Cat associates closed door with getting caught
There are a few questions about closed doors, but I feel my question has a bunch of different angles which makes most replies inapplicable.
One of our three cats has a big issue with going to the vet. While normally a very calm cat, catching him to put him into the box turns into a literal persistence hunt, all the tricks to get him in the box won't work until he just gives up from exhaustion and we can pick him up - but even then only with gloves or your hands will be severely cut, as he puts up a fight for his life. This is also the reason why we need to close the bedroom door when we want to catch him, because otherwise he will hide under the big bed that we can hardly move and therefore cannot catch him.
This has caused him to associate a closed bedroom door with the "torture" of getting caught and going to the vet. While the door normally stays open, my wife sometimes gets up much earlier than I do and will have to close the door for 1-2 hours or I cannot sleep anymore. With every visit to the vet the behavior gets worse. Currently we are at the stage where he will cry (yell) non-stop at the door, attempt to scratch it open, pounce into it without interruption, which means I can now choose not to sleep because my wife is getting ready for work with the door open or because the cat is crying his soul out...
Are there any recommendations how we could approach this situation?
EDIT: Funnily today's vet visit was super calm, he hid in a corner, walked into the box after a few minutes and has been super quiet even with the bedroom door closed. Maybe he read this post and was embarrassed...
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Our cat was not thrilled to go into the box either (it was less severe than you, though). As soon as she felt that something was wrong she would run for her life under the bed and good luck getting her out of there.
We did two things:
we broke the routine of closing her somewhere and sneaking in with the box
we put the box right in the middle of the living room for a few days, it was just sitting there without any use. Then we moved it across the apartment to various rooms.
What happened is that the cat initially was scared, then got used to the box and event entered there from time to time (we would not close it).
Then, after some time, when she was in, we would close the box and reopen it shortly afterward. And move the box with her inside (open or closed).
She ended up not paying much attention to it anymore. When she was being transported somewhere she did not like (anywhere, basically), she would jump out of the box when home but we would leave the box where it was. After a few hours, she was giving up being pissed off by the box and the more we did that, the shorter that cooldown time was. Then she stopped associating the box with the problem of getting out.
When you aren't going to the vet, and you want to sleep, put the box just inside the bedroom door when it's closed. When you open the door he will see the box and decide to go elsewhere.
Okay, you'll have to get up a few times earlier than you want but you won't have to do this many times - cats learn quickly..
You may have to adjust this a little according to how he reacts. For example if he cries at the door when you aren't going to the vet, pick up the box and show it to him. He will believe that crying outside the bedroom causes the box to appear.
There are dozens of other possibilities you just have think like a cat! Their logic is pretty basic.
P.S.
I'm not sure if I've explained well. Here's the simple cat logic:
At the moment he thinks closed door means box will appear outside of the bedroom.
You need him to believe that an actively opening bedroom door means the box will appear inside the bedroom.
This won't stop him going into the bedroom when the door is already fully open. If it does, ask again.
You need to break the existing conditioning your cat has at the moment. The classic approach would be to close the door and immediately open it again. Then slowly increase the time that the cat will accept the closed door.
Make sure you always open the door before he starts to fuss and complain and by all means before he freaks out - or you’ll likely start at square one again. Plan to work on that for quite some time, multiple times per day, and absolutely don’t do that catching him routine again. Don’t talk or fuss or console (hint: if you “console”, something must be “wrong” in his view, and so increase his anxiety), be very casual and matter of fact. Do it when he’s far away or near you, to make clear that the door opening and closing is not related to him.
If you are interested, you could look into clicker training to teach him to remain calm or ask you “politely” to open the door. But in high-stress situations it’s going to be tough, adrenaline tends to override food and learning drive.
Until you break the closed-door-panic, you must keep the bedroom door open even if it impacts your sleep.
Edit:
This post purposely focuses on the door issue as asked about in the question. How to de-stress vet visits and crate training is an adjacent and related field where cat and owner can benefit from training. Dealing with these may or may not help with the door drama. From the way the OP presented the situation, I feel the closed door has evolved into its own problem.
I feed my cats twice a day in their transportation crates. If I need to take them to the vet, I just close the door as they are eating.
I would suggest getting a new crate (no bad associations), and start making it the most wonderful place ever. Put tasty food treats in there. Make it warm and cozy. Anything you can do to increase the value of the crate.
Once the cat is unafraid of the crate, start feeding them there exclusively.
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