Cat won't use cat flap!

GlynD

amandagreen82 wrote: »

I suggest you try and force her get through the catflap a few times. Just be gentle and it should be fine, might take up to 4 weeks to train her properly!

Thank you Amanda but we never force our cats to do anything they don't want to do. It can be very counter productive and claws/teeth make it a bad idea anyway.

his_missus

It's probably no help to you at all but my cats have always learned how to use the catflap from copying my older cats.

How long have you had the rescue cat? Does she make any attempt to use it? Does she paw at it but not with enough strength? Perhaps she's had a mishap with a cat flap in the past - caught her tail or been shouted at using a catflap as a stray something? Maybe she just needs more time to figure it out.

One of my cats took a year to work out how to use the catflap to get out. He's still working on how to get in first go (we have a magnetic one) 6 years later. He looks at us as though he's thinking he can get out feet first, why can't he get back in feet first????:rotfl:

GlynD

his_missus wrote: »

It's probably no help to you at all but my cats have always learned how to use the catflap from copying my older cats.

How long have you had the rescue cat? Does she make any attempt to use it? Does she paw at it but not with enough strength? Perhaps she's had a mishap with a cat flap in the past - caught her tail or been shouted at using a catflap as a stray something? Maybe she just needs more time to figure it out.

One of my cats took a year to work out how to use the catflap to get out. He's still working on how to get in first go (we have a magnetic one) 6 years later. He looks at us as though he's thinking he can get out feet first, why can't he get back in feet first????:rotfl:

We've had her for 11 months now. She pays no heed to our older cat using the flap but we have coaxed her in and out of it without difficulty if we hold it open. That's why I'm going to keep it propped open in the daytime from now on and hope she gets used to it.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

We have had rescue cats. And other cats. Each has been shown, lifted through the flap, both in and out. The one we have now, raffles, another rescue cat, did not need to be shown at all.

I also ignored the CPL advise about letting him out in the first week. They follow Maslow's first law, they will go where it is safe. First day, under the settee. Second day, through the flap and safety of the yard. Now 6 weeks on, he is in, out, out in. And he can climb and leap like a good one. He asks for fresh food during the day, and normally eats at breakfast and lunch. He munches on other things during the day. If food is left too long, like all out other cats, it is ignored, until the bowl is changed.

Snap-ant

The 'peg' in use

LittleMax

GlynD wrote: »

I thank you for the simplicity of your answer but if you read the thread you'll find that won't work because of the fact that food is available for both cats 24/7.

Then there's the issue of her being a rescue cat. There's no way we would ever put her under any stress as regards food. She starved for long enough when she was a stray, she won't be starved here. I'd rather keep the bedroom window open for the rest of my life than do that to her.

So what does she do when the window is closed and she wants to go out or come in? Does she pester you until you relent and open the window for her? Are you absolutely sure she never uses the cat flap?

If our cat can hear we are in she will stand and meow through the cat flap hoping we will come open the door for her, but she is perfectly capable of using the cat flap when she has to!

GlynD

Snap-ant wrote: »

The 'peg' in use

We have used the clothes peg idea Snap-ant. She's been out the cat flap twice today. we're waiting to see if and when she comes in through it. That'll be real progress.

LittleMax wrote: »

So what does she do when the window is closed and she wants to go out or come in? Does she pester you until you relent and open the window for her? Are you absolutely sure she never uses the cat flap?

If our cat can hear we are in she will stand and meow through the cat flap hoping we will come open the door for her, but she is perfectly capable of using the cat flap when she has to!

Hi LittleMax. I explained in post #10 that if the window is closed and she wants out she has a particular miaow to alert us. Once she's out we leave the window open so she can get back in.

We are absolutely sure she never uses the cat flap because it is visible from our lounge and we see who goes in and out. We also know that if the window has been left closed over night she will sit on the windowsill and howl until she's let out.

She will, if she sees one of us in the kitchen or conservatory, come to the conservatory door (which serves as our back door) and wait quietly to be let in. As does our older cat.

LittleMax

Then she has you well trained and has developed excellent techniques for not using the cat flap. The only way you will get her to use the cat flap is to remove the other options, she is never going to use it when she can use her other preferred options.

If it were me I would refuse to open the window. When she calls you to open the window for her, I would pick her up and gently help her through the cat flap to show that is the way out. If you keep putting her out through the catflap she will then learn that she is going out by the catflap whatever happens and eventually should start to take herself out that way. However she will still ask for you to open the window for her and if you do this even once she will keep trying, as it works.

However, based on your response to others who have talked about putting her through the catflap I think you will say this is something you would see as cruel and are not wiling to do. In that case you will have no alternative than to keep opening the window, as that is what your cat has learned is the best way in and out.

GlynD

LittleMax wrote: »

Then she has you well trained and has developed excellent techniques for not using the cat flap. The only way you will get her to use the cat flap is to remove the other options, she is never going to use it when she can use her other preferred options.

If it were me I would refuse to open the window. When she calls you to open the window for her, I would pick her up and gently help her through the cat flap to show that is the way out. If you keep putting her out through the catflap she will then learn that she is going out by the catflap whatever happens and eventually should start to take herself out that way. However she will still ask for you to open the window for her and if you do this even once she will keep trying, as it works.

However, based on your response to others who have talked about putting her through the catflap I think you will say this is something you would see as cruel and are not wiling to do. In that case you will have no alternative than to keep opening the window, as that is what your cat has learned is the best way in and out.

This wee thing has used the window since she was rescued from straying by us and brought home here. It's a habit she's picked up before we had her. We're not going to put her under stress for anything as simple as this.

If you'd like to go back to post #28, just one before yours, you'll see that we have adopted an idea from another poster and the wee thing has already used the cat flap twice today. So we are making progress and that's partly due to the ideas very kindly put forward by other cat lovers on this thread.

So no, she doesn't have us well trained.

LittleMax

GlynD wrote: »

If you'd like to go back to post #28, just one before yours, you'll see that we have adopted an idea from another poster and the wee thing has already used the cat flap twice today. So we are making progress and that's partly due to the ideas very kindly put forward by other cat lovers on this thread.

Sorry, I missed that. Excellent news, pleased you have found something that works for you and your cat