cat is afraid to go outside

[starbbit]

my kitty Mochi is getting a little tubby.... and the vet said we should try taking him outside on a harness and lead for some good exercise. he's alright with wearing a harness. i had let him wear it around for a few days and he doesn't have any problems walking around in it anymore. the problem is that whenever i open the door, he's too scared to actually go outside. he does enjoy looking out though and sometimes he would sit a few steps outside the door as long as i'm there to pet him. he really loves looking at the birds that fly by but doesn't want to walk anywhere near them and sometimes a noise or something will spook him and he runs back inside.  i adopted him from a shelter and he's about 9 months old. am i suppose to wait until he's a bit older or will he just be a timid house cat forever? if that's the case then i'll just lay off the treats and have more play time with him lmao

 

[sprin]

Personally I'd just let it rest for now. You could always just try taking him out in short bursts and progressively getting him more comfortable with it. I think you can get the same amount of exercise inside with a wand toy, just make sure to get him jumping up and down on beds/cat trees/chairs. Make him work for it as much as he will. Also, diet is still super important because it would be hard for him to burn the kind of calories he would need to lose weight with exercise alone. Like, no matter how much he exercises he's still going to sleep most of the day.

 

[starbbit]

 we've been doing this whole going outside thing for about a month already every few days. he's made progress since the first day but it seems like he's just stuck in front of the door and won't go any further. he only feels like playing about twice a day and sleeps a lot. also he's been eating a mix of wet and dry food since he won't touch dry food alone. how much should a cat his age eat?

 

[mjandclyde]

I had the same exact problem with my Cat. What I started doing, was taking him outside slightly before meal time. I'd bring my bag of tasty healthy treats with me and he would just follow the treats. I first started with getting him out the door by putting a treat right outside the door in plane sight. Again, I did the same just a little further. It worked for a little, until he just quit doing it one day. So, I took a little break, then started it again. (I do not recommend this) But this time I closed the door. 

 

[mjandclyde]

That would depend on how old he is, which you didn't allude to 

 

[starbbit]

i've been doing the same thing!! but i never closed the door because i thought that would stress him out a lot and i don't want that..after a certain distance he just doesn't follow the treats anymore though and just darts back into the house. oh and he's 9 months old

 

[mjandclyde]

 You did allude to his age in the first post, my apologies. It depends on how well your cat handles stress. How did you harness train him? Did you just put the harness on him and take him outside?

 

[starbbit]

no, i put it on him a few minutes a day for a couple weeks until he was comfortable walking in it completely.he still doesn't really like having force put on the lead but doesn't mind it if i just let him wander around the house and i follow.

 

[mjandclyde]

OK, so he IS trained properly. I would suggest that you just keep trying. 

 

[crazy4strays]

Does he have access to the dry food all day? Or do you measure it out and put it out at a specific time?

 

[starbbit]

i measure it out. he eats about twice a day. he doesn't touch dry food by itself so i mix wet and dry food for him

 

[crazy4strays]

I had great success on getting my elderly overweight cat to lose weight by cutting out the dry food and getting him on wet food only. Wet food is lower in calories and usually lower in carbs than dry.

He's extremely sedentary still but maintains his ideal weight easily just by diet. 

 

[mani]

Does he like to play at all?  He would get a lot of good exercise chasing a favourite toy.

 

[LTS3]

If the cat is afraid to go outside, then I wouldn't force the cat to go even if the vet recommends it. You don't necessarily need to follow everything the vet says

Feeding your cat the appropriate amount of calories daily and providing plenty of indoor play time with interactive toys will help your cat maintain ideal weight.

 

[pusheen]

Don't force him out--he's afraid and if he sees you as pushing him towards something he's afraid of, he'll trust you less and see you as a source of danger too.

Playing and cutting out dry food will definitely help!