Cat flap training

no1catman

Any advice please on training a mature cat to use a cat-flap.

Cat is eleven and too used to going out/in via the French doors. Have had a new kitchen door fitted with micro-chip cat-flap - probably three weeks ago now. Tried to make sure she comes in via the kitchen door rather than the French doors - to get her more used to coming in there.
So, no 'outs' four 'ins' with the flap held open (including the first to set the code), and one where she came through with the flap in place - while starring at a saucer of her boiled fish as an incentive!
Via a trail of dreamies she'll look through the cat-flap for a few moments, then look away.

I'd like to be able to go back to bed after letting her out in the early hours, with the expectation that she would come in when she wanted to. At the moment if I did that she stay out for several hours (which if the local Tom came along would not be a good idea).

Any ideas to speed the process up, or are some cats just 'thick'?

Slinky

You need to leave the cat flap open for a while so she can get the idea of going through it. If you push it open from the inside then clamp a peg on either side outside to hold it open, she should get the idea of going through the hole. After a while, lower the position of the peg a bit so she has to push against it to go through it. Keep lowering the peg, eventually you'll have to do a bit of swapping the peg round so when she's gone out, peg it open inwards so she can get back in. Eventually the penny will drop.

Our cat even though she has access throughout the day to come and go as she pleases, will still dash to go through a door that's been opened by her staff as I think it's ingrained from whereever she used to live (rescue cat) where they obviously didn't have a flap.

Mupette

ditto taping it up for a bit

was fun training ours for it, as for Dave he just ran and bashed through the dog one which is next to the cat one.



* dog one gets locked down at night and the cat one is microchipped so only ours can come and go as there is some bully cats around that used to come in at night.

no1catman

Update - she has come through the cat-flap twice, without it being held open - though it needs the sight of her boiled fish to encourage her! She puts a paw on the ledge to then lever herself through, whereas with the many times she's come through with the 'door' being held open - she just leaps through!

However, this morning as the second time I let her out was at 6.15 rather than hang about - especially as she was just sitting there, I went back to bed. She could have waited 90 - to - 120 minutes till she was let in, but 30 minutes she arrives upstairs - yippee first time unaided, through the flap all by herself.
All I've got to do now is try and get her to use it to go out via it!

SensibleSarah

In my experience, some cats (and dogs) are just a bit slower than others
One of my two older cats took ages (weeks & weeks) to understand he could go in AND out at will but my other one at the time picked it up within a couple of hours. My two younger cats picked it up from the older ones within about 2 minutes once they were old enough & neutered & could be given access to the back door.

My dog genuinely took over a year to work out the dog flap. She'd come in from outside through it just fine but for the life of her she couldn't understand going out unless I helped her by holding it open a little. She's not even a thick dog as she picks other things up straight away - but just had a blind spot with this one thing,possibly as she was so we'll house trained (before I got her) that she couldn't let go of the idea that a person had to let her out when she stood by the door.