Is there such a thing as a cat proof door seal?

[Sam Leon]

When I have tenants who have cats, the exterior door weather seals get ripped to shreds.

Like this:

or like this:

and being in Florida, this increases the electric bill because the air conditioning has to run more, and the tenants complain about the electric bill.

I can replace the weather seal, and three days later we are back to the same place.

Is there something I can do to cat proof this?

[Julie Hartman]

@Sam Leon The best way to cat-proof a property is not allowing them at all. We do not allow cats and scratching is just one of several reasons why. Cats also cause extreme allergies in some people, even more so than dogs, which can limit your tenant pool. And if you have ever had to remove cat urine from a property, you know what an uphill battle it is. Good luck. 

[Bjorn Ahlblad]

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/...@Sam Leon here are some things for you to try. No personal experience. We don't allow cats in our rentals for the reasons @Julie Hartman describes above.

[Scott M.]

Park a dog in front of that door. 

[Sam Leon]

In my experiences, dogs caused much more damages to cats.  So for my rentals I allow cats but not dogs.

The issues with cats I have personally experienced are door seals ripped up, window blinds torn up.  I don't really have urine issues as all the flooring are hard porcelain or ceramic tiles, not carpet or wood.

The issues with dogs that I have personally experienced are ripped up sprinkler wires and valves in the yard, craters in the yard, ripped down window blinds and draperies, kitchen cabinet doors with hinges pulled off, interior doors or cabinet doors with corners chewed off, claw marks on baseboards and door trims, neighbors complaining about excessive barking, property maintenance or appliance repair or others trying to service the property hesitate to enter property due to hissing and barking aggressively, property insurance carrier's unannounced inspection requiring dog breed/vaccination/wellness records etc etc etc...

So all things considered I have disallowed dogs but not cats.  As eliminating both really restrict my tenant pool.

One side effect that I noticed when I restricted my apartments to cats only but not dogs, my tenants have been exclusively female.  I guess not too many male with cats as pets?

[Matt Devincenzo]

One solution is you need to create the connection that the damage costs them money. Right now the damage costs them more electric for their A/C so they call you to fix it. I'd personally say that is a simple enough 'repair' that I'd show them how to do it and then tell them they can do it going forward, or you will do it for $XX to pay for your time. I bet they stop asking you to do it.

Also I grew up in FL and we had doors that ended up like that from time to time. I very seriously doubt that the leaking is significant enough to really make their bill that much higher. Is it a contributing factor, sure. But I'd say that increases the A/C use in the range of maybe $15-$20 dollars a month, which is very small in the overall consideration for why the bill might be high. 

[Bud Gaffney]

@Sam Leon no

[Bud Gaffney]

@Sam Leon maybe steel wool

[John Teachout]

We don't allow cats in any of our rentals. No exceptions. We do allow dogs.

[Dawn P.]

The dummies need to get their cat a scratching post and train them to use it.

They make lots of scratching-deterrent sprays, available in any pet store or Amazon. They can also dab a few drops of a strong smelling essential oil - think citrus or peppermint - where they're scratching and they'll stop.