So, I’ve had Dewey for a little more than a week now, and he’s started to try to escape the house. (He’s strictly an indoor cat for me, although since he’s a shelter kitty I don’t know what his previous life was like at all.) He doesn’t do it most of the time, but maybe three times he’s rushed the door as I came in. Once he made it out onto the porch, where luckily he made no protest to me picking him up and taking him back in.
I’m concerned, because I live on a somewhat busy street, for one thing. (Of course, there are also a million other hazards outside.) He loves to sit by the windows and watch the world go by, and I’ve set him up some nice perches for that. Is it possible to train him not to rush the door when I come in? (He doesn’t usually.) I’m just afraid that one day I’m going to have my hands full of bags and he’s going to run out the door and into the street. Ideas?
My “lord and master” LOVES to roll on the concrete step in front of my apartment. So he ALWAYS rushes the door to be let out. At first, I was really worried and did all sorts of things to prevent egress, but a while ago I trained him to stay near the door (by letting him out and roll or chew the grass a bit, and picking him up and putting him in the house the instant he went too far). So, mostly, I let him out for a few minutes while I drop my things etc. If I have some time, I’ll sit with him a bit and watch the furry ecstacy.
However, on those nights when I don’t want him to run out, I kick the door before I open it. The loud noise makes him back off and give me room to come in.
Little Dewey might also be jonesing for some grass. Pet stores carry little pots of grass suitable for pet consumption or you could get seeds and grow your own. That might help alleviate his desire to break out.
I think part of it is if he’s an indoor kitty, he’s an indoor kitty - no playing on the front porch, no going outside, period. Over time he should get less interested in going out. Meanwhile, you get to be the master of using feet, bags, coats, purses, etc. to push him back in while you open the door. Don’t feel bad if he still escapes, though - we are masters at the art of keeping our two cats in when we open the door, and they still manage to squeek out.
You could try keeping a water bottle on the front porch, and squirt him every time you open the door - a little aversion therapy never hurts.
And I believe you know the rule on pictures in cat threads.
I’ll second that, nothing worse than getting back from the pub a wee bit the worse for wear and letting the cat out while attempting to get in the front door.
Oh the fun I’ve had crawling under a car to get the cat at 2AM.
We have the laundry room between the house and the outside. If the little fuc…uh…darlings try to make a break for it, we can capture them. I’m not sure I could function without the “safety zone.” They’re swift and forceful.
Go buy a squirt bottle and squirt kitty every time he bolts towards the door. Get a coffee can, toss in a few coins and rattle it loudly every time he tries to escape. Make the door undesirable to him. When you come in, make a lot of noise, scare him a little. After a while, when you open the door he will run away from it.
Yes- open the door, with you on the outside. When he/she/they make a break for it, give out a VERY loud HISSS! Followed by perhaps a “Rarrow”. Sound angry, move menacingly, bring your hands up like claws, stomp your foot. Show your teeth. You *are * the Alpha cat (or I hope to god you are anyway). Act like it. The cat will back off. Then, never let the cat walk out the door- *ever. * You’ll need to do this a few times, more if you’ve let your cat get into bad habits. Getting some “cat NO!” spray stuff for the inside and outside doormats will help re-inforce this behavior. It is just possible that you may need to “scruff” the cat once or twice.
This really works, trust me.
Do not get angry with your cat after it gets out, after you catch it. This will make it think it is bad for being caught!
If you want the cat to go outside, then put the harness on, then carry the cat over the portal, all the time praising and making loving noises, petting. Then, put the cat down. Praise, love, etc.
Like Kalhoun, we have an air-lock between the house and the Great Outdoors. Pixel is really the only one that ever attempts to escape, and she is usually so overwhelmed by the new scents and sights that she is fairly easy to recapture. But I third the idea of a squirt bottle if you can’t airlock.
You know, he used to be scared of the sound the alarm made when I come in, before I deactivate it. He’d run away. Now he’s used to it. I guess he’s just a pretty fearless kitty.
We have one kitty (a big tortie girl) that likes to try to escape. But it’s mostly a game, so she doesn’t go very far.
Our calico, on the other hand… We have no AC so all the windows are open. And we live in a second story apartment. She broke open one of the screens - not the one over the walkway - and climbed or jumped down and has been flirting with the tom downstairs. Then she got back in, somehow. She’s done this for a month apparently.
That window is closed now.
As far as the OP, if you’re leaving and he won’t get away from the door, lock him in a room or just put him in the room and leave the door closed enough that he can get it open after you leave. Always open the door just enough for you to get out or in. When you come home, put your foot or whatever you’re carrying in his way as you come in. It mostly works for our tortie. Good luck.
I made a chicken-wire outdoor run on the roof, that my cat could reach through a cat-flap I had installed in the window. That satisfied 70% of the outdoor-urge.
When the cat did escape at 02.00 AM, I decided to let him fend for himself and let him see for himself how sweet freedom tasted. I went looking around the neighbourhood on day two, rattling kittynibble, and I found him, dirty and scared. Two or three such experiences cured the remaining 30% of his outdoor-urge, alright.
With my current cats, I have trained them that me coming home is kibble-time. If they escape, they miss kibble-time, simple as that. I think the slowest one, the one who GOT the kibble, has told the others, because now they are less eager to dash out.
Our cat is indoor only, and I got tired of the big whole-house cat hunt after visit of workmen, or leaving of porch door open led to worry that cat was AWOL.
I bought a pair of those “find your lost key” transmitters, put one on cat collar and one stays on the fridge via built in magnet. Alarm does not seem to bother the cat.
Now it takes just a few minutes to find out whether the cat managed to sneak out or not.
My cats don’t want to go out, fortunately. You might try keeping a coffee can with some pebbles or something in it by the door. Give it a kick or rattle right before you open the door and it might spook the potential escapee away long enough for you to get in. Until he catches on to that trick and you have to think of another one.
