Cat Keeps Trying To Come Inside

[rubysmama]

So you brought her from the farm to be an outside mouser around your property, but she seems to dislike other cats and likes people.

Do you think she'd make a good house cat? If so, maybe you need to find another home for her, where she can be a pampered inside princess, and look to getting a better mouser that will be happy with the insulated cat house and not want to join the humans in their house.

 

[alphadude33]

although yes that sounds like a great idea to get another cat and try to teach it all the ins and outs of how to use a cat door (for the cat house to prevent any strays that don't know how cat doors work from getting in) and that it will be fed daily in the beginning of winter is not something we are going to try as this cat does not climb into the hoods of vehicles or near them when they are running which is a great bonus since our dad uses some somewhat loud machinery around the house (mostly to prep them for the next weeks worth of concrete pours, or to make molds for concrete counter tops)

 

[rubysmama]

So I guess we're back to your initial question on how to discourage Mittens from wanting to come inside. I have more experience with trying to keep a cat from running out the door, not in. But as already suggested, I guess just spending more time outside with her might work.

 

[alphadude33]

thx for all the suggestions and advice you gave ranging from reasons she might want to come inside to advice on getting an indoor cat.

 

[rubysmama]

Sorry I wasn't able to help with better suggestions for your actual question, but I do hope things go well with Mittens over the winter. She sounds like a pretty special kitty.

 

[EggSandwich]

Poor Andy. I wonder what happened to him. I think Mittens sounds like an indoor cat who just needs a brush. If she loves to assert herself that much, I'd think that bringing her inside would work. If you got another cat that's a mouser, I don't think that it'd want to come inside with Mittens in there. Or vice versa; bringing another cat inside would keep Mittens from wanting to come in, I reckon. But, I'd think that Mittens would make the better indoor cat if she's more people-oriented.

Anyhow, good luck with your cats.

 

[vyger]

I think one of the reasons she wants in is that she can smell the warmth and the people scent. She is following your scent trail to where you live because to her mind that is where she belongs. Being in Canada you probable know what an air lock entry is, you may call it something different but basically an inside door and an outside door with a room to buffer the cold. This way all the heat doesn't rush out when you open the door. Anyway, over the years many of the outside cats I have had have been happy to stay in the entry. Not all the way inside the house but warmer and closer than outside.
By the way, cats will catch mice no matter if they are hungry or not. If they are hungry they just eat them with out really playing with them. They hunt because its programed into them.
Anyway one of the reasons she doesn't care for the shelter so much is it doesn't smell like you and that means its not really home. You could give her some of the clothes you have been wearing to sleep on or even a used sheet from your bed or a pillow case. My inside cats often find and sleep on my dirty cloths.

I do have a few that arn't allowed in the inside house, mostly because they have peed it up in the past, but all I do is block them with a foot and they understand. I am the keeper of the door after all.

 

[alphadude33]

First of all; that is a very cute looking cat :3. Secondly Andy still lives somewhere in town it's just that since he was literally tossed around by Mittens he tries not to come near our house but I think I might've seen him pass by our backyard once last Tuesday. He is hopefully alive but he is a little skinnier than he used to be implying he might be having some difficulty finding food (although he was still a healthy size).

 

[danteshuman]

Cat hair? What cat hair? They sell those sticky tape rollers & vacuums for cat hair.