conditioning cat to be a home-body

help... if there is a thread that already deals with teaching outdoor cats to become indoor cats please let me know!

my sister's cat rips the screens in an effort to get outside. hence, she does not want her anymore. since its winter soon i figure i have a good shot of training kitty. she is two and spayed.

I would make an outdoor enclosure for her to hang out in. This way she can have her outside time. I would also replace the screens with the metal screen not the fabric stuff.

If you make the indoors more attractive then outside then the kitty will want to stay inside. Lots of play time and climbing toys will help.

Good luck with this and I hope others will have more information for you than I did.

thanks DragonLady.

I might have to look into the metal mesh, depending on how well things go.

I hope I dont regret this...

I have 3 cats that use to be outdoor cats. All 3 cats get to go outside on our screened in porch, they get to go out anytime when I'm home, I hung a bell on the door and they learned to either hit the bell or sit by the door meowing. I also hung several birdfeeders outside for them to watch sitting in the window, good entertainment. Inside I have a basket full of cat toys and a window bed, which has a great view of the birdfeeder. I would say hang in there, they do get use to being indoors, Cupcake took a year before he no longer tried to run out the door, Shadow I've had for about a year now and he still trys to make a run for it and yes there were a few times I've had to go after them. Hope this helps some! Angela

Raquel, they do make "pet screen" that is supposed to be most resistent to claws. I've seen it at Home Depot, and it wasn't terribly expensive. The biggest thing is to do what Teresa said - make indoors as fun and cozy as possible for her. Lots of toys and interactive play, good food, praise when she doesn't scratch the screens/windows and redirection when she does (distract her with a toy), and height is of utmost importance. Give them a nice cat tree to climb and romp on.