Can a house cat be an outdoor cat?
Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at
9:28 pm
I have adopted my 2nd kitty 2 years ago. She was left in front of a pet store. We didn’t know if stray or house cat, but got her. She has problems with my 1st kitty, as well as the occasional habit of peeing out of the litter box. Should I get her adopt a life outdoors? I live in a secure condo complex.
Filed under: Cat Furniture
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
She can perfectly safely safely be an outdoor cat, provided:
*she has all her shots and is microchipped
*she has had a lot of time indoors to show her where home is
* you gradually with your help show her what outdoors is
* teach her the noisy things on the road are not good to be around (they’ll instinctively not like them as they are noisy and being from indoors they’ll have an advversion to them)
* do the same with dogs and other animals, humans
If you spend time doing this, your cat will stick close to home. She won’t freak, but will be grateful for being able to be in a more natural environment, and if you teach her right, it’s safe too.
I’v done this with my cat (she spent two months indoors now after we moved here). When she gets let out, she doesn’t even try to jump the 5ft walls around the front garden, never goes into the road or the highway behind us. She’s happy just sitting on our front porch or in the garden, just watching the world or playing with stuff we’ve put there for her.
She’s aware of us having a back porch, but until we show her ourselves, she doesn’t even try and go near it. She’s the perfect example of a well-trained indoor/outdoor cat. She doesn’t use our garden, which is really small, as a litter, she’d rather use her litter tray as she has been taught to. Won’t even go into the neighbour’s garden which is like a kitty toilet waiting to happen, since she is very wary of strangers. Nobody would be able to catch her outdoors, she won’t let anyone outside touch her.
Not all cats are hunters, and not everywhere in the world is infested with eagles and cyotes. She’s perfectly happy being strictly indoors only at night, that’s cause we have monkeys here occasionally at night.
As long as you take time to teach her all these things, she can be every bit as safe as our kitty is.
i have 3 cats and they were indoor cats to begin with… but i just started letting them out and now they come and go as they please and are alot happier. mybe if you allow them to free roam they might get on better.
ps the not getting on could be arguing over who is the boss cat.
kitty’s has accidents, as well as humans, can’t be a perfect kitty all the time. maybe have two litter trays separately, then gradually put trays together after a while or you need to change the litter more often, as you have two cats. when you are at home take them outside for awhile, get them to do their business outside, then the tray won’t be as dirty. Yes a house cat can be an out door cat. my two cats was in the house more then outside for 4 years, then I got sick of the catty litter, they come in when I am home, so I can keep an eye on them., out when I go out to work, I don’t trust them with the furniture, scratching. I brought the cats a large kennel, put blankets for comfort and to keep them out the rain, wind, sun and another small kennel to put food in, to keep the ants away. they love their new home.
If she’s lived indoors for awhile, I think she might be a little upset to suddenly become an outdoor cat. She will freak out. Imagine if someone suddenly kicked you out of your house- that is what it will feel like to them.
Best thing to do is take her outside slowly- short increments of time. Maybe take her outside for 10 minutes the first day, 15 minutes the second day, etc. Get her used to being outside and enjoying being outside. She will probably be scared at first but curiosity will get the best of her. If it seems that she just freaks out being outside, you might need to lessen the increments or just give her time before you start getting her used to the outside again.
Just so you know, outdoor cats only live half as long as indoor cats. They face many dangers including fights with other cats, being run over by cars, abused by people, attacked by dogs or other large or wild animals, being exposed to pests such as fleas or tickets and other diseases, etc. You might want to see if there is an alternative method in which these two cats can get along.
Also, try giving each cat their own litter box and it will probably eliminate the pee problems.
put in another litter box. she mite not like sharing, many wont
My two British Shorthair cats lived in my flat with me for 3 years. Now im back at mums with them, ive got them a pen in the garden but now have resorted to take them for walks whilst they are on a harness and a lead. They love the garden but once one went missing for a month so now im not taking any chances. Cats are easily adaptable and would love the outdoors. They are independant creatures.
I would not advice that. You may court more problems by putting a cat outside anywhere in suburba, secure community or not. Instead, if you have a spare room – even if it is just a laundry room – or even a closet – give it to her as her very own space. Perhaps if she knows that she has a special bolt-hole which is hers alone and where she won’t be disturbed by resident kitty, she’ll adjust better. You can also use "Feliway"" – a "feel good" pheromone spray or plug-in for stressed cats. Of course, you should provide another litter box. The general rule is if you have 2 cats, you should have 2 litter boxes. If you have 3 cats, you should have 3 boxes + 1.
No, get another cat box for it. It probably don’t like to share the box and cats like to pee in one and poop in the other. Also, buy a littermaid box, it is always kept clean, so also use unscented litter!!! They hate that smell as bad as we do. Tidy cat has a new one out that has on the front as you are looking at it, New, tidy Lock, and no smell. I have not had a problem since then. Then I took them on vacation and I had to buy the old tidy cat since it was a rual town and the smell of the litter upset me and them, there was a problem or 2 with that. SDo if you cannot find that litter, use arm and hammer unscented litter and more than one ct box, and have several layers of news paper under them. Just enough to set under the box. You will see improvement. No, don’t kick it out doors. There is hormonal treatment as well. Mpore litter trays and clean trays are your best friend when you have a cat. They hate to stand in another cat’s stuff.