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Cat won't use cat flap!

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  • harp07
    harp07 Posts: 16 Forumite
    I have never had any success with a cat flap and read in a book, i think it was Desmond Morris Cat Watching that it is more to do with other cats being able to access the flap and fear of what is or could be the other side than stupidity on the cats part.
  • GlynD
    GlynD Posts: 10,883 Forumite
    harp07 wrote: »
    I have never had any success with a cat flap and read in a book, i think it was Desmond Morris Cat Watching that it is more to do with other cats being able to access the flap and fear of what is or could be the other side than stupidity on the cats part.

    We've only ever had one cat, other than our own, who knew how to use the cat flap. He was a stray but what a handsome animal he was - all black. After feeding him for a few weeks whilst checking if he had an owner or not we eventually took him to the vet where he had his gentleman vegetables removed before being rehomed with an old lady who'd just had to have her 16 year old put down. He used to come through the cat flap at like 4 in the morning and just wander around the house, eating anything he could find lol.

    We do see our older one, who is very cat flap familiar, staring out of it sometimes before going out. A neighbour's cat came too close to it one day and madam whacked the flap part with her paw which caused the cat on the other side to leap in the air.

    I certainly don't think it's stupidity on the part of our wee one. I think she had the habit of using a window engrained in her before we rescued her. Even when she was kept in for a month for her familiarisation we could see her standing up at windows seeking a way out. She's got her way of doing it and she isn't interested in ours. We did put her to the cat flap so many times and although we got her to go through it we could never get her to use it.

    Hopefully this time, with this easy system of pegging the cat flap open, we'll get her used to it and can then close the window. I hope that happens before the very cold weather sets in over the next few weeks. :)
  • I took in 2 cats from a friend when she couldn't have them any more. Neither had ever used a cat flap. We already had a rescue cat and the boy cat soon learnt to copy him and use the cat flap, but the little girl cat was having none of it. We tried tempting and pushing but she would still not use it. After about a year I moved and had a cat flap put in the french door. Lots of visibility so I thought but she still wouldn't use it, her brother used it straight away. As I work she was left inside (or outside if she went out and wouldn't come in before I left for work) and still she wouldn't use the cat flap. That was until about a year ago, when I came home from work she was waiting for me. I thought I'd left her inside but wasn't sure. Then at the weekend I let her out and pottered around the house, then she appeared in the room next to me, so I knew she was using the cat flap. Why she suddenly decided to after about 3 years of not using it I don't know, but then those of us that have cats know that they only do what they want to do, when they want to do it.

    Thinking back on it our rescue cat didn't want to use the cat flap to go out to start with, it took a while before he would which included some coaxing from us.

    So it may well be that your cat will use the cat flap when good and ready?
    Nil Illegitimi desperandum carborundum ;)

    All of my posts are simply my personal opinions.
    They are not professional advice nor are they the opinions of my employer.
  • GlynD
    GlynD Posts: 10,883 Forumite
    I took in 2 cats from a friend when she couldn't have them any more. Neither had ever used a cat flap. We already had a rescue cat and the boy cat soon learnt to copy him and use the cat flap, but the little girl cat was having none of it. We tried tempting and pushing but she would still not use it. After about a year I moved and had a cat flap put in the french door. Lots of visibility so I thought but she still wouldn't use it, her brother used it straight away. As I work she was left inside (or outside if she went out and wouldn't come in before I left for work) and still she wouldn't use the cat flap. That was until about a year ago, when I came home from work she was waiting for me. I thought I'd left her inside but wasn't sure. Then at the weekend I let her out and pottered around the house, then she appeared in the room next to me, so I knew she was using the cat flap. Why she suddenly decided to after about 3 years of not using it I don't know, but then those of us that have cats know that they only do what they want to do, when they want to do it.

    Thinking back on it our rescue cat didn't want to use the cat flap to go out to start with, it took a while before he would which included some coaxing from us.

    So it may well be that your cat will use the cat flap when good and ready?

    That's what I was thinking. Leaving it propped open is an invitation though and that might encourage her to use it sooner rather than later. Certainly having seen her use it twice today under her own volition for the first time we're greatly encouraged. :)
  • GlynD wrote: »
    That's what I was thinking. Leaving it propped open is an invitation though and that might encourage her to use it sooner rather than later. Certainly having seen her use it twice today under her own volition for the first time we're greatly encouraged. :)

    Well that's good news :beer:
    Nil Illegitimi desperandum carborundum ;)

    All of my posts are simply my personal opinions.
    They are not professional advice nor are they the opinions of my employer.
  • GlynD
    GlynD Posts: 10,883 Forumite
    Well that's good news :beer:

    It certainly is.

    We've also noticed something else about this wee thing. She won't use a scratching post. We've seen her use pieces of fence etc in the garden but never the two conveniently positions posts in the house. I just noticed that having spent a minute watching the older one try to demolish the scratching post at the front door. You should see her go at the Fat Boy at the back door too -lol. But not the wee one.
  • Slinky
    Slinky Posts: 11,003 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    We had success with the peg method for our rescued cat. With only having the one and working from home, I was able to prop the flap in the appropriate direction depending on whether he was inside or outside. Gradually over a period of a couple of weeks, we moved the peg down there was less of an opening. In the end it was propped open only a tiny bit by use of a small round fridge magnet. We didn't bother removing the magnetic parts as the other poster suggested. It took about 3 weeks in total before he got the compete hang of it, he got the hang of coming in before he got the hang of going out.


    He's fine with it now, 3 months on, although he'd still far rather shoot out of a door when it's opened.
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  • GlynD
    GlynD Posts: 10,883 Forumite
    Slinky wrote: »
    We had success with the peg method for our rescued cat. With only having the one and working from home, I was able to prop the flap in the appropriate direction depending on whether he was inside or outside. Gradually over a period of a couple of weeks, we moved the peg down there was less of an opening. In the end it was propped open only a tiny bit by use of a small round fridge magnet. We didn't bother removing the magnetic parts as the other poster suggested. It took about 3 weeks in total before he got the compete hang of it, he got the hang of coming in before he got the hang of going out.


    He's fine with it now, 3 months on, although he'd still far rather shoot out of a door when it's opened.

    I think they're all like that.

    Thanks for letting me know how you coped. I'm hoping it works much the same with us. She didn't go out through it today but she was head and shoulders through it at one point before coming back inside. :)
  • GlynD
    GlynD Posts: 10,883 Forumite
    Good news. This morning I saw our little darling go out of the cat flap, which was pegged open, and shortly afterwards she came back in through it.

    Now that's progress. It's the first time she's ever come into the house through the cat flap. I'm greatly encouraged by this. :)
  • Pippin12
    Pippin12 Posts: 525 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I did something similar. I sellotaped the flap completely open and then over a few weeks gradually lowered it till it was half open and they had to use their nose to open it, then lower still till it was eventually closed. By then they had got used to the notion that they would have to push it open.
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