I have cat that has been mostly an outdoor cat for the past 12 years. After he went missing for the third time and nearly starving to death because he had gotten himself trapped in a neighbors basement; I decided that it was time to make him an indoor cat.
The past 3 months have been one annoyance after another as he doesn't seem to want to get used to being indoors all day. We have a small house so he doesn't have much space to do any excercise and I am starting to notice he has some kind of limp when he walks. He spends most of the day sleeping so I don't know how he could have developed it. He is also constantly trying to get outside and meows for long periods of time in front of the back door until we do something about it (we usually just tie him up with a long leash and let him roam around the back porch for a bit).
The biggest annoyance is from family who constantly tell me I need to let him be an outside cat again and that being indoors is killing him or making him depressed or that the limp is due to being indoors all day or complaining about the smell from the cat litter.
I don't know what to do. I don't want to him to become an outdoor cat again and risk him going missing again or dying but I don't want to slowly kill him by having him indoors all day; if that is having any effect on him at all
What do, /an/?
build him some shelves for climbing, get a window box, and/or take him on nice walks on the leash
interact with him more. play with him. get the limp checked out at the vet, he may have hurt something trying to get out or underestimating a jump.
>>2079120
Just ignore what people are saying. You wouldn't let a toddler roam around the neighborhood unsupervised; you are doing the right thing by making the safest decision for your cat. Just ignore him when he is trying to get out; if you fuss about him and try to redirect him he'll see that his bullshit is working.
We had the same thing. Most of our cats were inside only, but my roommate had one cat he let out. He went missing for 2 weeks and then came back and gave everyone fleas. We transitioned him to be indoor only. He yelled at the door for a while, but eventually he gave up.
We have an attached garage, so we use that as the "outside". We put some cat furniture out there and let him out when he is being an asshole. He seems to like it.
If you have a patio or porch area, you could consider building a "catio" to give him some safe space to enjoy the outdoors.
>>2079120
do you have a cat tree or somehwere for him to go or whatever?
heres some advice ive noticed is 100% consistent for every cat
you must make the idea of outside disappear for the cat. it should never be outside unless in a carrier, ever. if you let an inside cat go outside one single time, it often changes their personality and they will then beg for the rest of their lives to go back outside
>>2079129
>do you have a cat tree or somehwere for him to go or whatever?
I have a cat tree but he really don't use it much other then to climb to the top perch and just look out the window or sleep there
>if you let an inside cat go outside one single time, it often changes their personality and they will then beg for the rest of their lives to go back outside
But he isn't an indoor cat; he has been an outdoor cat most of his life.
I have tried to leash train him but he barely even moves when I try to take him outside. He gets spooked of every little thing and generally starts causing a fuss. Maybe I am not training him right but leashing him doesn't seem to work
You waited way too long to make him into an indoor cat. No amount of toys and towers will replace the feeling he gets from the outdoors. He will remain miserable for the rest of his life.
Very few cats adapt well to indoor only life after living so long as an outdoor one. Your family may be partly right.
If you want to keep at it, see if he will adjust to harness training. It will take a long time, and going slow is best, but it may help.
Building an outdoor cat pen is essential though, and you should have looked into doing that before deciding to turn a 12 year old outdoor cat into indoor only.
He's used to being stimulated outside. There's a lot less stimulus indoors, so you need to compensate for it all somehow. Your cat needs a lot more attention from you now. You need variety.
http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/what-is-environmental-enrichment-and-why-does-your-cat-need-it/ this page is the first response for me when searching for cat enrichment. Quick skim through and it looks good, with a variety of ways to enrich your cats life. Don't just do normal feeding in a bowl, find some way to make him work for it. You need to get your cat to use all its senses and try reach a full range of motions and activities. He needs to use his ears, eyes, whiskers, nose. He needs to be able to have space to move around on the floor and space to jump and climb. He needs 'prey' to chase and kill. Find ways for him to express as many natural behaviours as possible. Hell, even put on nature documentaries and he will probably get enriched through the sights and sounds of that.
They do recommend getting another cat at the end of the post, but I personally wouldn't. Your cat is already going through a big transition, the stress from a new cat being brought in probably won't help.
