Look at this ridiculous thing. Don’t you want to just eat it all up?

Mica, our resident farm feline, no longer fits snugly in the palm of your hand. She’s still affectionate and floppy as ever, but she’s also a teenager now, staying out later and later. Minx.

We were tiring of letting her in and out all the time. We also needed to go away for a night or two periodically, and we hated the thought of the little lover-of-outdoors being cooped up. So we gave in to the demands of this independent teenager. A few months ago she got her very own cat flap.

We were hoping we could hold out until we renovated, since new windows and doors will be fitted. We looked at what needed to be done and decided it wasn’t too much of a bother.

Firstly, we removed a pane of glass from what used to be the (now seized-up) front door. This was a task and a half, since the decades-old putty was practically concrete. A knife simply wouldn’t do. With a chisel and some elbow grease I got through it.

As you can see, I promptly made a little ramp and some steps for Her Majesty, because the glass pane was quite elevated (believe me, this location was the only feasible option). I know they’re ugly, it’s temporary!

I took the pane into a glass shop and got them to cut a hole for installing the cat flap. We made sure to get a door that could accommodate double-glazed glass for when we renovate.

Next up was rolling out some putty worms to press inside the frame.

Char enjoyed this because squishy. Okay, okay, I enjoyed this because squishy.

Once we placed the retro-fitted cat portal pane back into the frame, we pressed in some glazier’s tacks to hold it in place.

With a screwdriver, FYI.

(There’s something a little absurd about the above photo…)

Then came the laborious task of puttying the gaps and smoothing it out to look tidy, which I left entirely up to Char. Sometimes I can get away with blaming my sausage fingers to get out of the fiddly jobs.

Not bad considering the rippled glass and botch framing!

And then suddenly, boom, a functional cat portal.

Time to coax the kitty.

She gave her new portal an inquisitive sniff, and after we showed her that the flap moved, she began to paw at it. A couple of awkward attempts later, she made it through.

That’s all it took. She obviously relishes her independence!

See ya who-knows-when!