When anyone from my family drives down our road and parks, our cat, Milly, runs out to say hello. She has started, however, walking around and under the car as we are parking and fitting into the space. This is obviously really scary because we can’t see her and I’m terrified she is going to get run over at some point. She sits quite happily in the middle of the road and has on numerous occasions stopped traffic in both directions while they all honk at her to move. She, however, just sits there grooming herself.
Luckily we don’t live on a particularly busy road, but has anyone got any ideas about how to stop her doing all of this?
Unfortunately after 14 years of free roaming I don’t think that would be possible or fair! I need some kind of glue to stick her to the garden and pavement.
Your cat needs to be continually harrassed around cars until it associates them with nothing but hassle. If you only allow it out during the day, ask your neighbours to shoo it away if they see it near the road( they should make sure there is no traffic approaching before they do it - you don’t want the silly moggy running in the road!). I always do it when I see my mam’s neighbours cat lurking near the road.
Your cat’s probably scared of all the hippos in your garden. Maybe if you move the hippos out onto the road she’ll hang out in the garden and avoid the road.
I worry about one of my cats for this reason. I know we watch out for her, but I can’t be sure everyone does. Some people don’t even watch out for children. I’m surprised there aren’t more stories in the news of children being killed by irresponsible drivers.
Anecdotally, In recent weeks I’ve had a rabbit, and two cats run across my path while driving, and a dog just wondering around the road aimlessly. The cats were close shaves but all it takes is different timing for one of those darting cats to go under my wheels.
How common is it to have an ‘indoor cat’? I always thought it was generally accepted that cats roam free but how do I know there aren’t twice as many indoor cats as there are outdoor cats? I’m asking about my part of the world here. I believe it is more common to have ‘indoor cats’ in the US because it’s come up here on the boards before. But for all I know my part of the world has more indoor cats than I thought.
It is possible and a lot more fair than being run over by a car. One of our cats was an outdoor only cat prior to coming to live with us and has now been an indoor only cat for 3 years. She no longer even tries to get out the door and is quite content living indoors.
We’ve had all indoor, indoor/outdoor and only outdoor cats in the past and I am not being critical of your choice to let your cat outdoors. It is possible to make her an indoor only cat though so it’s not like that is not an option.
I wonder if she’s going a bit deaf and isn’t put off by the noise of cars anymore. I suggest you all stop making a fuss of her til you’re actually at the front door. Maybe a bit of proactive water spraying round the car might help.