Help With Transitioning Indoor/outdoor Cat To Indoor Only

[fritzycat]

Hi everyone!

I am currently wanting to transition my indoor/outdoor cat to indoor only, and i’m having lots of trouble. I know that this is a hard transition for any cat to make, but i’ve tried everyone suggestion i can find and still don’t know what to do!

Here is the situation:
My 7 year old male tabby cat disappeared for 3 weeks a couple years ago and I was in panicked state and became more depressed and hopeless by the day. I was about 13 or 14 at the time and my mom and I tried everything we could think of! We put signs everywhere and checked in at our local shelters daily. Eventually after 3 weeks we got a call from people in the neighborhood behind us and we were able to find him!
After this, I was absolutely terrified to let him outside again and spent about 2 months trying to transition him. I was completely able to deal with his incessant meowing, but my family couldn’t take it. I am aware that all cats do this during the transition, but my cat is already extremely vocal. After my parents said we either had to let him out again, or give him away, I had no choice but to let him out again. Luckily, he went two years without going missing again!
Unfortunately, in the past few months he has disappeared again twice and now has been gone for suspiciously long again. After the most recent time, I kept him inside for a week, but again, he kept my family awake at night so he had to go out again. It is a few weeks later now and he has again been gone longer than usual. I am very worried and desperately want to make him an indoor cat, but I don’t know what to do! I myself can handle the meowing, but it wakes the rest of my family up.
ANY suggestions would be helpful at this point!!
I apologize for the long post, but I wanted to be detailed and explain my situation thoroughly.
If you have any ideas for what to do please let me know.

 

[ArtNJ]

Just going to rip the bandaid off here...doesn't sound like you can transition this cat because your family won't give it the time. Just don't think there is anything you can do about this.

 

[Kieka]

It is a painful process but it really is just lock him in one day and don't let him out again. You have to go about 2-3 weeks without a single escape or letting him out. Each time he does escape or get out you have to restart the clock. After a straight 2-3 weeks he should start settling in. It doesn't mean you can let your guard down but he should be less aggressive about getting out. I too have indoor/outdoor cats and from medical confinments that's what I've learned.

If your family is not on board or not willing to put up with it, try just curfew training. Which would be locking him in from dusk to dawn. That is what we do and it takes training for them to come when called and come in every night. But it does work. If you want me to go into more details just let me know.

 

[Catlover579]

Is it possible to just transition him to only going out in the day? I think if he's been used to going out all this time it would cause him alot of stress to just completely not go out at all. You have to transition him slowly and get him into a routine. Let him out in the morning and then before he goes out in the afternoon try to avoid feeding him right before so he will hopefully come home to eat and then keep him inside. Once he's inside, try to take his mind off of going outside by keeping him busy like playing with him. I transitioned my late cat Pumpkin from being outside all night to having a curfew. It wasn't easy but once i got him home by dark i would take him in a different room upstairs, away from the door and play with him. He would cry alot at first but then eventually once he got into the new routine it got better. But getting him away from the front & back door helped me. I don't think you should make him completely indoor since he's used to going outdoor and it makes him happy but try to create a medium and explain to your family it takes time for the transition. But if you keep letting him out everytime he's crying then that makes him think it will work every time so why should he stop? If you think that it's not possible to do this b/c of your family then maybe the best thing would be to just let him be outside.

 

[meto]

Just going to rip the bandaid off here...doesn't sound like you can transition this cat because your family won't give it the time. Just don't think there is anything you can do about this.

I think this is good insight. It sounds like a problem with your family. But I think there is something you can do about it, if you can convince your family that having him as an indoor cat is worth the meowing. Best of luck! ^ ^

 

[neela]

It is a painful process but it really is just lock him in one day and don't let him out again. You have to go about 2-3 weeks without a single escape or letting him out. Each time he does escape or get out you have to restart the clock. After a straight 2-3 weeks he should start settling in. It doesn't mean you can let your guard down but he should be less aggressive about getting out. I too have indoor/outdoor cats and from medical confinments that's what I've learned.

If your family is not on board or not willing to put up with it, try just curfew training. Which would be locking him in from dusk to dawn. That is what we do and it takes training for them to come when called and come in every night. But it does work. If you want me to go into more details just let me know.

 

[neela]

Is there anything you give your cat to relax or sleep when you bring him in?

 

[Kieka]

Is there anything you give your cat to relax or sleep when you bring him in?

Nope. We use the natural process of hunt, catch, kill, eat, sleep when needed. Which is essentially a play session, followed by meal, followed by bed. Cats naturally want to sleep after activity and meal.

Once you have a habit formed they will start telling you it's time for bed. It just takes time and consistency to establish the pattern.

 

[betsygee]

Is it a possibility in your situation to provide some kind of catio (outdoor enclosure) so your cat can still enjoy the outdoors safely?

We have three 9 year olds who have been indoor-outdoor all their lives but we've been transitioning them. They have access to a catio 24/7 which helps a lot. We still let them out sometimes during the day but only when one of us is home to supervise them.

We've also pretty successfully treat-trained them so that if they are outside, I can call and shake the treat box and they'll come running.

Lastly, we have a programmable cat door, like these. I let the cats out manually sometime during the day, and they come back in the cat door. Once they're in, they can't get back out until I let them out manually again. Those kinds of doors aren't cheap, but they've sure helped us with our situation.

We did go through some issues--a couple of our cats really don't like being indoor cats all the time now, and we've had inappropriate peeing, crying during the night, zoomies all around the house (that part is kind of cute). It takes patience, and time.

I think it's been a year or so since we started this process. They still aren't 100% indoor only and probably never will be but they're in about 90% of the time now, and always in at night.

One more thought--have you tried calming treats or Feliway diffusers? That might help him get through the nights a little easier.

 

[neela]

Nope. We use the natural process of hunt, catch, kill, eat, sleep when needed. Which is essentially a play session, followed by meal, followed by bed. Cats naturally want to sleep after activity and meal.

Once you have a habit formed they will start telling you it's time for bed. It just takes time and consistency to establish the pattern.

 

[neela]

I wish my cat would do that. I have a cat and got him as a stray so all he wants to do is go outside at night. Anything you suggest to keep him in at night? its so hard to change his stray habits

 

[fritzycat]

It is a painful process but it really is just lock him in one day and don't let him out again. You have to go about 2-3 weeks without a single escape or letting him out. Each time he does escape or get out you have to restart the clock. After a straight 2-3 weeks he should start settling in. It doesn't mean you can let your guard down but he should be less aggressive about getting out. I too have indoor/outdoor cats and from medical confinments that's what I've learned.

If your family is not on board or not willing to put up with it, try just curfew training. Which would be locking him in from dusk to dawn. That is what we do and it takes training for them to come when called and come in every night. But it does work. If you want me to go into more details just let me know.

The first time I tried the transition, he was inside for over 3 weeks and unfortunately things didn’t get any better. As for the curfew training, he is typically great at being on a consistent schedule, which makes it even scarier when he is gone for days since he’s usually so good at coming back every night. Every morning he eats dry food and goes outside after. He almost always comes back between 5-6pm because he knows that’s when we feed him. He sometimes goes back out after eating, but comes back before I go to bed.

 

[fritzycat]

Is it possible to just transition him to only going out in the day? I think if he's been used to going out all this time it would cause him alot of stress to just completely not go out at all. You have to transition him slowly and get him into a routine. Let him out in the morning and then before he goes out in the afternoon try to avoid feeding him right before so he will hopefully come home to eat and then keep him inside. Once he's inside, try to take his mind off of going outside by keeping him busy like playing with him. I transitioned my late cat Pumpkin from being outside all night to having a curfew. It wasn't easy but once i got him home by dark i would take him in a different room upstairs, away from the door and play with him. He would cry alot at first but then eventually once he got into the new routine it got better. But getting him away from the front & back door helped me. I don't think you should make him completely indoor since he's used to going outdoor and it makes him happy but try to create a medium and explain to your family it takes time for the transition. But if you keep letting him out everytime he's crying then that makes him think it will work every time so why should he stop? If you think that it's not possible to do this b/c of your family then maybe the best thing would be to just let him be outside.

He typically does go out during the day only and comes back at night, but every once and while he stays out overnight which always worries me. We usually let him out again after dinner so maybe I’ll try keeping him inside once he’s eaten. As for my family, I have explained it many times, but they still won’t agree. Unfortunately even though I want to keep him in when meows and cries, my family doesn’t feel the same.
Thank you for the suggestion! I’ll for sure try not letting him out again at night.

 

[fritzycat]

Is it a possibility in your situation to provide some kind of catio (outdoor enclosure) so your cat can still enjoy the outdoors safely?

We have three 9 year olds who have been indoor-outdoor all their lives but we've been transitioning them. They have access to a catio 24/7 which helps a lot. We still let them out sometimes during the day but only when one of us is home to supervise them.

We've also pretty successfully treat-trained them so that if they are outside, I can call and shake the treat box and they'll come running.

Lastly, we have a programmable cat door, like these. I let the cats out manually sometime during the day, and they come back in the cat door. Once they're in, they can't get back out until I let them out manually again. Those kinds of doors aren't cheap, but they've sure helped us with our situation.

We did go through some issues--a couple of our cats really don't like being indoor cats all the time now, and we've had inappropriate peeing, crying during the night, zoomies all around the house (that part is kind of cute). It takes patience, and time.

I think it's been a year or so since we started this process. They still aren't 100% indoor only and probably never will be but they're in about 90% of the time now, and always in at night.

One more thought--have you tried calming treats or Feliway diffusers? That might help him get through the nights a little easier.

I’ve definitely been considering a catio, so i’m glad to hear a success story with one! My only concern would be that an outdoor enclosure would only make him want to go outside even more desperately.
And we do have a feliway diffuser which has helped with his meowing immensely (as he is already a very vocal cat).

 

[Catlover579]

Yes I think it would be a good idea to let him out during the day and then once he's inside by dinner to keep him inside just in case he doesn't come home by bedtime. The latest I would let him out in the afternoon would be 4 or 5 so that gives few hours before night comes. Then if he's asking to go out try to take him away from the doors if possible and play with him. Or open a window downstairs (that he can't escape from lol)

 

[Kieka]

It's a painful process to change a cat who is used to going outside all the time to part of the time. My number one piece of advice is get an automatic cat door with a timed lock and unlock feature.

The SureFlap Pet Door is one, I set a time and it unlocks at the designated time and locks each night at the designated time. Why this is important is because you stop being the door opener. Instead the cat focuses on the door opening. My guys can hear the click of it unlocking and know what it is. They will still yell at us sometimes in the early morning, especially around daylight savings but ignoring them does wonders.

Otherwise, it's just time and patience. You have to outlast the cats desire to go outside. You have to ignore them as hard as it is.

 

[fritzycat]

great news!!! we found my kitty a few days ago (he was in the sewer!) and he hasn’t been let outside yet. he’s been extremely loud, so my parents say we will have to, but we have just purchased a harness and small gps device for him! here’s to hoping it works out!!
thanks for all your suggestions everyone! we will definitely be trying curfew training.

 

[Catlover579]

Yay! I'm glad you found your kitty and he's okay

 

[sargon]

I once transitioned a cat through trickery.

I only let her out in awful weather ( heat waves, thunderstorms, freeze warnings, snow, etc.) After enough times letting her out in bad weather, she eventually lost interest until she was let out by someone else on a nice day, so it probably wont' work for you.