If you have an outdoor cat, you can expect to learn how to train cats to use a cat door or how to ring a bell to let it know they are ready to come inside.
I realize there are times when I let my cats out and I can be busy and forget to check on them so I found a way for them to let me know they are at the door ready to come in. I live in an area that is too cold for a cat door (I have one that goes into the basement where the cat litter boxes are) so I chose to find a way for them to direct me to open the door, something we wanted because from the extreme cold that we sometimes experience here.
Here is a very simple way to train your cats to let you know when you want to let them in.
Just take a small bell, one that’s loud enough for you to hear, and swing it on a string just outside the door. Be sure to show it to your cat several times and if you need it, you can even add some catnip to the bell to attract your cats.
You can get a bell at any craft store for next to nothing. Using multiple small bells might even be better for you or your cat. Tie the bell or bells to a string that hangs low enough for your cat to easily reach and then attach a catnip toy or use a catnip spray to entice your cat.
Every time the cat rings the doorbell to come in, you’ll want to give it a treat to let it know it’s done something worth rewarding. If your cat doesn’t like the doorbell right away, you may have to keep showing it to her to get her interested, and sooner or later she’ll learn that you’ll come to the door to let her in when she rings the doorbell.
At first, you may need to keep showing them the doorbell each time they come in or out so that they begin to connect the doorbell to the door being opened for them. You might even want to start with a bell inside the house for when they want to go out and this will help them learn more quickly that ringing the bell means the door will open.
While I realize there will be times when you may not open the door just because you’re not there or for various reasons, your cat will still start to connect the doorbell to the door being opened.
If you live in a place where you can put a cat door, this is one more option that you can use to let your cat come and go as he wants. This will also depend on what other animals you may have in the home. One more reason I choose not to have a cat door that leads outside, is that I have a cat that can get out but he’s nervous and I have to be there to watch him when he goes out so he doesn’t freak out and take it off.
Although you can buy a cat door at any pet store, you can also make your own if you’re good at crafting. We put our basement cat door on ourselves, simply by cutting a small hole in the bottom of the door and putting a piece of plastic through it so they could walk through easily.
If you want to put a cat door that goes outside, make sure you know how big it needs to be so that your cat can comfortably fit through the opening. While a cat that is used to going outside all the time will likely quickly figure out how to use the cat door, you may also need to know how to train cats to use this new door.
This should be a fairly straightforward process. One of the ways you can train your cat to use this door is to hold it open and use a toy to tempt your cat to go from one side to the other. It should only take a few times to do this before your cat figures out that he can come and go as he pleases.
Once they’ve gone in and out a few times, you’ll want to show them how to use the door themselves when it’s closed and you can use the same process to do this. You may decide to use the food to lure your cat through the door and help her push through the first few times, but many cats will adopt this process fairly quickly if they really want to be able to get out.
With persistence and care, you can learn to train cats to do almost anything.