Well I tried the ‘leave the door open and when kitty goes outside splash him with a cup of water’ trick. It all went well except that when he got wet he ran and hid outside under a bush. He’s now inside and is busy licking himself to get dry. We’ll try it again tomorrow and see if we can condition him to hate the outside.
Well, not exactly as planned, but might have started the idea. While the usual goal is to get him on the head before too far out the door so he goes back in, even if that’s managed there’s always the risk of him still darting all the way out. But if he still gets soaked whenever he tries maybe that will still do the trick.
Anyway I hope it works. Maybe if some of the kids are old enough you could get as many people in on it as you can. He won’t learn to wait for certain people that way.
Well, this is something we’ve considered, but haven’t done yet, but we’re sure it will take any thoughts of sneaking outside out of their little heads - setting off firecrackers outside the door. Not HUGE ones, but moderately noisy ones that might hiss and pop, just enough to make them apprehensive. Maybe it’s too drastic, but there’s so many dangers outside - dogs, racoons, hawks, cars, shop chemicals, etc.
We threw cat #1 out in the snow one winter. That cured her from wanting to go outside (well, mostly).
We did the same to cat #2 but it didn’t work. I put her in “kitty time out” (just hold her immobile for about 5 minutes, which she hates) whenever she manages to get out the door. She hesitates before going out now and doesn’t always bolt for the door at every opportunity, but she still tries to escape fairly often.
That’s actually not a bad idea! Have someone you know stand outside the door before you’re going to go out. Open the door and walk out, not too fast, ignoring the cat. Have friend spring some sort of loud/scary/wet surprise on kitty when kitty tries to bolt.
Be ready inside with lots of loving and treats (if kitty doesn’t immediately bolt under the nearest immovable object).
Soon, kitty will learn that outside = scarybadloud, and inside = scritchies and quiet and safe.
Not necessarily – our cat Luci, believe it or not, actually likes jumping in the shower. She’d probably get a kick out of that.
In my experience, it’s impossible. As a kid, our cats would wait for mom to bring home the groceries, and slink out between trips to the car. When we lived in a big house, as adults, our cats would stand patrol by the door, waiting to dart out as soon as it was opened. Now, we live in an apartment, and when the guy brings the pizza, they sneak out as my wife signs the credit card slip.
Luckily, the most ardent offender, Trudy (the one on the right), will usually, believe it or not, obey my yelled command “TRUDY! Get the fuck back in here!” It’s the only thing she obeys. I think it’s because she’s simultaneously thrilled, but also afraid of the big bad outside.
Joe
Cats love to go where they are not allowed. A door closed to them must mean that there is something special behind the door that is purposely being kept from him and that will not be tolerated.
Make indoors more interesting. Get him or make him a kitty condo with lots of climbing and hiding spaces and toys.
Make outdoors scary, as has been suggested. And if it’s in the budget maybe you could build him a heavy duty screened enclosure and let him have access to that. If possible screen in areas around the entrances so if he does scoot out he’s still trapped. If you are going to let him have access to screened areas make sure the screen is secure enough that he can’t rip it out.
ETA: Is the other kitty’s name Echidna?
I trained my dog not to run out of the yard by having a big scary dog chase him if he did. To be more specific, I would take him for a walk, and big scary dogs would do that fake attack thing every time we passed by, (even though they were safely contained.)