A cat flap or cat door is a hinged flap set into a door, wall or window to allow cats to enter and exit a house on their own without needing a human to open the door, while offering a degree of protection against wind and rain entering the dwelling.
The invention of the cat flap is attributed to Isaac Newton in a story by a 'Country Parson' to the effect that Newton foolishly made a large hole for the mother and a small one for the kittens, not realizing the kittens would follow the mother through the large one.Two Newton biographers cite passages saying that Newton kept 'neither cat nor dog in his chamber J. M. F. Wright, writing in his memoir Alma Mater in 1827, was an inhabitant of Newton's 'set' in Trinity and reported this same story, adding "Whether this account be true or false, indisputably true is it that there are in the door to this day two plugged holes of the proper dimensions for the respective egresses of cat and kitten."
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