help, loosing our cat!

hello everyone!

We have a 1 year old neutered male cat. Until now he had a fixed schedule. He used to go on short walks, close to our yard, during day, but by evening he was always inside. He never gave us any sort of trouble before. As he was early separated from his mother, (I found him lost and very young and had to take up her role for a while), he still thinks of me as her. For the last three weeks, his walks became longer and since last weeek he doesn't even show up in the evening any more. He only comes to feed. And he became aggressive too. It's like this neutering operation never took place. Our neighbours are very fond of him, and I suspect they keep him in their house for several hours and let him go late at night. My husbant tried to talk to them, but I don't think they will stop doing it. Last night we kept him inside against his will and after two hours of constant meowing he finaly slept in my arms like he used to.
If anyone has a clue on how to gain him back, please help!!! Should we lock him inside for sometime or is this gonna make things worse? I miss my cat and don't want to let him go.
Thanks in advance for your time and excuse my bad english,

Andrian

I would TRY to keephim inside. Do you have things for him to do? Cats trees or condos, things to climb and scratch on, catnip and cat grass to chew, etc?

You would also build a cat enclosure for him outside in your back yard. You can build it against the window so all you have to do is open the window and he can go in and out, lay in the grass and in the sun but he can't wander off.

Thank you so much Jane
he has all sorts of things to play to climbe and catnip and everything. And, as I work at home, he played with me all the time and was rarely left alone. I liked your idea about the cat enclosure.
thanks again,
Andrian

I agree about keeping him in. He may give you a hard time about it the first few days, but should settle into acceptance over time.

It sounds like you have him well equiped with toys and things to enjoy. If you can manage it, an outdoor enclosure would be splendid. Eventually I hope to be in a position to build one for the 19 cats I care for here.
Perhaps you can keep us updated as to how things go and post some pictures of your independant fur-ball.

Good luck to you!