We’ve been trying to train the cat to use the flap that’s in the back door of the place we moved into back in September last year. In fairness to her, it was fairly well sealed up for the first few months of our residency, so we are asking a lot of her to suddenly change her relationship with an object she was getting on perfectly fine with by sitting next to it and yelling whenever she wanted to go through it.

I didn’t think she’d be bright enough to manage a cat flap at all, she’s a bit of a thicko in many ways. But to her credit she has mastered the art of entering the building. Leaving it is a whole different kettle of ball games, we have to use the door for that. But coming in? Sorted.

Apart from this last week. I should point out here that the cat flap is meant to be activated by a collar, but we don’t have it, so we’ve taped over the little catch at the bottom. It could in theory be a free for all in the house with neighbourhood cats coming round to help themselves to the sofa, but it’s been fine so far. Until the tape got a little loose just one time and the door wouldn’t open and now the cat refuses to enter through the flap.

It feels excessively mean to just leave her out there until she figures it all out again, but now I type that the house is refreshingly calm considering it’s past her dinner time. Fine, I’ll let her in.