to safety in any situation. In addition to the use of a pet door, many owners take other precautions such as only giving their pets access to a safe, fenced-in yard, or using cameras to monitor their pet’s outdoor behavior.
10. Can Help in an Emergency
While pet doors can help to secure your pet’s safety, they can also help to secure yours. There have been many examples of pets who save their owners’ lives by seeking outside help during a crisis. In medical emergencies like heart attacks or losing consciousness, owners are unable to call for help, but if the house has a pet door, their pet can leave to alert others of the emergency and get help.
Just like your pets search for dangers around your home to protect you, they’ll search for help when you need it. Your pets care about your safety just as much as you care about theirs, and they will do anything they can to help you in a dangerous situation. Pet doors allow your pets to help you to the best of their ability and to take care of you if need be.
11. What About Home Security?
All pet doors have locks, and some even have extra covers to fully secure them. Not only are pet doors safe additions, but they can even improve home security. Pets can act as the first alarm that something is wrong in dangerous situations, such as the presence of threatening wild animals or even attempted intruders. With a pet door, pets can safely scout out and warn you of potential dangers.
12. Deter Intruders
Most of the time, just the presence of a pet door acts as a deterrent for home-burglars, who are unwilling to risk facing a potentially aggressive pet. The intruder doesn’t know whether your pet is a tiny terrier, a fierce cat, or a larger breed of dog, but just the fact that there is a pet door means that they’ll have to think twice before trying to enter.
Pet doors can scare-off possible burglars or intruders with only their presence, and in any case, are extremely secure. With the added safety features to recent models of pet doors, such as heavy-duty covers or fixtures, pet doors can be securely locked to protect your home against break-ins. There are even models of pet doors that open only for an individual microchip found on your pet’s collar, meaning that only your pet will be able to travel in or out. Whether just locking up for the night or preparing for a vacation or trip, you can rest assured that your pet door is reliably sealed.
13. Find the Perfect Pet Door for You
Pet doors come in many different models and variations that address all types of different customer uses and needs. There are pet doors of all sizes, colors, and materials, and many of them specialize in things like weatherproofing or security. Pet doors can come with heavy-duty flaps for extra security or can be a more high-tech version, like the pet doors that only respond to a certain microchip. Pet doors are also specially designed for different types of installation, whether it be wall installation, an insert for a sliding glass door, a modification to a preexisting door, and more. With as many different types of pet doors as there are, you’re sure to find one within any budget, enabling you to find the perfect pet door for your home without having to worry about the cost. All of these different features and models ensure that no matter what the features are that you’re looking for, there’s a pet door that fits your needs.
14. Easy to Install
15. Other Important Factors to Consider
Before getting a pet door, it’s best to know your area to ensure that a pet door is the right option for you. Depending on your environment, using a pet door to give your pet access to a fenced-in yard may be safer and more practical than giving them access to an open area. Knowing what kinds of wildlife are in your area, as well as the kinds of animals that your neighbors have, can help you prepare and plan for the best way to give your pets more freedom while remaining certain of their safety. To be able to make the most of the benefits that come with using a pet door, it’s helpful to make sure that there’s a secure outdoor environment for your pet and to know the types of things your pet might encounter, such as types of plants, wildlife, or passerby. Knowing these things can help you determine which type of pet door is best for you and your pet and how to best use your pet door to your advantage.
With the wide selection of pet doors out there, you’re sure to find a great fit for your home, so both you and your pet can make the most of their many benefits. Pet doors can have amazing impacts on your pet’s health, happiness, and behavior, and can cut down the amount of time you have reserved for things like taking care of bathroom needs and cleaning up messes. Pet doors are a cheap and easy way to care for your pet, making them happier, healthier, more obedient, and more connected with their environment while saving you time and resources. In increasing both your productivity and the state of your home, pet doors lessen the amount of time that you have to spend on undesirable chores. Instead of worrying about their health, you’ll have more time and energy to play and enjoy being with your pet!
