Indoor Cat seeks outside...New Owner, help!

[crimson nobara]

I'm a fairly new cat owner. Jewel is my first cat and she's almost 9 months old. I have a dog as well, and one day while I was letting Micha (my dog) outside for her last duty call before I put her to bed, Jewel snuck outside. Jewel has been an indoor cat all her life and ever since her nighttime excursion she keeps trying to slip outside. I never took her for walks because I didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to encourage her to go outside. Now that she wants to Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not sure what to do. If she gets out again will she be able to find her way back? Also, my neighbourhood is a dog neighbourhood. She still has her claws and minimal fighting experience when she and Micha play, but wonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t Jewel get hurt if she wanders into another dogâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s territory? I guess my main question here is, should I let her become an outside cat just because she wants to when thereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s chances of her getting lost, attacked and contracting rabies, flees and other diseases?

 

[yayi]

Is she spayed? A fixed cat has less desire to "roam".
Also, if your neighborhood is really dangerous, keep her indoors.

 

[hissy]

If you get her harness-trained and start taking her for walks, that will help. Letting her outside puts her in danger. You can look into purrfect and other types of outdoor enclosures for her.

www.meowhoo.com look under basic pet supplies

 

[crimson nobara]

Originally Posted by yayi

Is she spayed? A fixed cat has less desire to "roam".
Also, if your neighborhood is really dangerous, keep her indoors.

Yes, I had her spayed at 6 months.

 

[pombina]

I wouldnt let her outside personally. I'm also trying the harness training mentioned above so that I can take Sleeves out for some fresh air. You can pick them up very cheap at pet shops.
If you let her out even a couple of times its going to make her worse, Id stick to your guns and make sure she's out of the room when the door gets opened.
Good luck!

 

[abbycats]

I have a cat that has done that for all of her life with me. She would take advantage of situations when the door opened to get outside. When she was young she would bolt out the door and run. I was always a nervous wreck when I couldn't catch her. I never could never get her over that, so I always used extreme caution opening the door. When strange people to her came to the door she would try to really take advantage of the situation. It just has become habit to say "watch the cat" when the door opens. As she approached her older years she would just run out and graze for grass, and yes I tried the indoor grass thing, and she would never let it grow. I did harness train her and she went out on leash and harness. I don't know if it was a game for her or what. Now she is 17 and her health is failing so she isn't camped out in different locations to bolt when the door opens. I have really no advice for this but to just "watch the door".

 

[kitytize]

I do not recommend letting your cat outside to roam freely. I built an outside enclosure off a window this last year and I also do the harness. You can also buy cat fences but I thought that was to pricey for me.

 

[crimson nobara]

Alot of you are suggesting harness training her. I'm really torn because this seems like a good idea so that she can still get excercise and fresh air, but doesn't this also encourage going outside independently? I've now adopted the phrase "watch the cat" and so has my mother (thankfully). My sister and father are slowly catching on. She's so sneaky, though. I brought the garbage out yesterday and when I opened the door to go back inside, she ran. I'm quick and caught her between my legs

so she didn't go far. I'm digressing. Alright, so I'm doing the "watch the cat" but how many others out there agree with harness training??

 

[larke]

I've done it forever, but an easier solution might be that anytime anyone's going out, quickly stick the cat into a room with a door until the other one's closed, then let her out again. Obviously if you all leave for hours at a time, then you'll have to make a point of being extra careful then, but if you even make a little sign for the inside of the front door to remind people for a while, it could help.

 

[meowsersmom]

I used to have this problem too. I started taking the cats out on scheduled "evening strolls" and their urge to run outside has diminished. They're not crazy to sneak outside anymore because they know they get to go out every night. I have my cats on a pretty strict schedule (feeding, playing, walking,) and I think this has really modified and helped deter behavioral problems. They get very upset if there are any changes to their schedule, they're not big fans of change.

 

[missymotus]

I agree with the harness training, I've only got 3 who like it the others are content on staying indoors.

 

[abbycats]

To be honest the harness training never stopped mort!! It's still back to the "watch the cat" when the door opened!!!!! She just is supervised when she is harnessed outside!!!