How to teach your cat to use the cat door

If you plan on letting your cat go outside then it is a good idea to have a cat door installed in one of your doors that leads to the porch or garden. A cat door is a small opening with a flap through which your cat can enter or exit your house all on it own. Cats like to feel free to come and go as they please and so to give your cat this liberty it is important to teach it how to use the cat door. To teach your cat how to use the cat door and feel confident doing so, follow these steps.

1. Hold the flap of the cat door open either by propping it open with a stick or by jamming something in the hinges. The cat should be able to see out of the cat door.
2. Take the cat out to the porch or garden. Most likely it will want to go back inside the house since that is where it's more used to being. Ask someone to help you by waiting inside the house at the cat door. From the outside hold on to the cat gently, and have the person inside the house dangle one of its favorite toys or a snack. The cat should be able to see the other person through the cat door so that it feels motivated to go inside to get it's treat or toy.
3. As soon as the cat obeys your command and goes through the cat door, give it its toy or treat. Repeat the whole process again three or four times, or as many times necessary, until the cat goes in and out on his own.
4. Now you should do this the other way around, someone should hold on to the cat from inside the house and the other person must call the cat from the outside. Dangle a toy or snack and repeat the whole process again until the cat feels comfortable going in and out on its own.
5. Once the cat goes in and out freely, it's time to slightly close the cat door flap so that the cat learns to push it open. In order to hold the door slightly open, you can put prop it slightly open with a small stick or place something shorter underneath the door flap like a small ball. Encourage the cat to push at the door by waiting on the other side with a treat. You are probably going to have to practice this several times on both sides of the cat door, until the cat understands that it has no other choice but to push at the door to get inside or outside.
6. Next close the flap even more than before and have the cat continue practicing. It will soon enough learn to open it all the way. Make sure though to never force the cat. If you notice that the cat only pushes at the flap when it is more open, but does not dare to go through when it's more closed, open the flap further up so that it continues practicing until it becomes completely confident about it.