Lots of great advice on crate training here; I'd just add not to feel sorry for her, fawn over her, act excited or nervous about it or "coo" to her while she's in there. She will read your signals and respond to those; if you feel bad when she's in the crate, she'll feel bad about it, too.
We have successfully crate trained many dogs over the years, and we will always do it with our dogs in the future. Of our four dogs, two of them are crated when we are not home -- one because she is destructive, and the other because he is anxious and can cause a fight if he gets upset.
Originally Posted by nativetexan
i've never understood the need for a crate. anybody? my son's dog goes into his crate easily. it's a huge one.
their cat goes outdoors and broke her leg, vet costs once and the cast came off outdoors and now my DIL won't take her back to the vet. she should have kept it indoors until healed at least. anyway, just wondering about crates.
Are you planning to confiscate the cat? Your daughter's treatment is cruel and should result in the cat being removed from her care and animal cruelty charges being filed. In Maryland this would be worth a monetary penalty, the removal of all animals in her (dubious) care, a ban on owning animals for some measure of time in the future, and possibly some jail time.
You can't just let an animal with a painful, unhealed injury roam about without seeking vet care. In many states it is illegal, and in ALL cases it is unethical -- and shameful.
I cannot stress enough to anyone thinking of getting a pet that if you do not intend to provide adequate care for it, DO NOT DO IT.