He wants outside so badly...

I've got a male tabby cat that is nearly 3 years old. We used to live out on a farm. He grew accustomed to living outside. We could barely get him to come in even to eat. Now, we live in an apartment, which is pretty large. We've tried to adjust him to indoor/outdoor kitty, but he hates every moment he's inside. Rain or cold weather just don't deter him from wanting to go out.

He stalks to door and flees every time we can't stop him quickly enough, then he'll take off for a long time. He always comes back home, but we live near a busy street in a college town, and I'm afraid someone's going to run him over. We try to only let him out at night, to curb his frustration with being indoors... but he yowls at the top of his lungs and it wakes most of our neighbors up, as well as ourselves. He even yowls if we let him outside, so I'm not sure what's going on there. When I frantically run outside to make sure he's not in danger or hurt, he comes prancing back to his door like nothing's wrong.

I've tried every trick I can think of to keep his desire to be outside at a minimum. We play with him to the point of our exhaustion, and he's a fantastic cuddle cat in the early evenings and early mornings. He knows that we love him, and we spend a great deal of time with both of our cats, so I know it's not lack of human interaction that he's missing.

I've never seen a cat crave for the outdoors like this. If he keeps it up, we're going to have to find another home for him... somewhere out in the country where he can chase birds and mice or whatever. But I love him SO much, and don't want to give up on him yet.

Any ideas of what can be done to encourage the 'indoor' kitty in him to come out?

Get a harness and leash. My cat likes exploring past our yard, and the leash keeps him safe. Put on the harness and praise him and give him treats to help him get used to it. My cat doesn't cover a lot of ground, like a dog would, but he enjoys sniffing around.

Yeah, that was the first thing we tried. It worked for a little while, but then he just stopped walking with it; he'd only lay down in the common yard like he was a dog or something. Sometimes Ill keep the harness without the leash on him for a while, but he just freezes up when it's time to go outside...weird little guy.

A Kittywalk? http://kittywalk.com/

If you have a patio or something like that can you maybe create an enclosure for him so he can be outside but not "free"?

OMG. I've never seen such things! I'll look into these.

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Originally Posted by emily_the_spoiled

If you have a patio or something like that can you maybe create an enclosure for him so he can be outside but not "free"?

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I wish! That would have been my preferred option # 1. We're on the ground floor with no patio. If I could let him into a screened area, I know we'd both be ecstatic! He hangs out on our upstairs neighbor's deck a lot, but it's not secure and about ten feet off the ground. I caught him jumping down into the hedgerow once and thought I was going to have a heart attack right there on the spot. He was fine though, and happy as always, with no idea why I was freaking.

Maybe your neighbor would be very understanding and let you put something like that on their balcony????

My first cat, Mr. Amber Cat, (RB), was an outdoor loner guy. Once I scooped him up and brought him in, that was it, he had to sty in. Well, like yours, he was very vocal that this was NOT his choice!

I got the leash and harness and got him used to that. We HAD to walk around the building twice every day, rain, snow, ice, cold, did not matter. he would NOT stop yowling until we went. I got one of those retractable leashes. He insisted I stay at the very end. This was HIS time to be a "tiger in the wild," and he didn't want his "mommy" standing too close. If my shoes crunched on the gravel, he would turn and give me a look :rolleyes: you know the kind. I learned to walk very quietly! We did this for 8 years! It was a struggle at first, battle of the wills, but he learned he wasn't to go out with out that harness on!

TUBSTER PANTHER STILL WANTS OUT, AND WILL CREATE HAVOC UNTIL HE GETS HIS WISH.
HES NOT REALLY COMFORTABLE WITH THE FOUND CATS SO HE SPENDS A LOT OF TIME IN THECELLAR. I HAVE THE FEELING HE GOES TO HIS OLD HOME AND GETS FOOD FROM THEM TOO, HES NOBODYS FOOL.
IM COOL , MAN.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ats1011998.jpg

How long have you had him? My RB Peeka and Boo were farm cats when I got them and used to being outdoors. Boo absolutely LOVED the outdoors and tried several times to escape, once successfully. All I can tell you is that the longer they stayed in, NO EXCEPTIONS, the more accustomed they became to it. Now it's no longer an issue. I hope this helps.

Forgive me if this was mentioned or asked already and I missed it.

Is the cat neutered? This time of year female cats go in heat and a tomcat will tend to yowl and want out very badly to 'date' them.

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Originally Posted by Medusa

How long have you had him? My RB Peeka and Boo were farm cats when I got them and used to being outdoors. Boo absolutely LOVED the outdoors and tried several times to escape, once successfully. All I can tell you is that the longer they stayed in, NO EXCEPTIONS, the more accustomed they became to it. Now it's no longer an issue. I hope this helps.

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We found him and his sister abandoned just off of a busy road, when they were about eight weeks old. We took them to the vet and they were healthy, although ridden with fleas and worms, but those are so easily remedied. Now, they're almost three years old, so we've had them from the very beginning. The female is too much of a 'princess' to go outside. We've let her walk outside, and usually within six skeptical steps she flees for the safety of her home. It's goofy how exactly opposite they are, yet they are clearly from the same litter.

I'm going to try to work with the leash and harness again. Mayhaps his initial misgivings have subsided. We did it successfully for about two months before he refused to walk with it anymore.

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Originally Posted by Catlady711

Forgive me if this was mentioned or asked already and I missed it.

Is the cat neutered? This time of year female cats go in heat and a tomcat will tend to yowl and want out very badly to 'date' them.

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Oh yeah! We had it done as soon as our vet would do it. He was not quite six months old.

See, he's an orange and white tabby, but I think he must have some siamese in him somewhere, based upon his body shape, the sharp angles of his face, and that unmistakable yowl. It's not just a loud meow, it is a YOWL! And he gets these little songs like... woooowwwwwooooowwwweeeeeooooowwww.... it's like he really can carry a tune. I don't know how many breeds do that, but I've had siamese cats and it sounds exactly the same.