If you have an outdoor cat you may hope to learn how to train cats to use a cat door or how to ring a bell so that you realize they are ready to come in.
I realize that there are times when I let my cats outside that I may get busy and forget to check on them so I found a way for them to let me know that they are at the door all set to come inside. I live in an area that is too cold for a cat door (I have one going to the basement where the cat litter boxed are located) so I chose to find a way for them to signal me to open the door, something we wanted because of the extreme cold we at times go through here.
Here is a very simple way for training your cats to let you know when they want to be let inside.
Simply take a small bell, one that is loud enough for you to hear, and swing it from a string right outside the door. Make certain to show this to your cat numerous times and if you need to you can even add some catnip to the bell to appeal to your cats.
You can obtain a bell at any craft store for practically nothing. Using several small bells might even do better for you or your cat. Tie the bell or bells to a cord that hangs down low enough for your cat to reach easily and then also attach a catnip toy or use catnip spray to attract your cat.
When ever the cat rings the bell to come in, you will want to give them a cat treat to let them know that they have done something worth rewarding. If your cat doesn't take to the bell straight away, you may have to keep showing it to them to get them interested and sooner or later they will learn that you will come to the door to let them in when they ring the bell.
In the beginning, you might need to keep showing them the bell every time they go out or come in so that they begin to connect the bell with the door being opened for them. You might even want to begin with a bell inside the house for when they want to go outside and this will help them to learn more quickly that ringing the bell means that the door will be opened.
While I realize there will be times that you may not open the door just because you are not there or for any number of reasons, your cat will still start to connect the bell with the door being opened.
If you live someplace where you can put in a cat door, this is one more choice you can use to let your cat go in and out when ever they want to. 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 I have a cat that can go outside but she is edgy and I have be there to baby sit when she goes out so that she doesn't get scared and take off.
Although you can purchase a cat door at any pet store, you can also just make one yourself if you are good at creating stuff. We put the cat door to our basement in ourselves, simply by cutting a small hole at the bottom of the door and putting a piece of plastic across it that they could easily walk through.
If you wish to put in a cat door that goes outside, make sure you know what size you need to have for you cat to be able to fit comfortably through the opening. While a cat that is used to going outside all the time will most likely figure out quickly how to make use of the cat door, you may also need to know how to train cats to use this new door as well.
This ought to be a fairly straightforward process. One of the ways you can train your cat to use this door is to keep it open and use a toy to tempt your cat to go through from one side to the other. It should only take a couple of times of doing this before your cat is aware that they can go in and out as they please.
Once they have gone in and out a couple of times you will want to show them how to use the door by themselves when it is closed and you can use the same process to do this. You may perhaps choose to use food to attract your cat to walk through the door and help them to push through the first few times but a lot of cats will take to this process pretty quickly if they really want to be able to get outside.
With persistence and affection you can learn how to train cats to do just about everything.
