Training: How to Get Your Cat in the Carrier

Hi I’m Victoria Shade for Petside.com. So what’s the wrong way to introduce your cat to a carrier? Pick her up, throw her in, and go straight to the vet. I can guarantee the next time you get the carrier out of the closet; your cat’s going to run for the hills. Let’s talk about some easy stress-free ways to get your cat to love going in her carrier.

Now there are a bunch of different carrier options out there. You can do something more traditional like this – oh what a good kitty – or something cool like this. Now you want to give your cat ample time to get used to exploring the carrier like this before you actually have to use it. You can start off by taking some little treats, and putting them right outside the carrier – oh that’s great!

It helps to start young, but if you have an older cat it doesn’t matter, you can still try this same technique. So you could put treats right outside the crate, and then as your cat looks comfortable eating the treats outside the crate, you can start putting them inside.

Now this step takes patience. It’s okay that she’s not going in right away. Eventually she will. Now with a crate like this, you wouldn’t want the door to swing shut on your cat as she’s exploring it so you can take a piece of tape and hold it open that way. Or with something like this you can take some safety pins and open it that way. The worst thing that could happen is if it suddenly snapped shut on your cat as she was exploring.

You can also introduce play in and around the crate. You want your cat to think that the crate is a happy, comfortable place and play will pave the way.

Once your cat is comfortable going in the carrier, get her used to the idea that the door’s going to shut. So you want her to get used to the sound of the clasp, or in a carrier like this, the sound of the zipper. Now once it’s closed, open it right back up and give your cat a chance to come out again.

The final step is wearing the carrier. Picking it up and walking around with it. Now this initial movement might startle your cat so keep those trips quick and easy.

Putting your cat in a carrier doesn’t have to mean scratched up arms. If you take your time and introduce it slowly, I guarantee you’re going to have a happy, confident travelling partner.

If you need more pet tips check out Petside.com.