Cat flaps and weight problems

LOM has asked me how our cats are getting on with the new cat flap.

Well, one of the cats (Slayer) is using the new cat flap, the other
(Miss D) isn't, in that I still have to prop the flap open inside
our house, for her to use it.

For those of you who are wondering what I'm talking about, we've
installed a "micro-chip" cat flap, which unlocks when your micro-chipped
cat approaches from the outside (you can program our device to let in
up to 12 cats). The cat flap has several settings on it, so you
could set it to be flappable all the time, have it working only at
night, and have it fully locked too.

The good news is that the neighbour's tom cat is being kept outside,
and is not terrorising them inside our house, eating their food, using
the cat tray and spraying our walls and cupboard doors. Wonderful!

If you’re interested in finding out more, just google “microchip cat
flap” or click HERE. We’ve got the PretPorter cat flap.

A couple of our friends have got one of these, and had similar
problems getting their cats to use it. They’ve told us just to
persevere. So at present, I’m putting Miss D out in the mornings and
letting her back in in the evenings, to see if hunger will bring her
back in. She’ll approach the cat flap to within a few cms of it (when
I’m at the other side tempting her inside), but then she’ll suddenly
run off. Perhaps she can smell the scent of the tom cat, who/which
occasionally has a go at head-butting the cat-flap door?

Our vet has asked us to slim her down a bit as she was one kilo
overweight at her last check-up, and she’s less active than she’s
been in the past (the cat, not the vet), which is a sign of obesity a
too. As she is a medium-sized cat, she should be in the weight range
0f 3.5 to 4.5kg. She is 5.5kg. Her thick winter fur coat hides her
extra weight very well.