Sureflap

[LastingLight]

So DH fitted the Sureflap today and we decided to teach the girls how to use it. Ginger girl drew blood and didn't go through. I managed to feed grey girl through it but she is DISGUSTED! Any tips?

Is this her first acquaintance with any kind of flap?

We've now managed to feed both of them through the flap once but it's not a happy experience.

Cozie they're not used to flaps. We have a hole in the garage door through which they used to go, it's got ropes hanging down so that have to push through that but it's not solid like the flap.

I recall that some posters have found that some cats, even those used to flaps, were disconcerted at first by the 'click' noise that a chip flap makes and had some success with initially taping up the flap (pity about the weather but only for a short while) until they were a little more comfortable with them. Maybe one of those posters will comment later with their experiences.

Both my girls were a bit suspicious about the clicking noise initially but soon got used to it.

I taped the flap open so it was just a hole at first (for a few days), then taped the latch bit down so the flap opened quickly, then just left them to figure it out...

You introduced something new, therefore it is possibly a method of cat torture & must be got used to.

Slowly. Very, very slowly.

Maybe I was a bit hasty. Will try taping the flap open. No weather problem here Cozie... southern hemisphere!

Yes we had problems for a bit when sureflap came. One cat in particular made her displeasure known to us.

We taped it open for a few ten, brrrrrr days and now it's fine. I also rubbed her scent from her blankie on the sureflap from a suggestion I got on here!

They are both happy now and safe too as interlopers were getting in whilst we were out.

We left the flap taped open for a week and they went in and out through it but now that it's closed they just refuse. So now they're effectively indoor cats apart from when we're at home and the doors are standing open. (It's summer where we live.) DH says we could have saved ourselves the cost of the flap and the microchips! Seriously though, are there any other things we can try to explain to them how this thing works? We've pushed them through from both sides, don't know if that made it better or worse.

Are you sure they aren't playing you? (On a 'Why bother to do it ourselves when a human will do the door for us?' basis.) Whay would happen if you left them out and started taking some - say - roasting chicken from the oven? I had forgotten that you were a differemt hemisphere - are there any real dangers out there eg animals?

Oh - and chips are a good thing to have regardless of whether you have a Sureflap. That's just a bonus.

Cozie I won't be surprised if they're just manipulating us but to be fair, grey girl especially looks desperate to go out when we get home. I'm not sure if she uses the litter trays at all. No dangers, they used to be able to go in and out freely 24/7. Maybe I will try putting them outside and then opening some pungent food. Unfortunately we can't call their bluff and keep the house closed up all the time, it's too darn hot - 32 degrees Celcius today.

Are the trays being used by either of them?

I'd ignore the 'looking desperate' - if she was really wanting out, she knows how to go about it. I reckon you're being played. (And for all you know, they are actually going out when you're not there.)

Lock the flap at night to keep them in during the dangerous time but harden your heart during the day!

I know that ginger girl definitely uses the trays, even when the doors are open so that she can go outside!

Grey girl woke DH up early this morning and demanded to be let out which he stupidly did. I told him he should have made her go through the flap if she wanted to go out and he agrees, was just too sleepy at the time to think of it.