Door Dashing

How do you stop door dashing with a cat?

This cat waits until there is just a slight crack to slip through and run outside. So he did this last night and me being the dumb person I am, I assumed it was Artimis so had no worry about opening the door wider or letting him go out. Because Art will be right with me.

So the Cat ran outside, I ran inside grabbed her bag of food and David went to try to lure her to him. But she found a mouse or rabbit to chase after and was off! We spent about 10 minutes with flashlights and a bag of food in the freezing cold weather looking for her.

I was about to give up but she ran from behind somenes car. So we started following her trying to get her to come to us. I'm sure people thought we where peeping toms how close we had to get to their houses/windows. But it's not like I wanted to knock on their doors at 1am in the morning to tell them we where just catching out cat.

Anyways, she kept bounding around like she was having so much fun and just stopped and laid down. I think her paws got cold cause she didn't even move when I walked up to her and picked her up and brought her back inside.

So now we have a cat who has tasted freedom and she is so small I don't know how to keep her from dashing again. Any suggestions?

Also, she must of been an indoor-outdoor cat in her previous house because she seemed completely at home outside as well.

I'm at my wits end with this cat and it running out the door. No matter how slow I open the door, she seems to always run out. Last night I had to squish her against the door frame, and she still wriggled out. =_= If it wasn't raining we would've never got her back in.

I'm so frustrated. Either the cat has to stay in the bathroom/washroom area all day and night, or we need to fix this. I have no idea how to solve this, but I'm at the point that next time she runs out I'm leaving her there. She can come back when she wants I guess. Not sure what else to do.

Get a jar. Fill it with pennies.

Take it with you when you are walking to the door. If she is following you shake the jar, if not pause at the door, hold the knob and just open it an inch, when she rushes up to it shake the can. You can even do this as a training session until she just gives up.

You could also redirect her with a laser pointer. When you see her coming get it out and shine it into another room so she follows it. Or you could keep some treats by the door and throw a few treats in the opposite direction. The best treats are the freeze dried cod/chicken/tuna that comes in tubs, my pickiest kitty goes insane over them. It stinks and cats freaking love it.

The problem isn't really her going out the door when you are going out, it's her sneaking out when you come in! She hears you coming, hides behind the couch and runs out as soon as the door is wide enough. >_<

I may be able to leave a can of pennies outside the door for people to have coming in, but I'm worried it would wake up the others in the house that are sleeping at that point. How long do you usually have to do that before they get leery of coming near the door?

You can clicker train with cats the same way you can with a dog. If the problem is somebody coming in, you need to have somebody outside opening the door and "coming inside" while you are working with the cat inside and rewarding for NOT door dashing. Like get her a little cat mat or something and build a new behaviour: when somebody is opening the door, you lay on your mat. For this, you get a click and the cookies (or whatever it is you would reward a cat with.)

Honestly, some of them will still try here and there, is she particularly stubborn? Like more than cats usually are?

You can try rattling the door before you come in too. The trick is preventing her from ever getting out, once they get out again they are determined to do it again.... Until it's been a while since they have snuck out, then they usually give up.

Let me think about this, I can come up with more ideas for you.

Babies is right, you can clicker train cats too!