Help! My 4 yr old female cat has happily used a ‘normal’ cat flap all her life. However next door’s cat has started coming in, so we’ve bought a microchip cat flap (Sureflap).
For the first week after installation, we used it without batteries, just to ensure she was happy using it as a ‘normal’ cat flap. This was fine, and on Sunday we set it up properly, to only recognise her microchip.
It all worked OK for the first 24 hours. Then she suddenly decided she didn’t want to use it any more. My first thought was “is the cat flap still working OK” and it’s actually very hard to check this without getting hold of the cat, and posting her through the flap to check that the catch opens. So I’ve taken the batteries out again, just in case of malfunction, but even though we’re now back to manual operation, she simply won’t use it. I got home last night to find her staring at me through the cat flap. I called to her, she miaowed in response, but she didn’t attempt to push through the flap. And I’ve checked, the flap moves freely in both directions now the batteries are out. She didn’t attempt to go out at all last night, which is very unusual.
This morning she ate breakfast, then sat staring at the cat flap, whereas normally she’d be straight out. So I opened it for her, and eventually she went out. I wedged it half open before going to work. I went home at lunch time to find her in the garden, and she shot into the house when I opened the back door (this isn’t unusual, but I would have liked to see her use the cat flap instead).
So I can’t work out what’s going wrong; it’s like she spent 24 hours quite happy with the flap on selective mode, then decided not to use it anymore, and even though we’re now in manual mode it’s like she’s developed Cat Flap Phobia. I wish I’d never considered changing the Cat Flap, she was always quite happy with the old one !!!
Do you think a little tough love (which I find VERY difficult with pets) might help, ie assume she’ll re-start using the cat flat when she’s hungry? Hubby thinks she’s being a bit of a diva (she's always been a drama queen!) and that I’m panicking unnecessarily. I should add that after my last two pets passed away, I’m horrendously over-protective with our present cat, and am scared that she might give up on us if I don’t let her in through the door. Which I realise is a bit irrational, we’ve had her for four years, and she’s a happy, healthy well-loved kitty.
Or do I simply tape the cat flap open and start training from scratch again?