Teaching reluctant cat to use cat flap!

[jack31]

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

 

[GoldyCat]

Can you put out some treats or a toy that she can see through the flap? If she'll go for it, you shouldn't have to do that more than two or three times. It took my cats about 4 days to figure out how to use the cat flap going to my patio.

What if you bring her in and leave her? Will she use the flap to go back outside? That may be easier than trying to get her started coming in through the flap.

Good luck with your training (and your heating bill).

 

[jack31]

I think the only food item that might entice her would be a freshly killed chipmunk, and only she can provide that...I've tried all food options.

Today I took her and physically pushed her head against the door to show her it would open...she came out through it sometime through the night on her own because I put her in last night and this morning she was outside, I opened the flap and let her back in this morning but stayed in all morning that I know of. I left at about 7am for work (she came in through the garage door not the flap) and at 1 she was still in the garage. I called her to the flap and opened it a bit and she came out.

I have tried leaving her in and giving her no choice, but she peed in the garage then.

We have a cat flap inside from the upstairs to the basement and all the inside cats learned in about 3 minutes.

Her baby who goes outside sometimes, is able to use the catflap in the garage and Ginger the outside cat has watched her go both ways, using her head to push it open.

Leslie