Cat door training

We have 3 cats. Jasper has to be a strictly indoor cat b/c he is declawed (not my doing- we got him from a friend).

The litter box was in a small bathroom downstairs. Well- guess who was the ONLY person cleaning it? Yeah- that's right- ME. Which was ok (though I was thoroughly over it after a week when there are 3 other very able-bodied people who can scoop litter but think it's NASTY) when I didn't work. Well- I got a job and there was litter EVERYWHERE. And the kids complained that the litter stank. And we were all over not being able to use this tiny powder room as a bathroom anymore b/c there was a litter box taking up 3/4 of the floor space.

So what we did is move the boxes to the garage. The living room is attached to the garage by a door. Then we left the door open to see if we could train Jasper to use the box in there. No problem at all- he got the hang of where it was right away.

So not wanting to heat or a/c the garage- I had the idea of putting a cat door from the house to the garage, which dh installed today.

Well the cats don't "get" how to use it. If we keep the door off- Jasper is fine with going in and out. We put the door on- put all 3 animals out in the garage. There were 3 little cat faces staring at us from behind the door. I put food in dishes. Faces still stared at me. I finally had to take the darn door off again.

Any ideas how to train these animals how to open a cat door?

Cheryl

I'm guessing you have a hard clear plastic door - not the rubber-like clear plastic door.

I've heard that cats can get their tail stuck in those hard clear plastic doors - so your cats are probably trying to tell you something.

We put up a door in our garage for our stray and feral born cats to get into our garage. I propped the door open, and put in a clear plastic flap, but, the wind, and dirt still came inside. Didn't really try anything else - but did make sure the door was kept open all the time not wanting a cat to get his/her tail caught in the door. Now, that wouldn't be a happy lesson for the cat - I doubt they'd try to open it again for fear that they'd get hurt.

Finally we have the stray and his feral born family inside full time. My husband made an outside enclosure, and we put in a cat door in our window. This door has the flexible clear plastic flap, with a magnet on the bottom to help keep the door closed.

The magnet I had to de-commission by putting some tape on it. Now the magnets hold just enough, but not so hard it can't be pushed open.

When they were learning to push open the door, I did have the flap pinned open until they learned about using the door. (I used the bubble wrap as a temporary flap until they learned how to go through the door.

Once they saw one go through it, the others got the idea of how to do it. As they became more confident, I lowered the flap. Today, they hit the door running as they're playing running inside then out.

This is a picture of the tape (the kind that comes off easily) on the plastic, I first used it to keep the flap open, then later I used it as a guide for them to identify as the place to push (I don't know if they knew that, but they seemed to use it so ???)



I suggest you replace your hard plastic flap with a clear soft plastic flap, and let them learn gradually how to push open the flap.

I've found that it's important that the flap is see-through.
Here's a link: http://www.petdoors.com/
Training: http://www.petdoors.com/pet-door-training.html

If you have the rigid flap, maybe you can buy a soft plastic (flexible) flap for the door you have?

It is the hard plastic flap. But the cats can see through it.

Holly was just TOO funny yesterday. The other 2 cats were behind the flap and I hadn't pushed Holly through yet. They're staring out through the door and Holly decides to become "flat cat" in front of the door- like she's saying "Hey mom- why is Sneaky and Jasper behind there"?

I'm thinking we're going to just leave the flap off for a bit. And then sit with them and show them that all they have to do is push it open. There's plastic locks on it- but since it's just to the garage which is closed most of the time, we aren't going to lock it at all.

Hm bubble wrap. Dh was thinking about putting a piece of cloth over the opening- but then they can't see through that when you lower it, and I want them to understand that it's an opening and it's ok to go through it.

I'm figuring once they figure it out- Holly and Jasper are going to use it as a plaything. I can see Holly chasing Jasper or maybe Sneaky through it
Cheryl