Training the Cat to use the Flap

[EvianBaby]

I feel like I'm single handedly keeping this site in questions at the moment.

Anyway, got the new cat flap. Any tips on how to get the bloody animal to use it. I wasn't expecting miracles but he pretty much refuses to even acknowledge it's there.

I did get him to come in through it yesterday by holding it open and tempting him through with treats but it took about half an hour and he's already quite fat, he won't fit through it if I have to give him many more treats.

[wolf63]

Here is a list of them to work through - might be funny to watch some!

http://www.youtube.co...0...1ac.1._vac2VLRBhc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPEuUyVtep0

[wolf63]

There are two different links there

[EvianBaby]

Thanks Wolf, I'll make him watch them later. And shame him by saying 'look, that's cats even fatter than you and he can do it' ;)

[wolf63]

My little boy - in my avatar - looks pregnant. He is on steroids for his asthma and these give him the munchies. We are going to the vet this afternoon and he has vanished - probably cowering in a cupboard. His sister is just sitting glaring at me - wonder what I have done!

[EvianBaby]

They just know Wolf. They know what you've got in store....

[Barmaid]

Do what we do - whenever one of our mogs appears at the door or the kitchen window, yell "Use your flap".

Then 10 minutes later after "big eyes" and constant miaowing one of us muppets opens the door/window.

[EvianBaby]

Ha ha, why do I get the feeling it will be a familiar scene in my house.

[Kiki-frog]

A cat will not use a cat flap for as long as he knows that his slaves will at some point open the door for him. It took us about a week to persuade Basil to use his. Eventually I opened a tin of cat food, filled his bowl, put it down on the floor ..... then shut him outside in the garden and ignored all the miaows. An hour later he gave in and used the cat flap.

I felt so mean and guilty about it, though. And of course I got the big huff treatment for several hours.

[wolf63]

bill - that sounds like me just before I go to sleep. "You two can stare at me as much as you want, you are NOT getting any treats" then the crying and whining and scratching or the side of the bed. I always back down and give them a couple of sweets.

I am pathetic.

[Kiki-frog]

Not pathetic at all, wolf. You just know your place in your household.

[Barmaid]

I am lol at "Do you have a communication problem with your cats?". From their point of view "no". They seem to know how to get what they want. From my point of view "yes". Despite the fact they can hear a can/fridge/biscuit box being opened at a distance of 4 miles, they go "clever deaf" when I say "NO"!

[albaqwerty]

For some strange reason I have a vision of cat-slaves on their knees saying to their beloved owners, 'this is the flap, push your nose against it and it lets you out, when you want to come in. howl the place down'
Cats are the devil but their cuteness lets them get away with it.

[EvianBaby]

Communication problems? Yeah, I talk to him and he ignores me.

Alba, we're you watching in my window last night?

He will bloody use it whether he wants to or not, it cost me a small fortune.

[sandyRoe]

Could you go outside, kneel down, open the flap, and call the puss? Maybe tempt it with something tasty?

[wolf63]

SandyRoe - way too simple to do it that way. If a cat doesn't want to do something there is usually no negotiating or trying to find any sort of compromise.

[wolf63]

This site is good for all things feline - http://www.fabcats.org/behaviour/index.php

[EvianBaby]

Well, without time on my side today I came up with another solution which might work in the short term :)

[IMG]http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58
1/evianbaby1/C9B2749E-C6C4-4E64-AB53-62013BE4
2A5A-5939-000010D19ABB6FEE.jpg[/IMG]

[EvianBaby]

http://i1253.photobuc...-000010D19ABB6FEE.jpg