One cat won't use the cat door

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
One cat won't use the cat door
1
Sat, 06-19-2004 - 1:06am
We recently adopted two cats from the humane society, Ginger and Magic. We have a cat door that leads from the family room out into the garage, where we prefer to keep the litter boxes. We started the cats out with litter boxes inside the house, and gradually moved them out into the garage. At first we left the door to the garage open, so they could easily go out to "do their thing," but lately we've been trying to transition them to using the cat door. Ginger has adapted to using the cat door quickly, and hasn't had any problems. Magic is a little dense, and seems to have a hangup with the flap itself. We can tape open the flap and he has no problem, but once that flap (which is see-through, by the way) comes down it might as well be a solid wall (hence the MEOW! LET ME INNN!) We've tried bribing him, cajoling him, and flat out pushing him through. Ginger has gone in and out for demonstration purposes. Poor guy, I think he may be scared of it. Anyway - any suggestions/insight here would be appreciated. (One would think a cat that crams himself into tight spaces and brushes under bed skirts all the time wouldn't have this problem). We can't leave the flap taped open all the time - we would like a little more control over the temperature of that part of the house. (Summer doesn't matter, but we'd like to get this taken care of before fall!)

Thanks in advance -

Amy

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Sat, 06-19-2004 - 6:59am
My SIL had that same problem and she left it taped open for quite a while, then she tried closing it here and there and bribing the cats with food (she had more than one that she had to train, she has 4 cats!), eventually they all got the hang of it, it just takes a little time.
Cat =^..^=