In this video, I introduce our three-year-old cat, Lily, to the new Cat Mate cat door that I installed in our kitchen exterior door that opens into our garage. Next, I experiment with several methods for training Lily on how to use it. At first, Lily was confused (spoiled) because we had been opening the door for her to go outside whenever she wished, and then we would leave it ajar so she could push it open by standing on her rear legs and leaning on it with her front paws whenever she wanted to come back inside. But after installing the cat door, we stopped this annoying arrangement and kept the door closed. When Lily was waiting patiently for us to open the door for her, we would hold the door flap partially open by hand, or by using a strip of tape and guide her through with a gently push. In a few days, Lily understood that the cat door flap was the new way to get in and out. But the strong magnet that holds the door flap closed confused Lily when she gently pressed on it. To help her understand how it worked, with Lily standing or sitting in front of the cat door, we would push on the flap so that it swung back and forth, opening, and closing until the magnet overpowered the momentum. Then, we would leave Lily alone in front of the cat door to think about what she had seen. Eventually, the call of the great outdoors, and the food and treats indoors along with our unconditional love conquered Lily’s intimidations. In just 5 days, Lily mastered pushing the cat door flap open with her head, going in and out on her own.
The problem: how to give our cat, Lily the freedom to leave and enter our house without our assistance.
The solution:
Step 1: install a cat door in our kitchen exterior door that opens into the garage. For now, we will continue to leave the garage doors cracked open for Lily to exit and enter our front and back yards at will.
Step 2: train Lily to use the cat door.
Background:
When Diane and I brought Lily, our Flame Point Siamese kitten home from the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society in August 2018, 3+ years ago, we thought that she would be an indoor cat. But during her first year with us, we couldn’t resist introducing her to our fenced-in back yard and beautiful gardens. And Lily took to the exciting world outdoors like a bird in the air. We were conflicted over allowing Lily the freedom to go outside unattended, knowing the risk of the busy road in front of our house, the local wildlife including hawks, eagles, raccoons, coyotes, the many local deer, not to mention feral cats and loose dogs. But Lily always returns home, and still does, to get a meal and treats, drink some water, take her daily afternoon naps, snuggle with us in bed overnight, and of course to get tons of love and attention from us.
For two years now, we have allowed Lily independent access to the outdoors by keeping the kitchen door to our garage cracked open, securing the man-door to our backyard open with a bungee cord, and keeping the garage door raised high enough to let her enter. This worked well, but at the expense of cold or hot air entering our house, along with a reduction in the security of our home.