I have just installed a kitty door in my laundry room that allows me to keep the cat litter and food in the garage so they don't stink up the house. The problem is both of my cats are afraid of the kitty door. I have "very gently" shown them how it works by holding the flap open and putting my hand through; I've tried easing them through it, but they freak out. I have also tried to tempt them with food to go through it. Not sure if anyone has any advise on how to train the cats to use the kitty door (they are 1.5 and 2 years old - both indoor/outdoor cats)
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Kitty Door
- Thread starter kcarlson0814
- Start Date
kcarlson,
Years ago my dad installed a doggie door for our two airedale terriers. They wouldn't go through it either. Then my father had ME climb through it to show them. Because the door we had had a magnet to keep it closed, we ended up keeping it open for a while till they were comfortable going in and out. They finally got the hang of it.
Maybe if you keep the door open for 24-48 hours and then close it they'll get the idea.
Just a suggestion.
Donna
Years ago my dad installed a doggie door for our two airedale terriers. They wouldn't go through it either. Then my father had ME climb through it to show them. Because the door we had had a magnet to keep it closed, we ended up keeping it open for a while till they were comfortable going in and out. They finally got the hang of it.
Maybe if you keep the door open for 24-48 hours and then close it they'll get the idea.
Just a suggestion.
Donna
I like Donna's suggestion. Let us know how they are doing?
I trained a feral cat to use a cat door using the following technique.
My husband sat on one side of the door and I sat on the other. We each had some really yummy treats (tuna). When the cat was on my side, my husband would barely open the flap and hold the treat just inside the cat door. The cat then went through (with my husband holding it a little open) to get the tuna. Then, I did the same thing on my side. Then my husband did it, and then I did it. Then we did the same thing, but immediately after showing the treat, we closed the flap so that the cat had to open it himself. We did this back and forth a couple of times. We had him trained in less than 15 minutes!
My husband sat on one side of the door and I sat on the other. We each had some really yummy treats (tuna). When the cat was on my side, my husband would barely open the flap and hold the treat just inside the cat door. The cat then went through (with my husband holding it a little open) to get the tuna. Then, I did the same thing on my side. Then my husband did it, and then I did it. Then we did the same thing, but immediately after showing the treat, we closed the flap so that the cat had to open it himself. We did this back and forth a couple of times. We had him trained in less than 15 minutes!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #5
We have one of the two cats trained by tempting her to go through the door to get a treat, but the other cat is not interested AT ALL. The only way we have been able to get him to go through the door is to tape the flap up. Once the flap is down, he just sits there and looks through, no matter what is on the other side. Still looking for suggestions.. going to keep trying to tempted him.
Day 1, tape the flap completely up.
Day 2, tape the flap up but a tiny little bit lower than yesterday.
Day 3, tape it a little lower....
Each day lower it until it is finally all the way down. I'll bet, if you do it real slowly, your reluctant kitty will go on through!
Day 2, tape the flap up but a tiny little bit lower than yesterday.
Day 3, tape it a little lower....
Each day lower it until it is finally all the way down. I'll bet, if you do it real slowly, your reluctant kitty will go on through!
