How long did your cat take to understand a cat flap, and any tips?

[largeprintagathachristie]

So. I have installed a catflap for my recently adopted cat.
At first I taped it open and he soon got good at coming in and out.

Next stage is for him to realise that he can go though the plastic flap. I can tell he thinks it is “closed.”

Have tried with me on the other side with dreamies, but no dice.

DP is working away this week so I can’t have one person each side.

did try “posting” the dreamies from the inside to the outside and lifting the flap up for him a bit - he did hop through but I don’t think he “got” it.

It’s a chip cat flap but I haven’t put the batteries in yet or recorded his chip as I thought we should do basic training first.

the cat needs to be using it confidently within 10 days as well be away for a week and a friend is coming round to feed and cuddle (but not let in and out).

He was a stray (not the friend) and has a strong drive to access outside. But at the moment thinks the flap of the catflap is a barrier.

I did lots of posting of cats to get mine used to it. I also taped it open a bit and had dreamies inside so they could get used to having to push the flap while it was already open a bit.

Not long. I just pushed my two through it a couple of times and they got it!

11 years and still not. We're resigned now to never.

Those of you with cats who don't use the cat flap, do you know where they go when it's raining outside went they're stuck outside? Or when it's freezing? I'm just curious

My mum had a cat before I was born. For most of its life it was indoor only but then they got a catflap. My mum left it open and went to work, and when she came home she tried to teach the cat how to use it, while he stood there confused. Eventually, my grandma came down and was like 'I don't know what you're doing, he's been going in and out quite happily all day' !

We had 2 cats (from the same litter) years ago who never did get how cat flaps worked (long before microchips) we gave up.
However our current cat got it immediately, she is a rescue cat so may have experienced a cat flap before we had her. We put the batteries in and put a couple of dreamies in the tunnel, the cat flap picked up her microchip and she knew what to do. Never had any issues at all

12 years with his actual family, but around 8 hours with the cat sitter.

The cat sitter we paid to quickly pop in 3 times a day to let him in and out. She asked after a decade why we did this. Because he was always in, even if she’d let him out.

We don’t have a cat flap at all. Cat is in if we’re out, and kept in overnight. If he’s out we’re in, so there is someone available to do door duty in a sudden shower - he hops up at the kitchen window which has a deep sill for shelter anyway. The only exception would be summer holidays (I teach so am off) when I would leave him out on a nice day to do something like go for lunch, but he’s generally good at coming to his name and doesn’t roam beyond our immediate neighbours’.

Oh gosh, came back to this to look for more tips and there are so many cats being posted back and forth!

This is a whole new world to me - had cats as a child and one previous cat - but this is my first cat flap.

It had to be put in a massive double glazed patio door (no other option) and COST SO MUCH MONEY!

Catflap tax

We had one who would hit the flap
and look at us to open it. He was perfectly capable if we weren’t around

Cat1 (the sister who grasped the cat flap quickly) can also get OUT when it's set to IN only (and vice versa*). She batters it until it bounces a bit, then hooks her claw under and lifts it towards herself.

Cat1 definitely got the family braincells. Her sister - not so much.

• Cat flap is dual scan so it needs the microchip in both directions.

Pegs

Oh goodness we have theee cats, two are ‘normal!’ The biggest turnip however cannot ‘get’ the cat flap! We do have two flaps to be fair as it goes through our whole house, so flap-tunnel-flap … he just cannot get it, tried everything, including posting him through the inside flap whilst DD was outside , he literally broke! Managed to turn himself inside out and back to front … he was
Watched his brother go through, goes behind him and looks at it like it’s taken his brother to a parallel universe … bloody dippy moggie!
good luck!!

😁

Aww, he’s beautiful! From the photo it looks quite high up for him? Try a step stool, a bit like when you’re toilet training a toddler - he might find it a bit more accessible!

I suggest ‘posting him’ too. My one cat walked straight through it. The other won’t even contemplate it 10 years later. I have tried to post him but he is a bit ‘scratchy’ lol

I feel like I have a genius cat. My boy was using ours before the fitters van was off the drive 🙂
I’m off to fetch him some dreamies and remind him that he is indeed the most handsome, cleverest cat in the world 🐈

We’ve just had a microchip cat flap fitted into our summerhouse/garden office for the stray that has decided she owns us. She can’t move into the house yet because of my kidney boys being indoor/catio cats and not liking girls.

No idea if she’s ever used a cat flap before, so first I taped up the door and took the batteries out, a few dreamies and she mastered going in and out. 2 days later I put the battery in so she got use to the noise as she used it. 3 days after that the flap went down. I had to show her with my hand how to push the flap. So now she paws at it before going through. Helps that she doesn’t like being trapped, so when I shut her in she quickly worked out she could exit through it.

What makes me laugh is the catflap is fitted into glass doors, but she chooses to sit and peer through the plastic flap, even when she has no intention of going out.

I know you shouldn’t play with fingers or feet with your cat, but she’s 11 so unlikely to pick up too many bad habits now, and she really likes it when I stick my foot out the cat flap, she bounces around in circles when she sees it and runs up and down the garden with glee. Such a funny girl.

I see your genius cat and raise you a mini-panther. My boy has managed to overcome my neighbour’s chip security to use her catflap so that he can pop in and visit his cat buddy whenever he wants to. 🐈‍⬛

I’ve had a few cats new to a cat flap, to begin with you have to leave it propped open. They will get used to it

We had to build a step for ours, they are not best pleased when they aren't there

Princess cat can open the flap with her claws when it's on in only

I used to have a microchip catflap but it had a tiny delay in opening for some reason. And one day my big panicking lump of a seal point Balinese cat tried to come through it at such speed he took the whole flap off the wall and ran around wearing it like a necklace. I rang the vet worried he might have hurt his stupid noggin and the vet just snorted and said “unlikely”.

My dim-witted girl took a while, and until the day she died was baffled if it was locked. More than once I found the cat flap door in the middle of the garden, with thicko cat sitting there pointing to it and telling me that it was stuck, so she'd fixed it for me (she'd just run at it and crash through it).

My other cats didn't take long, although it's taking them a while to adjust to the prey-detector that I've recently installed - the slight delay confuses them...

We just pushed our cat through it a few times head first.

God that sounds awful 😂😂

But she needed to realise it could be opened with her head and not be reliant on our hands doing it.

However, we have now come to realise that if we are home she will not use it all, after all, why would she when her slaves are here to open doors for her?

But overnight and during the day when she is home alone she uses it all the time 🤣