from outdoor to indoor?

For what it's worth, when I brought Da Lip into the house, there was no adjustment period for him. It was brutally cold out, and he was the barn cat but was shivering, so I bunged him in the carrier, lugged him to the house, turned him loose with the then resident cat (they knew each other well) and that was that. The first summer he went out and came back in, and the periods of wanting out grew less and less, and now he hasn't been outside since the last great escape two years ago. He shows no interest at all when I open the door to go out myself. He adjusted well and quickly, probably the change from 40 below to normal room temp did it for him.

My two cats who were previously outdoor that I brought indoors looked at the door longingly, & still do - it took them awhile to learn they would stay indoors only, but it can happen. It did take one of them over a month to fully adjust, though.

I had a cat go from always outdoors to always indoors. It took many months but he did finally adjust. For a long time though he used to howl at the door for hours.

After a while, they seem to forget their freer life.

I would expect a lot of meowing, crying at the door to be let out, etc. Don't give in, eventually they forget & are safer indoors.

I brought Easy inside, too. She did cry, but I would redirect her with toys. I got her cat tree to play on and she finally settled in.

If you do have a problem with your kitty being stressed, you can try Bach's rescue remedy that can be very calming for many cats. Also Feliway mimics friendly cat pheromones to make it calmer, too.

I just did this with Charlie! He was a skinny stray that came around and was living in the woods/barn next to my house. He came in and has taken like a duck to water and has not asked to go out once! He's at least 3, so he's been outside for a good while.

Mama didn't like being indoors. As I said after she came back from the vet for her prolapse they wanted me to keep her inside for 2 weeks but she let herself out after a week and wanted nothing to do with going back inside. She wasn't going to stay inside permanently it was just until her 2 weeks was up. They wanted me to transition her back to dry food and make she she didn't prolapse again. She was already on all dry and hadn't prolapsed again so I let her stay outside since she was happier there.

I know she has had at least 2 litters(Attitude and Nuts are her daughter's kittens) and was spayed last summer so I know she is at least 3 prolly older. I know she had an owner at some point since she knows what a litter box is, how to use it and that if you are inside that is the only place you go. Attitude and Nuts are almost 1(they are 11 months old), Biter and Goldie their mom(it was one of them or they each had one of them) and they were kittens over the winter before they had the kittens so I'm assuming Mama was at least a year old before she had them but since she had an owner I am sure she was older than 1 when her owners finally got done with her and released her.

Younger cats do better and if we had intended on keeping Mama inside permanently I'm sure it would have worked out. She calmly walked back outside and stuck around on the porch and let us walk up and pet her right after she left. She just wasn't thrilled with Maude and Attitude and especially Nuts, she was having to constantly whack him on the head for being stupid. Mama is Attitude and Nuts' grandma so she has been around for a while.

As long as he uses a litter box there should be no problem. They will eventually adjust.

Taryn