Indoor cat wants to become outdoor

Hello, I own a 2 year old cat that has a fascination with the outdoors. She tends to be very sneaky and wait by the door until someone comes in or goes out and than she runs outside and runs when you try to capture her to take her back in. Any suggestions on how to cure her wanting to be outdoors?? Thanks!

Has she ever been an outdoor cat before?.

My two have been indoors since they were 6 weeks but i still have to be careful when i open the door because Sophie comes trotting towards me.

I leave the window open a tiny bit because they seem to like sniffing the fresh air.

Lovey is my curious one. I live in an apt. and I don't know if he necessarily wants to be outdoors but he does want to see where I am going all the time!!

He will trot out after me if I let him but will stop and slowly take in the surroundings of the boring apt. hallway for awhile if I let him (not boring to him as there are many cats and smells I am sure that I am not picking up on!)

However, he got out last week and as I live in a high traffic area, I was devastated for many hours until I found him hiding in a stairwell nearby terrified.

How about a harness and lead? I do not vouch for letting them go outside without safety precautions (ie, if you live in an urban, high traffic, high wildlife environment where coyotes are present, etc) but some cats do well on lead.
I am thinking about it..

Do yours have perches where they can look out at the surroundings by the window?
This helps too.

My Rocky will not venture a step near the door. And he was an outdoor stray. He knows what he has when he has it!!

I used to have a cat named Whisky that I got 7 years ago. She always tried to escape. The first time she was successful and I couldn't get her indoors all day. The second time she escaped, she got stuck up a tree and I couldn't find her for two days until I heard her meowing. About a year ago, she did her final escape, and I couldn't get her to come in, so I let her stay for a little while, (we lived on a very quite street, no traffic). Then my neighbor banged on my door and told me that she saw a car pulled up and they were petting my cat. When I went outside, I told the people to leave her alone and tried to call my cat, and they grabbed her and drove off, I never saw her again!!!! I now have a 5 month old male named Buddy, and I will not let him out of the house period. I was heartbroken and I do not want the same thing to happen. I put police reports, posters, I notified the animal shelters, but no luck. I just pray every day that the people that took her are looking after her well, cuz I just don't want to imagine worse. Anyway, you just have to be extra careful not to let your cat out. And maybe to decrease the urges for your cat to run outside, you could take your cat out supervised, and possibly on a leash.

i have 2 outdoor cats. one was very old and died of old age but we still have our other one. we live in a smaller town where a lot of poeple have their pets outside and my friend had a cat that was both an indoor and outdoor cat. if i lived in a huge city/busy street i wouldnt have an outside cat, though we are near a road people drive fast on..but maybe just squirt her with a water bottle when shes sitting by the door??? sometimes feed her right before you leave and maybe she'll be busy eating?? im sure it will all work out!

Both my kittys wait anxiously at the patio door hoping to escape. I refuse to let them outside and become road kill. That and I've noticed once you let a cat outside it changes their personality. I had a sweet loving persian girl once and then she got outside. Oh did her personality change! She became "wild" and decided if she came in the house then she could do her business everywhere besides the litterbox. Never again for me. I'll just keep a VERY close eye on opening doors in the house. I make sure there are plenty of windows for them to sit in and sniff the air. They'll have to live with that.

Have you though about walking your kitty on a harness and leash?! I find that it works great for my two!

There are lots of tips for lead training ond walking the cat in the care and grooming forum! (I'll try to remember to post liks later! )

Is she spayed? Was she a rescue from outdoors? Cats (this is the reality) belong outdoors. Every cat whether breed specific or stray has roots to their wild ancestors and in some of them, the pull is strong to get out in the world and feel free.

Sadly, the world is no longer a safe place for kitties. They are abused, tortured, run over by cars, terrorized, exposed to dangers, diseases and they roam.

So the best thing is to keep her inside. Make the doorway a place she doesn't want to get near. Take your vaccum and plug it in, when she runs to the door, switch it on. She will scatter. It will scare her, yes, but it will also keep her safe, so is the trade-off worth it?

Use lemon scent to keep her away. Clean the door daily with lemon oil and then spray lemon scented disinfectant around the doorway. Hang those powerful auto air fresheners lemon scented on the doorknob, low enough to get in her scent path.

Provide her with a safe place she can be outside- meowhoo has listings for merchants that offer this type of protection for your cat.

Good luck!

Thank you for all the tips and advice! I bought her when she was a kitty and had never been outdoors. When I lived in a small town I used to take her on a leash outside, but very rarely. Now that I moved into a bigger city I tried it, but she hated it and wouldnt go anywhere on the leash. We have plenty of spots in our house where she can perch to look out windows, but she feels that isn't "good enough". The other thing I think that draws her out is that we have a neighbor that lets their 2 cats run free outdoors and somehow thru our glass front door they seemed to have "bonded" *LOL* But otherwise she usually stays very close to home... I just worry that someone will take her or she'll become roadkill... and as much as I get annoyed at night when she wakes me up by walking on me... I would dearly miss her if she got lost! I've got a leash and ID tag on her also, but sometimes she manages to take it off! Lacey is a very sweet and affectionate cat, but also VERY sneaky and stubborn when it comes to going outdoors!