In Need of Help

I could really use some help right about now. I spent the day trying to figure out how to animate my cat going up with the garage door. I have the door on a separate layer and simply translated it up in flipbook. That was easy enough, but the problem is animating the cat with the door. I have her performance all thumbed out, but I have no idea what the timing is. Because of that, I don't know what height she will be with the door during the different parts of her performance.

I know when a character has to move with a panning background he/she is usually animated in place. My problem is I need the cat to physically move up with the door. I'm not sure if animating her in place and then translating her up (like I did with the door) will work. I imagine it would work for the part where she frantically tries to pull herself through the flap, and when her body overlaps from being pulled off the ground at the end. But I'm not sure if it'll work for the part where she antics and launches herself out at the floor in an attempt to anchor herself, since she'll have to stretch a little as well as get dragged back in space as she goes up.

Does anyone have any ideas on what would be the best way to get this shot worked out? I spent the day trying to guess where she would be on different frames and the result is quite bad. =(