Since the New Baby Arrived...Oscar no Longer Goes Outside

One of my two cats, Oscar, has, for the past five years, been pretty much an outdoor cat. He'd come home for food and sleep, but he spent a majority of his time outside, weather permitting. Everyone in the our Condo neighborhood knows and adores him, as he's a very friendly cat.

A little over four months ago, my wife and I brought home our new baby, our first child. We didn't do a lot to prepare our cats for his arrival, although I'm sure they knew something was up with all the boxes and items that were around the house.

After the baby came home, I went out of my way to spend extra time with both my cats, and show them plenty of attention. After a short period of curiosity, fear, and suspicion, they seem to have accepted the baby's permanent presence in the house. They will go up and sniff the baby, and they don't seem at all scared or intimidated by the baby-related activities going on in the house.

I know that these kinds of things can be traumatic for cats, and it seems that my dear old Oscar has now forsaken the great outdoors for a permanent location indoors. We have a patio on our 2nd floor unit, so he can get some fresh air, but he no longer wants to go outside the front door and roam the neighborhood.

Does anyone have any explanation or remedy for this situation? I don't mind having another indoor cat--our other cat Sammie is primarily and indoor cat--but Oscar's situation concerns me for two reasons. First, he always enjoyed going outside and exploring the neighborhood. He sometimes was gone for 24 hours. (I'm sure some of our neighbors were feeding him....we've heard stories of his going into other people's homes uninvited.) He always left the house and came home with "purpose", if you know what I mean, a spring in his step. I'm wondering if his lack of interest in the outdoors is a mood issue. But, perhaps more importantly, he's driving my wife and me crazy. He's expends all his pent-up energy getting into mischief in our house, and harassing his step-sister-cat Sammie. Other times he just runs around the house like a lunatic. It's like he doesn't know what to do with himself.

His behavior seems reasonably normal for a cat--there have been no obvious stressed-out behavior such as litter box issues--but I'd really prefer if he went back to his old routine and spent some quality time outside. 

Anyone else run into this situation?

Any thoughts or recommendations?

Hi, and welcome to TCS

I suspect one of two things might be going on here - firstly, that Oscar enjoyed the extra quality time with you and so wants to stay closer to home. Secondly, it's possible he feels protective towards the baby, and so doesn't want to venture far away.

It's also possible that there's a new cat in the neighbourhood and Oscar no longer feels comfortable/confident on his old turf, or that he's simply slowing down a little as he matures.

With the over exuberant energy - daily interactive playtime could definitely help, but I think my absolute first choice in this case would be harness training him. That way, you can take him for walks in safety, use up some of that crazy energy, and also get a much better idea of what's going on with him.[article="22430"][/article][article="22521"][/article][article="32656"][/article][article="0"][/article]

Hello!  I think all the advice above is great!  Also wondering if your boy is neutered.  If not, it will really help to mellow him out a lot!

Thank you Columbine for the words of wisdom. 

Your insight into the neighborhood pet situation is a good one. As a matter of fact, someone moved into our neighborhood about eight months ago, and they have two cats, at least one of which is an regular outdoor cat. This cat has been a bit of a pain for us, as she has come to our front door looking for our cats. She has also managed to climb over the roof of the condo and show up on our 2nd floor patio. Our cat Sammie, in particular,  doesn't like her and gets upset when she is on the patio. She hisses and growls at her whenever it happens.

Oscar continued to go outside for at least three months after these new cats arrived, which made me think it was the baby that caused his change in behavior, but it's entirely possible that I wasn't paying attention, and that these new cats have made his life unpleasant outside. (At first, we thought it was cute that Oscar's "friend" came to our front door...but he doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with her.)

I used to be able to pick up Oscar and place him outside if necessary (i.e., he was harassing Sammie), and there was a 50/50 chance he'd simply stay outside. Now, however, he strongly resists being placed outside, no matter how nice the weather is, or how dark it is...almost as if he's scared to go outside. It's so unusual, because he always has acted as the "alpha" cat.

So, given the evidence, I'm leaning toward that explanation....which is unfortunate, because I can't control the other cats. All of our friends in the Condo tell us they miss Oscar. He used to greet everyone and turn over on the cement in the hope they'd rub his tummy. He was elected unofficial "mayor" of the complex.

I'll keep paying attention and see what his behavior is like around the baby...and I'll encourage--but not force--him to go outside.

He's now around 8 years old; I probably exaggerated the "energy" thing...he seems to only go nuts for a brief time at night...though that is enough! It's more that he's curious and gets into everything.

Thanks again for the response.

He's definitely neutered, TalkingPeanut....and generally very well behaved. 

ScruffyLG said:

He's definitely neutered, TalkingPeanut....and generally very well behaved. 

Click to expand...

Oh, good! Your sentence, "He always left the house and came home with "purpose", if you know what I mean, a spring in his step" made me want to double check!