Acclimating an outdoor cat to indoor life

[luckies4me]

We are currently searching for a house and plan to move shortly once we find the right place. Mystic used to be an indoor kitty, and does come inside. Lately he wants to stay outside only and rarely comes in. Houdini and Cheetah are pretty much indoor kittys but do go out more now that summer is here. OUr kitten, Ewok is an indoor kitty and I have no intentions of letting him outside unless he is leashed, which we are working on currently.


Since we are moving soon, hopefully, I would like to make the cats PERMANENT indoor kitties, unless on a leash. There are too many disease and risk involved from being kept outdoors and I just cannot take all the worrying anymore. I want my cats to live a long healthy life and I know them being inside would be a lot better. When we move, they need to be kept inside for a period of time obviously, but I want themt o stay there.


I am concerned that Mystic willwant to continure being an outdoor kitty. What can I do to help ease the transaction from outdoor/indoor kitty hood to indoor only kitty hood? I am just really worried that I will not be able to keep him inside. We try to keep him in and he meows and meows and meows.


It will be nicer for the kitties once we move as they will have a lot more space and room to run around, and we plan on buying them a giant cat tree and a bunch more toys to keep them happy.

What has been everyones experience on doing this? Was it pretty easy or very hard? Any advise?

Mystic goes in for surgery/shots/FIV?FELV test/dental on Thursday, and at the same time Ewok will be neutered. THANK goodness, that kitten is a terror lol! :p

So that is another thing that worries me. Keeping him inside after surgery. It's jut to repair a hernia so it's nothing invasive and will only take about 5 minutes to do, but he still needs to be kept inside.

Thanks in advance everyone!:D

[hootchlid]

well this is a easy one for me I think.Walker,Carl,MS Calista were all outdoor kitties,when I found them.What I did is this,I have a Attached garage to the house and what I would do is open the door to the garage and let them wonder out there and play around out there,and watch when they come back in shut the door.At first you may have to go out and get the one who doesnt want to come back in a timely manner,but,they learn not to go for the door when you answer it for the UPS or Mailman also,which is a good thing,Ms calista normally Yips at me or just sits and glares at me as a tortie i already know what she is thinking.:D :D But thats how I done it.It allows them to explore new stuff but keeps them safe,Just store your chemicals and harmfull stuff where they can't get at it.The garage can be a dangerous place because of them,so go thru and inspect it for anti freeze,windshield washer fluid,laundry soap..plus anything that they could lick or sniff that is a poison.Usually they dont spend alot of time out there.Carl and walker dont like it they kinda stand there until ms calista turns and yips at them to come..Polly and hank have been only indoor kitties and they are the ones i have to go get normally.

hope this helps

Dave

[weeze]

Its not going to be easy, and you are going to feel really guilty for a while. This happened to me with Minnie. She and Tiger used to go outside for a bit during the day, then one day Tiger was hit by a car and died. This caused us to make the decision to keep Minnie inside. I felt really bad because she wanted to go out so badly, but just thinking about Tiger in the last moments before she died always ensures me that we have made the right decision to keep the cats inside. Just make sure you play with them a little more and try to provide a fun atmosphere for them. They will eventually be quite content..

[luckies4me]

Well you see, all the kitties used to be indoor only until Dan, my fiance/husband/boyfriend........whatever you want to call him lol, let the cats out. That's all it took, and believe me we have already tried keeping Mystic inside, but I believe it is just too small in here for him to be content right now, which is why I believe I will have a better chance when we move into a bigger place. The place we are currently looking at is great!

It has three bedrooms, a washing area, a huge garage, a big living room and stairs that lead updoors (thought they would like to romp up and down those), and the rooms are just huge with walk in closets. So I think they would enjoy that a lot more. I know for sure I could make Cheetah and Houdini indoor only kitties because they only go outside once in a while. But Mystic just cries and cries and it's so hard to sleep and then I feel so sad.

But when we move the chances of him comming into contact with fighting cats will increase since he will not know these cats, and that is how the diseases that scare the heeby jeebes out of me are contracted. We just had a cat come into our clinic who tested postive for Feline Aids! He had to be euthanized. He was an outdoor cat, ten years, and beautiful! The owners felt that they could not keep him indoors only, especially with other cats, so they euthanized him. I would HATE to be put in that situation.

I was thinking we could always build an outdoor enclosure they could go in, where they could not get out and therefor would avoid cat fights.

I just really really hope that this works, because I would have much healthier, non flea infested, kitty cats lol. The fleas here are a real problem right now and the Frontline is barely working. We did put some Borax down the other week which helped temendously. But that is another reason why I want them inside only. Thanks everyone for the suggestions, and I will keep you posted.

Anyone else care to imput? :)

[Catsnclay]

Ah, you are feeling guilty already!! Just where Mystic wants you to be!! :D :eek:

You need to be firm and NOT let him out - NO MATTER WHAT - He will try everything under the sun from making you mad, to making you feel guilty (already there :) ) You need to be stronger and fight those feelings off.

Our Fluffy found us 14 years ago, he was around 2 years old already. We then moved to a bigger house, but with coyotes roaming around. Fluffy was no longer allowed outside - at all. It took several weeks of him crying, beating up Willie our other cat, and even knocking over vases, etc. just to get me mad so I would let him out. Needless to say, after several weeks of wanting to "kill" him (not really, but you know the feeling) he realized that he was fine inside, and now 11 years later he has no interest at all at going out.

So time & patience.........lots of patience!!

Good luck :)

[luckies4me]

Yes, I know that feeling lol. I just can't wait to move! I can't stand this place....


Well I know he will like the new place, if we get this one because we will be going on a mad kitty shopping spree and buying a new cat tree, tons of catnip and other things. :D

[mruffruff]

Your idea of an enclosure is a good one if you can get it built. I have one outside a spare room with a cat flap installed in the window. The room is totally furnished for the cats, with 3 cat trees, a big cage, several beds and a bunch of toys. The enclosure has a small kids playhouse, several shelves and scratching posts, and 2 big plants to hide in. I have 8 formerly stray cats. A couple are still getting acclimated to living inside, so they can get out when they feel the need.

Eventually I hope to get them all adopted to good homes.

Unfortunately, they don't get to wander the rest of the house because of my dogs.

Mary

[NoahsMommy]

I think having an outdoor enclosure is a really good idea if your cats like to be outside. :)

They are fairly easy to build, I can send you pictures of ours if you'd like. :)

Lots of luck finding a place...I hate where we live too and time just can't go fast enough until our lease is up. ;)

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by NoahsMommy
I think having an outdoor enclosure is a really good idea if your cats like to be outside. :)

They are fairly easy to build, I can send you pictures of ours if you'd like. :)

Lots of luck finding a place...I hate where we live too and time just can't go fast enough until our lease is up. ;)

That would be great! Please do, I would really appreciate it. Hey I have some new pictures of the kitties, anyone want to see?:D

[NoahsMommy]

Cool, here's a link to our photoalbum for the enclosure: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289935719 There are quite a few pictures of the cats in there, but it'll give you an idea of what ours looks like.

If we had a house, it would be much bigger, but this fits on our balcony, so its enough for now.

Its 8 x 5 x 5. We used 2 x 4's for all the wood and that wire/fencing for every surface except the ground. All you need is a Home Depot (to cut your wood and get supplies) a staple gun (we bought one for about $30), wood, fencing, nails (preferable nails especially for outdoor wood), hinges for the door and bracing for the wood.

Let me know if you need any other information.

And YES!!! Pictures are in order!! :D

[Fox-Gal]

The enclosure is a great idea.

Also a screen in room would work too. I've done that before, leave the back door open for them so they can go in and out of the house all the wanted. Husband wouldn't go for a cat door there, but maybe you can do that instead of leaving a door open all day. I know not everyone can leave a open door like we can, the advantage of living WAY out in the country. He did build a nice wide shelf though, all around, for them to sit and watch the world.

[NoahsMommy]

Originally posted by Fox-Gal
Also a screen in room would work too. I've done that before, leave the back door open for them so they can go in and out of the house all the wanted. Husband wouldn't go for a cat door there, but maybe you can do that instead of leaving a door open all day. I know not everyone can leave a open door like we can, the advantage of living WAY out in the country. He did build a nice wide shelf though, all around, for them to sit and watch the world.
That's a really great idea!! The woman we got Hermione from has one for her cats with a cat door and they can go out whenever they want. If we had a house, that would be what we'd do.