# Teaching a cat to use a cat flap



## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

First and foremost this is not an outside/inside cat debate. So please don't even start that.

I have an outside cat who stays in the garage when its cold and rainy. Because we had been manually allowing her access, opening the door or leaving it cracked we were going broke on utilities. I might add this is the smartest cat I've met, she looks both ways before crossing the street.

We decided to install a cat flap in the basement window that leads to the garage for easier access. She cannot seem to figure it out. We have held it open and had her come through. We taped the flap up for a week and she is fine with that. So for a week I hung fabric over the hole, so that she got used to pushing through something. She did fine with this.

But for the life of me I cannot convince her to push with her foot or paw to go through the plastic door. Its crucial that it be the plastic door, otherwise all the cold air comes in. I thought maybe because the door was see through that that was throwing her off. So I put dark tape over the door. Still no luck.

Any ideas to help her figure it out? 

She has also viewed another cat come and go through it.

HELP!!

Leslie


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Do you have any pictures you could share of the cat door? If you like I'll share some pictures of the door my cat uses, though I have a feeling our cat doors are very different, since mine is installed into the wall and my cat has to jump up and walk through a little tunnel to get inside, and the flap is made of wood. 

Have you tried placing food just on the inside of door to entice her?


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

I agree with Carmel. Try putting food or a treat on the other side of the door. Try holding the door part-way open at first, so she just has to push through half. You might have to try that a few times before she gets the general idea. 

You could also try taping it up (you say then she goes through). The next day tape it up but not fully (perhaps 2/3rds of the way up). Then 1/2 half of the way up; then 1/4...and finally leave it closed. Perhaps that way she'll gradually get used to going through.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Jack&Harley said:


> But for the life of me I cannot convince her to push with her foot or paw to go through the plastic door.


Reading over your post again, I'm wondering why you are saying this. What kind of cat door is this? My cat pushes with her head until the flap moves up enough for her head to poke through the bottom then she ducks down to enter though that opening.

Have you tried shutting her in the basement and not allowing her any other means of escape but the cat door? Would she be able to get out on her own? My cat was semi-feral so when we first tried the cat door, she used it bolt out of ASAP - although teaching her she could also come in with it - not just out - took some work.

Are you able to pick her up? You say she's an outside cat, so I'm wondering if she's feral? If you can pick her up, have you tried shoving her through the door both ways a few times? We needed to do this with our cat for her to get the idea at first. I also remember we would stand on either side of the door, one person slowly pushing her through, and another person on the other side to greet her when she made it through. Maybe you could even give her a treat when you push her through and she makes it to the other side. Of course this is all depending on if you can handle her.


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

Is the material too heavy for her to push with her face? Even my dog (Chessie/lab mix) won't use her paw to get through; they have to use their faces. Other than that, I would do as suggested and wait on one side of the door with a treat till she comes through & repeat.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I personally do not like rigid pet-flaps because I think they have the possibility of being able to 'pinch' or 'scrape' (_at best_) and 'trap' (_at worst_) a pet if they decide to enter part-way, change their mind and pull back, getting a body-part/limb stuck or injured. 
We use a flexible flap on our LitterChest and all of our cats, with the exception of indoor/outdoor Dusty, learned how to use it without issues.

Can you use flexible flaps and construct something to utilize a *double* flap entry/exit point? 
A sort of boxed in 'kitty-foyer' or 'mud-room' for lack of a better descriptive term?


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

First let me say, it appears she came out this door this morning. As I left her in the garage and she was outside when I got up. I'm wondering if she really can do it now but is choosing not to because its so cold and she'd rather stay inside. Half the point of the flap was to avoid the litter box in the garage. and allow her choice to go out, because she loves to hunt at night.

It has a bit of a weather proof seal around it, so it she just taps it with her nose it doesn't swing, she would have to push with her nose. Like I said her baby who goes out with her has no issues with it. We have a cat flap inside from the upstairs to the basement and if u just brush it, it pushes open.

She is not feral at all. So I can do pretty whatever I want to her, pick her up etc.

Food temptations I've tried, just seems to frustrate her because she hears the food in the bowl and cannot get to it. 

No real way to make it a double door with a soft door. And a single soft flap is going to let in too much cold air.

I left her in one day to get out without any other option but use the door and she peed on her bed because she couldn't get out to pee.

I'm going to go out today and see if I push her head on the door, if she'll see she doesn't have to do much.

I've head the door partway open, she'll come through it that way. She just can't seem to get the concept of pushing it herself.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I've done that, gripped the cat's front feet in one hand, supported their body over that arm and with my other hand held their back feet to keep them on my arm as I physically pushed them through the opening several times so they could see it wouldn't EAT them.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

If she was able to go outside with it today that's great progress, she is likely is getting the hang of it. I would still recommend forcing her through the door a few times - both ways, even if she protests, just so she sees nothing is wrong with going through and that she_ does_ come out on the other side.


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

Leslie, I had the same experience recently. We put an indoor cat door in my bedroom door, and I was shocked to see that Murphy couldn't figure out how to use it. I was on the other side, swinging the thing open and closed like a mad woman, showing him treats on the other side, and he still sat there with a confused look on his face. 

When I read stuff about this on the Internet, they said there's actually no guarantee that a cat will figure out a cat door, and that it might take months. Isn't that weird that our little, capable animals with incredible agility and depth perception can't figure out something so basic?

Once I took off the flapping door, he went through the hole in the door with no problem. So that's how it sits now, just a hole in the door.


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

Thanks for the tips.

I went out and held her and used her head to push it open, so she would see it opens. But I swear she looked at me like, I know how to do this, I'm not stupid, I just wana stay inside, its cold outside. It doesn't help that its about 20 degrees out today. Maybe I'll get her a litter box for in the garage...I'll hafta see. I'm hoping to get this all sorted out before we go out of town at Christmas time so that the cat sitter doesn't have issues.

If only I had a freshly killed chipmunk, that might entice her through it. Sadly I need her to bring me one and lately she's just been eating them and leaving the guts on the garage floor...yes, she's been bringing them inside to eat, through the propped open cat flap...

Leslie


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## Claiken (Dec 18, 2007)

Is it clear?

I have one installed on my bedroom door (which now gets towels shoved into it atnight, as simba PLAYS with it at 5am). But during the day he will use it. Boo refuses. She wont go anywhere where she can not see the other side. must be something that happened to her while outside (ebfore we adopted her). But, in our french door toward the basement, we took out the bottom middle pane of glass (the only thing we bought and intentially broke! lol) and both will use that just fine, because she can see to the other side that its just hte stairs.

Boo will also go though mine if we hold it open for her, so she can see. im convinced something happened to her. got stuck somewhere for a bit or something.


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

The door is clear. I thought maybe it being clear was throwing her off, so I covered it with dark tape. No luck. Now its half covered half clear.

Leslie


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