Indoor/Outdoor AND Indoor-only... Advice please!

We have two cats who are indoor/outdoor, and just got a 9 week old kitten. The two older cats have access to the outdoors through a cat door that leads to the sunroom, and from there through another cat door to the outside.

At the moment, the kitten is being kept in the office to adjust to new surroundings, and occasionally is let out to explore parts of the house and have all the cats adapt to each other.

I'm trying to find a way to keep the kitten safely indoors until she's a few months older, while still allowing the other 2 access to the outdoors (as much as I'd like to, making them all indoor-only cats is NOT an option).

Once the cats are all used to each other and the kitten is allowed free reign of the house, she's bound to stumble upon the cat door eventually... and I certainly can't realistically watch her like a hawk and follow her through the house day and night.

Any suggestions?

Sorry, that one just sounds impossible. Short of keeping the newbie sequestered in one area of the house, which would not be fair, I just can't think of anything.

Keep all of them indoors, where they are safer.

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Originally Posted by Freedom

Keep all of them indoors, where they are safer.

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Wish I could, but one has a constant desire to pee on couches, no matter how clean the litter box is kept or how we tried to re-train his behavior. After having to replace 3 couches, making the outdoors available to him was the only alternative we could find that actually worked. :(

Have you every tried Cat Attract Litter? This really helped me when I was having peeing issues. You can buy it online or at Petsmart. Yes, it does cost a bit more but it works.:) Hopefully something can be worked out. Good luck.:)

I truly understand your problem.

I have 2 cats that MUST be indoor-outdoor cats. One will pee on kitchen counters and yowl, the other will self-mutilate and bleed all over. They are allowed to use the doggy door (as are the 2 dogs) during the day. The other 10 are kept in their own room, with a large, totally enclosed pen accesible through a cat flap through their window. In the evenings, I let them all mingle throughout the house with the doggy door locked.

The only suggestion I can think of would be the cat flap that requires a special collar to open the flap. One is the PetSafe Infrared cat flap at $119 and comes with 2 collars. See the DrsFosterSmith.com site.

I would agree, you can find the magnetic cat flaps to put on the ones that can go out and not on the one you want to keep in. Its sounds like one of your only choices to do what you are trying to accomplish. Good luck and let us know how you solve your problem.

You can keep a room its house for a few months until it can go out the cat flap. In that room you can like make it a little homey for it. For example put comfortable clothes in a basket were it can sleep and stuff. Keep balls of yarn for it to play with. And that way it would stay busy all day. You can take him outside for a few minutes so it can take in some fresh air and so that would be good for its health too. But never let it go out alone or you might never see it again because cats don't come back to places which they are still not familiar with, at least I have experienced that.

I have the same problem with my 3 cats and my new Somali girl. Solution - let the 3 out through the door, and they come back through the cat door that I have adjusted to only open inwards.

I belive cats are much safer indoors than out. A kitten has no business being outside, vulnerable to hawks and other predators. Please, do your kitten a favor and keep it indoors. It'll live longer.

If you want the cat to be an indoor cat, then get a collar that'll go off (spray or static) if they go near the kitty door.

I just got Cam one of those & it now allows me to give her more free room without having to worry about her getting eaten.

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Originally Posted by king2005

If you want the cat to be an indoor cat, then get a collar that'll go off (spray or static) if they go near the kitty door.

I just got Cam one of those & it now allows me to give her more free room without having to worry about her getting eaten.

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Yeah, King's right. Getting the spray or static collar for the one kitty you want in is a lot cheaper than getting the door with magnets on the collars of the cats that CAN go outside.

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Originally Posted by Cataholic

Yeah, King's right. Getting the spray or static collar for the one kitty you want in is a lot cheaper than getting the door with magnets on the collars of the cats that CAN go outside.

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Not to mention its prob easy for more then 1 cat to get out through the open door as it only locks once closed, so it prob wouldn't work anyways.

Some cats like water like Cam does, & aren't bothered by the spray devices. the spray collars are also really heavy & big compared to the little dog static ones. The only draw back is that you have to shave their neck, but the collar covers it so you wont see it...but its still a con.. luckily for me Cam didn't care & just sat there while I shaved her neck.