BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cats I put in a Cat Door

I have four cats and they like to go in and out all day. I don't use a litter box since they know to go potty outside. That's a nice thing.

I finally got my cat door from amazon yesterday, and dan put the door in. It's made for 'inside doors' but i don't think it matters. dan sawed the small hole out of the door and stuck in the flap and the housing.

So there it hangs. The cats don't know what to do with it. They seem a little scared of it. I shoved two of them through it, but they don't seem to get the idea they need to push on the door flap with their heads.

Four hours later and only one cat (out of four) has either figured out or worked up the courage to go through the cat door. Go Charles Tucker!

Lets see if anyone else figures this out.

We have two cat doors for our big tabby to push through - she also just uses the outdoor potty, thank goodness. The first door is from the kitchen to the workshop, then 10 feet further out the workshop back wall to outdoors. We had to push her through from both directions to teach her. What is interesting is that the neighborhood cats need no instruction to come in at night and eat her food in the kitchen.

LOL, Susan, I have a good feeling the strays will also come right in...

At this point now two of them will come in and out of the door. Cameron seemed to have worked it out last night.

I am keeping the food inside to see if Meimei and John Crichton will get hungry enough to work this out. I have shoved John through a few times, but he is a little stubborn.

Jill, is this the "door into summer?"

??? Connie?

Heinlein wrote a book called The Door Into Summer. it was about a man who owned a cat. In the winter,when it was cold and snowy, the cat would make the man take him to every door before he went outside. The man hyothesized that the cat was looking for a door into summer where he didn't have to get his paws icy and wet.

Just me being silly with a bit of literary play...

Lol, connie, I must have missed this one!

Actually, it's here for my Cat Who Walks Through Walls.

It is funny how a cat will try to open closed doors all over the house, but as soon as you give them an actual door they can push open they are mystified.

We have a door that we want to put on the basement door so they can go downstairs and we can close the basement door when we want to, to keep the kids upstairs.

LOL, Vi, yeah.

All the cats now use the cat door but the big red one, John Crichton, seems to hate it. He plays with it with his paw for several minutes before working his courage up to actually go through it. The big dumdum.

Jilly, that's funny!

I hope your cats grow to love their door.

Thanks, heh. Dan just put silicone on the top of the door flap to it won't make as much noise when John decides to bat it around for minutes on end.

He is also trying to shove John through the door head first so he will stop trying to open it with his paw.

The funniest part is that before batting at the door flap, John will sit there and stare at the doorknob, trying to get me to notice him and open the entire door just for him!

Jilly is John using it yet
That's to funny

Okay, all cats are fine and dandy with the darn cat door. They have stopped treating like an invader or a toy.

At this point they've determined it's their personal window. They sit inside and stare out it for hours. They are becoming Watch Cats.