We do not let our cat free-roam outside. Most of the time he spends inside. When he goes outside he wears a harness attached to a leash. The leash is about 3m in length and the end is attached high up a branch of a tree so he can run around unobstructed when he is outside. He has a few objects on which he can sit at the edges of his terrain and a small bush of lemon balm in which he can hide. Any other obstacles we removed from his area so he can not get entangled. He likes going outside and we often leave him there for a few hours.
Of course he would like to go out more and when he has the possibility he takes his chance to sneak out. One of such moments is when we go out on the terrace to get some herbs. Our access to the terrace is thru a French door and it can only be locked from the inside. We always try to close it as good as we can but sometimes the door gets pushed open by the wind and he can just walk out. Sometimes the door is just slightly ajar and he will manage to open it with its feet and escape.
A discovery
Not so long ago I saw the concept of a bullet catch on a French door at a relative. Only recently I learned that it is called a bullet catch. It consists of a bolt, mounted on the door and a spring-loaded catch mounted on the door frame. It allows you to close the door with a slight pull from the outside (or push from the inside), and keep it shut. It doesn’t allow to lock it.
This turned out to be the perfect solution to stop our cat from escaping, so I started looking for a bullet catch. My first instinct was to just buy the first decent-looking one I found and modify it to fit our door. Then I thought: why not look around a bit first and see if I could find one that fits perfectly right out of the box? Better spend some time looking than spend time later tinkering…
Finding the chosen one
I first tried looking via the manufacturer/brand of our windows but that did not bring me any further. After close inspection of the window I found some markings on the windows’ hardware. They allowed me to find the manufacturer of the hardware (Roto) and also the hardware model. Maybe Roto would have a bullet catch for this window?
When looking for a Roto bullet catch I arrived at their detailed spare-parts website, I searched for “bullet catch” and was greeted with 66 results. After narrowing it down to our specific hardware model, I was left with 16 options. Among the usual spring-loaded versions, something new caught my eye: a magnetic bullet catch. I instantly preferred it. Spring-loaded catches always seemed a bit aggressive—the door slams shut with a sharp clack that feels almost violent. A magnetic one promised a much smoother, quieter close. Sure, it might not keep the door shut with quite the same force, but I was willing to take that chance for the sake of a gentler action.
Installation
I was able to procure the correct bullet catch and the corresponding bracket in a local shop. On the moving stile I quickly located the correct mounting position. (You have to watch out where you put screws as not to restrict the movement of the locking mechanism.)
On the fixed stile there were no predrilled holes. To find the correct height for the holes I installed the bracket mirrored and put the magnetic catch on it. This gave me enough space to indicate the right height of the magnetic catch from the outside. To find the correct position of the holes I held the magnetic catch at the correct height with the magnet flush to the inside of the stile and transferred the correct position thru the mounting holes of the catch. I drilled the holes with a drill corresponding to the diameter of the seize of the mounting notches on the back side of the catch.
Conclusion
I spent some time searching for the right catch but in the end, it was worth it. The installation was straight forward and the catch is a perfect fit. The manufacturer offers 3 colour variants of this magnetic catch so we were able to choose a light grey one, which blends in nicely.
The latch bracket is unobtrusive and has the perfect dimensions. The door closes and locks just as good as previously and air tightness seems to be as before.
The magnet in the magnetic catch isn’t fixed rigidly—it can extend outward by about 5 mm. This forgives small mounting mistakes. If you’re not 100 % sure about the exact depth, it’s far better to mount it slightly deeper. The magnet will simply travel a bit further to meet the latch bracket, and everything still works perfectly.
I did not install a handle on the outside of the door because there is not much space because of the window shutters. When we go out we kind of swing the door behind us and it closes. To come in we gently push the windows’ frame.
We’ve had the magnetic catch installed for about ten days now, and we’re completely sold – it works perfectly. The door stays securely closed whenever we go outside, and the cat hasn’t managed a single jailbreak.
As expected, because the magnet can travel about 5 mm, the seal isn’t quite as airtight as when the main lock is engaged. That’s no problem at all for us – I just wanted to mention it clearly for anyone considering the same solution.
It is winter season now, so we do not go out that much I will update when we had some more time to try it out.
Thank you for reading this post. I hope it will help you when considering/realising a similar solution. If you have any questions or remarks, please leave a comment below. I am more than willing to elaborate and it is always nice to get some feedback.
