Moved To New Home With 9 Mo Old Kitten. Help!

[Jaybird91]

My family just moved to a new home, at our previous home our kitten, Cleo was starting to became 50/50 indoor/outdoor and she did great there weren’t any other cats in the neighborhood and she always stayed close by and came in when I called her. This is our first week in the new home and we have kept her inside so she can get used to the Home before letting her venture outside. I’ve come to find that my neighbor has about 3 cats that are mostly outdoor. They come into my back yard and front yard frequently. The home was vacant for months prior to us living here so I think they got used to the space. What do I do with my kitten? I’m worried they will attack her since they are all fully grown adult cats. Leaving Cleo indoor 100% of the time is not an option.

Side note::: She’s also my first cat so not really sure what to do here.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

May I ask why having Cleo as an indoor only cat is not an option? It is certainly safer, especially considering that there are three adult cats who consider your yard to be theirs. Let me know, and I'll try to go from there.

 

[Jaybird91]

Simply because it is not an option.

 

[dbWhiz]

Simply because it is not an option.

Maybe try getting an indoor kitten? It could make friends with Cleo and might urge her to stay in more? I'm not sure if it works like that but it's an option. If she like going outside maybe you could get a harness for her and train her to be on a lead and you can take her outside whenever she wants? I'm currently doing it with mine and so far so goodhope you figure something out

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Since you say that her being indoor only is simply not an option, and I have no way to try to solve that issue, my next thought is a deterrent to keep the neighbor's cats out of your yard. There are a couple of things I can think of that might work. The least expensive is to mix citrus oil (generally available in the cleaning aisle) with water, and spray it around the boundary of the property. You'd have to do that fairly often, as rain (and even heavy dew) can wash it away. It is toxic to cats, and they avoid it. The other that comes to mind is installing motion-activated sprinklers in the area where the neighbor's cats are accessing the yard. It won't take more that a few good dousings to convince them that they are better off somewhere else.