Are you smarter than a Kitty Door?

Recently I had a new addition built in my house. I needed closet/storage space on the garage end of the house so we built a new closet that extends into the garage space (I assure you the term “we” does not include me as far as the actual building part). This is also going to function as my new “cat room” so that I can move the litter boxes out of the study and finally convert that room into a 2^nd guest bedroom. So I am feeling all “HGTV” lately thinking of all the possibilities for the new rooms (see, I do the mental labor).

Anyway, one function of the new “closet” is that there would be kitty door for the cats to use so that the main door could remain closed. Very good idea in theory, but I think we all know that theory doesn’t really apply to my cats. First of all, it took weeks to actually get the right kitty door that would fit for the space. Dad told me I just needed to “get a kitty door”, no special kind, etc. So I went to the pet store and purchased a kitty door that looked big enough for Gabby’s big self to fit through. Dad opens it, says “eh, actually we need a bigger one that extends to cover the space in the wall.” No special kind huh? Right. So I go back to said pet store, return the kitty door, and purchase a 2^nd one per his specifications. Dad opens this one, says “eh this still doesn’t work.” SERIOUSLY.

So we call the company help line to give exact dimensions of the hole (already cut in the wall) and asked what product we needed. And of course what I needed wasn’t sold in stores. Per their instruction, I ordered a different kitty door plus a tunnel extender to cover the space between the walls, that oh by the way would arrive in 7-10 days. Seven-to-ten days?? Does anything take that long to ship anymore?? Oh yes, it does. Eight days on the money. So now I have my 3^rd kitty door plus extra tunnel extender in my hot little hands. Dad opens it and puts it into place. I’m sure you’re thinking it fits, that there’s no way it couldn’t given that we told them exact measurements that we needed it to fit into. Nope, it only covered 4 inches and we had 4 ½ to cover. One half of an inch people. So I call the company help line again. Sit on hold for 20 minutes. Talk to some girl who sounds like she’s chewing gum and has her hair in a ponytail bobbing back and forth. She asks me sweetly if she can put me on hold to “figure out what she needs to tell me to do.” And the line goes dead. SERIOUSLY. I call back AGAIN. Sit on hold for 15 minutes. Angrily tell new lady (who sounds more mature and chewing gum-less) that I was cut off. She doesn’t care. Resist urge to hang up but remember that would leave me still without a kitty door that fits and inevitably require calling back and sitting on hold again. So I order another full tunnel extender that will have to be cut in order to use just ½ an inch. And wait 7-10 days for it to arrive. Finally, after 4 tries, we finally had enough stupid plastic to fit in the stupid hole this past weekend Dad successfully installed the kitty door in the wall. Hurray!

Then comes the daunting task of actually training the cats to use it. Using the word ‘training’ is basically an oxymoron in reference to cats. If you have ever met a cat in your life you know they do as they damn well please, let alone how my cats act. I decided to tackle this job on Sunday evening. I caught Izzy and carried her into the new closet. My plan was to put them in there, shut the door, and then try to coax them out. Well this must have caused repressed memories of antibiotics-in-the-bathroom-torture-chamber because she started squirming the moment she realized I was taking her in there and shutting the door. Luckily she did not bust out the kung fu karate chops on me and I was able to put her down and leave the room without harm. The of course, being her normal nosy self, Gabby came over to investigate. I opened the door and she walked right in. I saw that Izzy had jumped on top of the butcher block and was refusing to explore the floor of the closet. Ok fine, we'll start with Gabby. 

I was prepared with their favorite treats and planned to lure them through the hole with the treats. Izzy, who normally comes flying into the kitchen from wherever she is in the house when I shake the treat container, wasn't buying it and didn't so much as blink an eye. Gabby is less enthusiastic about the treats normally and in this case didn't really care either. She was trying to figure out why they were in there and I was outside the door. I held open the kitty door and waved my hand inside, saying Look! Here's Mommy! Isn't this fun! And I got nothing. I peeked underneath the door to the closet and there is Gabby peeking back at me. She swipes her paw under the door like hey, let us out of here. Ok, so this is really not the way I saw this going. So I vigorously shake the treat container, and lay a few treats inside the tunnel to lead them through. Izzy of course is still sitting perched on top of the butcher block. But here comes Gabby, finally, to check out this hole in the wall. I think the look on her face says it all. 

After about 10 minutes of looking, and sniffing, and looking, and sniffing some more, she finally stuck her head in to eat the first treat. Then I was able to coax her all the way through the hole. Victory! Way to go Gabs! Don't pack on any more pounds because you barely fit through the hole! I give her another treat and then shut myself in the closet to try and coax Izzy out. I get her on the floor and try to show her that Gabby is outside and wouldn't she like to go through the hole and go see her? Meanwhile Gabby is swiping her paws underneath the door because we're shut up in a room away from her. I keep showing Izzy the treat, and when she takes a few tentative steps forward I move it a little closer to the kitty door (mind you, we started this little venture in the opposite corner of the closet farthest away from the kitty door... it took a while). Finally, after several times of poking her head in, thenoutreallyfast, and in, thenoutreallyfast, she sailed through the kitty door at light year speed and I was left alone in the closet. 

So after about an hour both girls had gone through the kitty door one time. Granted, I was holding it open for them the whole time, but still. Small victories. Next phase = learning to open the door yourself. Maybe I'll tackle that next week.