Permanent Cat Door

Our new cat door came a week or so ago, but we wanted to wait until the house was finished being stained to install it. Plus, we knew there would be some more training involved. Yesterday afternoon, we got it all out and puzzled through the directions and installed it.

The cars were very curious about it. Sniff, sniff... it smells strange, they seemed to be saying. We demonstrated how to work it. First Pounce just looked at it:

Then she noticed that D was holding treats in his hand outside and came at the door from a different direction, checking it out further.

She eventually went through, with us holding the doors out of the way.

Both cats were very curious, sniffing and poking at it. At first P seemed more willing to go through, willing to have the weight of the door on her back, while Shadow wanted nothing to do with any weight on him. But then, this morning, S came through the door all by himself. Yeah S! Miss P seems to think that it should be like a regular door - she appears, we notice her and we hold the door open for her. Hmmm. We may have to try leaving her outside when we're gone for the day or leaving her out at night to see if she will come in by herself. It certainly won't hurt her if she doesn't come in - she's stayed out all day or all night before we got a cat door, but maybe she will figure it out on her own.