New litter box with flap, how to switch over?

MargeS

We have a 14 year old cat that has used a litter tray without a flap for years.
We received a new litter tray with a flap.
I think we removed the first flap because she did't like using it, but honestly I can't remember.

How do we switch over to the one with a flap and not cause any issues for her or for me either? I don't fancy cleaning up cat pee.

I was thinking about leaving the new one beside the old one for a few days so that she sees it and gets used to it.

When I first changed to a box with a flap, I poured the litter from the old tray into the new one so it still smelled like the cats old tray,rather than filling it with fresh litter.

I left the lid with the flap on the floor nearby and spent some time holding the flap up with one hand and throwing tasty treats in through it and when the cat followed to get the treat I would gently close the flap and then throw another treat across the room so he had to go through the flap to get out for his next treat. Rinse and repeat. Maybe I was just lucky but after a few rounds of that he was completely fine with using the flap when I put the lid back on the tray.

Hope that makes sense.

twomonkeys

Do you absolutely need the flap on the door???? Why dont you just remove the flap for her and make the tray like the old one.
My cat didnt like a flap on her tray so any time we got a new one we simply removed the flap from the lid. Never had any hassle with her using a new tray after that.