In article ,
jmc wrote:
Suddenly, without warning, Hactar exclaimed (5/27/2009 1:04 PM):
We have sliding (pocket) doors connecting the "catty" and (ostensibly)
"non-catty" sides of the house.

....

So, is there anything that can reliably keep the cats in their half the
house? I'm thinking about a latch for the doors. The sticking point is
finding something that's easy for humans and impossible for cats, can be
operated from both sides, and doesn't make it look like we're in a
prison.

If they're sliding doors and have a top rail, then just get pieces of
wood that you can jam in the top rail, the cats can't reach 'em, problem
solved!

Well, neither can some of the humans. It can be mounted lower though.
However, if I understand what you're recommending, that can't be operated
from both sides. And, they're not glass doors, they're wooden. Except
for the slide-or-swing/latch hardware the doors look like any other hollow
wooden interior door.

Alternately, maybe you can buy child-proof latches like for cabinets,
and modify them for use.

What you just need to think of is a kind of latch you can set up high
enough, and is complicated enough, and small enough, that a cat cannot
jump and undo it, or jump, hold on, and undo it.

Maybe a door chain? Some kind of peg into the door along the back edge?

I can understand your friend needing a cat-free zone, but you might just
want to give it up. If they're getting in there every night and have
for a while, it's no longer a cat-dander-free zone anyway, even if you
clean it really well, unless you replace the carpeting and the furniture.

We had the floor redone from carpeting to wood, so that should reduce
the airborne contaminants considerably.

--
-eben P royalty.mine.nu:81

Q: Why do black holes never learn?
A: Because they're too dense. -- ZurkisPhreek on Fark