Cat flap - cat won't take the plunge and PUSH !

[zanadoo_56]

So......I bought my cat an outdoor climber module, which is accessed from the house by a clear cat flap in a window.  The cat flap uses magnets to hold it in a closed position if I don't want to 'lock' it using clips on both sides of the flap.  (The magnets are solely on the cat flap, she doesn't wear a collar with a magnet).

My cat likes to go in and out of the module.....provided I wedge open the flap.  If it's closed she sits there and complains to me about it.  (I'm a cruel cat slave apparently). The magnets are small but there is a bit of resistence and it seems she is not keen to push the flap open.

I have put some dry food on the short walkway to the module as an incentive.  She can see the food from in the house but so far this results in more complaints, some tapping on the flap with a paw, but no real effort to open it.

Any tips?

[locall1961]

Can you try holding it open just a bit so there is less resistance to start with and have some food that she loves on the other side. Maybe try it when it's mealtime, as it may be more of an incentive to get to the food. My cats have their playgym inside as they are totally inside cats but I would be interested in seeing what you had and how you have set it all up.

[locall1961]

Another thing, do you think if you removed the magnets that the cat will use it as it won't be so hard to push and the flap should swing back to closed without the magnets

[zanadoo_56]

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@locall1961 wrote:
Another thing, do you think if you removed the magnets that the cat will use it as it won't be so hard to push and the flap should swing back to closed without the magnets

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I can get the plastic cap protecting the flap magnet off using strong racing tape but so far I haven't managed to remove the magnet (I only need to remove one) as it is wedged in tight.

I've tried the food thing before meals and also hours after she'd eaten all her food and was begging for a snack.  I have to give in eventually and open the flap as I don't want the dry food to attract vermin or insects (I don't think a rat would get in through the wire but I'm not so sure about a mouse) not that I've seen either around the house....touch wood.

The climber module was made and installed by Catnip Aust.  Mine has 3 short steps, 1 long step and 1 large hammock.  Catnip don't do the cat flaps.  I used their recommended installer but because the glass window had to be replaced with safety glass that flap cost nearly half as much as the module did!  Most expensive cat flap ever.

Here's a link to the page with the climber module: http://catnip.com.au/product/climber-module/  Catnip did a great job installing it.  I hope to add a (suitable for outdoors) dangly toy or two and maybe some fake grass or an outdoor mat to break up the concrete base.  It is partly under eaves and I briefly considered getting a cover for it for another $215.....until commonsense kicked in and I realised said cat could just come indoors if it rained.

[zanadoo_56]

Hurrah! She's mastered the cat flap at last.

Just as well too.  Now that she can venture outside (well as far as in her new climbing module) she has been in and out and in and out and in and.....etc etc.

Also, in the past when strange cats came around she would glare at them through the window, now she goes out and swears at them in what I can only assume is the cat equivalent of extremely blue langage. LOL

She loves her new cat run, no doubt about it.

[4channel]

Good to hear that she has mastered it finally. Like somethings they take time and once the cat has mastered something, they do it well.

[zanadoo_56]

The cat module has had the decorators in. 🙂

It is screwed down on concrete which can be very cold as that side of the house gets the morning sun only.  That also means if it rains concrete not under the eaves can stay wet for much longer, so my cat likes to sit on the lowest wood platform when that happens.  Yesterday the concrete was covered with a large piece of fake grass.  It looks 100% better, especially as the module's platforms are the same green colour.

Next I added a tallish fake indoor plant in a thick stone look plastic pot.  The old plant is very dusty but it has been put where with any luck the next rainy day will solve that problem then all the water will drain out. 😉  So it doesn't get knocked over, the pot has been weighted down and the main stem of the plant has been loosely tied to the module frame.  There's a practical reason for adding this plant.  Cats when challenging an interloper like to stand eye to eye.  My cat can do this but she also now has the option to partially hiding behind the plant if she doesn't feel secure.  She is of course completely secure, but if another cat lunges at her and at the cage it would make quite a scary racket.

After a few hours of looking at the fake grass from the window, that night she finally took the plunge and went outside.  It has met with her approval.  This morning she was not on the lowest platform but on the grass in what would have been the coldest and wettest part of the concrete.  By this afternoon she had discovered fake grass makes an effective (not to mention large) claws scratching board.

Unfortunately this means I will now have to call the decorators back.  The fake grass will need some old bricks or pavers placed along the edges so the grass stays in place, as I can just imagine her choosing to exercise her claws on a corner of the grass only to have it pulled up into messy ripples.