Last fall my family decided it was time to get a kitten or two, so we headed down to our local animal shelter and picked out two adorable tiny kittens. They are now about 10 months old and mostly full grown. They are both lovey, snuggle-up and purr on your lap type of kitties. But there is a problem with Typhon.
I should start by mentioning that we live in central Tucson. Even though we live in the middle of a big city, we see coyotes on a regular basis on our street. According to this study, http://abcnews.go.com/WN/cat-lovers-beware-coyotes-prowl/story?id=9252158 “In a new study of coyotes living among people in the heart of Tucson, cats were the coyotes’ most common meal, making up 42 percent of their diet, university researchers reported in the Journal of Wildlife Management.”
It was my total intention that both cats be completely indoor cats. It was my hope that by adopting them as babies, I could just keep them inside and they would get used to it and not want to go outside. That is exactly how it has worked for one of them, but Typhon has the wanderlust. He has gotten outside a few times and he likes it. Now he waits for us to let the dog out and tries to make a break for it. Or he waits for one of the kids to not close the door completely and sneaks outside. Yesterday we left a window open, but with the screen closed, and Typhon busted through the screen to get out.
I don’t want an outside cat! I don’t want to deal with the ticks and fleas that he’ll bring in and give to the other animals. I don’t want him to kill the lizards and birds that are common here. And I don’t want Typhon to end up as a coyote’s breakfast!
Any advice? How can I convince him that life is easier inside and he shouldn’t try to get out all the time?
It is really tough. My 15-year old cat opened the screen this morning and got out, but can’t really go anywhere. I yelled at him, and he felt bad. He’ll make up with me as soon as I get home.
You have to make him a believer that it is NOT COOL to run out under your legs or open screens. Remember, they have the brains of a two or three year old, but no language skills. They are very impressionable. You have to be the Lead Cat.
Good luck, I know it’s hard right now with this great weather!
Has he been neutered? If not that might remove some of the urge to roam.
Or you could slam him in the door once or twice.
Kidding!!! except there’s a bit of truth in that When we were adopted by cats back in the 80s, the first cat had been “on the streets” for quite a while before being picked up by the animal shelter people. His estimated age was 2+ years. He never tried to escape. We think his kitty-brain said “Huh. Got it good here. They feed me. They scritch me. It’s warm in here. There’s no rain in here. Better stay put”.
The other cat, who was an adolescent when we got him, had faced no such hardships. Yeah, he was abandoned by the dicks who adopted him and his sister, then moved away without bothering to take their cats with them… but their neighbor (a friend of ours) fed them outside until the sister disappeared and we adopted him.
So - he didn’t have quite the negative association with the outdoors and tried to bolt out the door a few times. We got very good at slipping through the smallest possible opening and slamming the door quickly, but a couple of times the poor fellow had just started through, too fast for us, and we accidentally caught him in the door as we closed it. I think after one or two of those, he figured “outside HURTS”.
I do NOT recommend this, however, the poor fellow might have been genuinely injured as opposed to scared / bruised.
He was neutered at 2 months when we got him from the shelter. Their policy is not not allow any animals to be adopted who haven’t be spayed or neutered.
It just takes time. My daughter’s cat was indoor/outdoor for awhile. Then he got hurt and she resolved to keep him inside. He’d stand by the door and yowl and scream to go out. This went on for weeks. Weeks! But he finally gave up. It might have helped that she arranged a table with a pad in front of a sunny window. When the weather’s nice, the window is open. Kitty loves it.
Making the door unattractive might help too. You could make a loud noise whenever someone opens the door, or toss a can of pennies. I’d say squirt gun but I don’t like to see cats lose their dignity.
Get yourself a scat mat. I got one and put it in front of our door and after a few attempts to get outside Oliver finally decided that it just wasn’t worth the electric surprise and now he doesn’t make a run for it. We haven’t had the mat out in months and one day our back door accidentally got left open and both cats stayed in the apartment the whole time. It was amazing to see how well behaved they were and how neither of them (especially Oliver, who had been found wandering the streets of NYC before I adopted him) were tempted to go running outside.
We’ve been doing the squirt gun to keep the cat off the table. She hops up, stares and you and says “I dare you” while giving you the finger. You squirt her, and she jumps off. No loss of dignity.
I think one of the main problems is that 6 people live in our house, and 4 of them are children. Someone is always going inside or out, so the door is open often. and Typhon can make a run for it. And it is inevitable that the kids will nut shut the door properly and it will be slightly open.
Coyotes aren’t going to hang around a place that’s heavily trafficked and your cat isn’t stupid. It can hide under bushes and things. Yeah there is always the chance that kitty will get killed, by a coyote or a car or even dive bombed by birds (my cat was always getting dive bombed by Blue Jays), but that’s part of being a cat.
Look we all love our pets but cats like to go out, well most do. I don’t advocate cruelty to animals but if kitty likes to go out and play I’d let him. Yes he may have a shorter but happpier life, but that’s part of being an animal.
Most cats have territories that aren’t too large. They go out and hide under bushes and near the house and such. Especially if you have neighboring cats, your cat will be limited to pretty much your front and back yard without running afoul of other cat’s territories.
It’s up to you but I say let the cat out and hope for the best.
My cats seemed to become less interested in going outside once an area in front of a window was provided for them to lounge around and watch the outdoors, particularly if the window is open.
If it really gets to be a problem, I guess you could have a friend* hang out outside the door and ambush the cat as soon as he runs out - shake a can of pennies, a squirt with a hose, etc. - and scare him back in. If he can be made to understand that the outdoors comes with Bad Things, he may be less inclined to go out.
*So your cat doesn’t associate the Bad Things with you, and get scared of you personally.
How old are your kids? Old enough to know how to properly close a door? Old enough to be told that Bad Things can happen to Typhon if he gets outside, and that he can get outside if they don’t close the door properly?
Whenever I’ve had cats, I’ve made them a super cheap screened in gazebo. I buy a wooden shed frame kit from Canadian Tire or whatever home hardware place you have around. Then screen it in with chicken wire and buttress it up against a window so they can come and go as they want. I’m not some handyman either, I’m an unhandy woman.
Is buttress the right word for smooshing it up against a wall?
Advice from my feline behaviorist friend - this has worked for everyone I know who has tried it:
Keep a mug/large cup/whatever works without breaking, full of water, outside the door. Hopefully in AZ it won’t evaporate too fast.
Whenever kitty heads to the door, dump the water on him. You will not have to do this more than a few times! But keep the cup there for a while anyway just in case. A squirt gun won’t cut it in cases like this.
And seriously, why are you giving the kids a pass? If they’re taught to be careful about the door with consequences if they’re not - they’ll be more careful. You’re either not giving them enough credit, or not bothering to teach them to push/pull the door until it clicks, “because kitty can be killed outside!”. Once it’s a habit it will happen rarely.
Because 6 people coming and going all the time can’t achieve perfection. The kids know they are supposed to keep the door closed and they know that it’s dangerous for Typhon to get out. But they are fallible humans and they sometimes make mistakes.
I’ll try the water-on-the-cat’s-head trick and report back.
What about a kitty gazebo? You can build one cheaply and easily in one afternoon. They won’t even be interested in the door because they can go out into their own little play area through a window. Put up a couple bird feeders near it and they’ll be happy as pigs in mud.
A few months ago I read a post on this board by someone, who said that what they did to break their cat from wanting to go outside was to take the cat out and hold it for …a while? After a few times of this, the cat figured nothing good was ever going to happen outside, so it quit wanting to go out. Hopefully that poster will come in here and give more details.
When we were adopted by cats back in the 80s, the first cat had been “on the streets” for quite a while before being picked up by the animal shelter people. His estimated age was 2+ years. He never tried to escape. We think his kitty-brain said “Huh. Got it good here. They feed me. They scritch me. It’s warm in here. There’s no rain in here. Better stay put”.