Might Have To Use A Squirt Gun Here

So my neutered 7 month old twerp is a prolific door darter that has escaped outside over 10 times!!!! Now when he tries to escape out my arpment door he is still trapped in the apartment building so it isn’t so bad BUT the 5 days a month when we are at my mom’s house he is getting out into the front yard!!!!!!!!! I’m terrified of him being hit by a car! (no it isn’t stress, he is bonded to his brother and likes picking on his sister. He likes all 4 cats that live in my mom’s house and there is zero aggression there. The older/senior 2 cats are amazingly tolerant of my little twerp.)

I have tried foot stomping and penny cans and he is still running for it. Plus other people at my mom’s house seem to be kinda slow in closing the door (and fending off 2-3 teen kittens trying to make a break for it all at once is difficult!) I trained my last 2 cats with a squirt bottle to keep a respectful 5-7 foot distance from a open door. I know every one says squirt bottles are bad but I really need him to stop running out the door. Also the squirt bottle didn’t seem to hurt my relationship with my last 2 cats but they did scatter when I picked up a squirt bottle and sloshed the water inside. *When I use a penny can to get him off the counter he just calmly looks at me .... he doesn’t get down until I get up to pick him up and put him down on the floor..... then the little twerp walks quickly to get off the counter!

If anyone has any other ideas to get him to stop escaping please tell me? I don’t want to use a squirt bottle if I don’t have to.

I don't think they are bad. But your going to have to keep it by the door or with your car keys or whatever -- if you forget sometimes it wont work. It may not work anyway. But I've never believed it will damage the bond with an already well bonded cat, so it shouldn't hurt to try.

Cat repellent sprays immediately inside and outside the door?

Throwing treats away from the door when you go out? Keep a bag/can of them at the door (or, on you) so when you come in you can throw the away from the door when you open it.

Using canned air spray (not aimed directly at the cat).

The thing is: consistency, consistency, consistency. If you can't manage that at your mother's house, you may have to resort to a harness and a long, long leash.

Doubt there is anything in this article that will help you, but just in case:

How To Prevent Your Cat From Darting Out The Door

danteshuman said:

...I know every one says squirt bottles are bad but I really need him to stop running out the door.

Click to expand...

ArtNJ said:

I don't think they are bad. But your going to have to keep it by the door or with your car keys or whatever -- if you forget sometimes it wont work.

Click to expand...

No, I don't think that squirt bottles are bad, either, but you have to catch the cat in the act of misbehaving and you have to squirt the cat immediately. If there is a delay of even a few seconds between the act and the squirting, the cat won't associate the two events and, instead, will think you are simply being mean.

I used to have a cat that liked to use the indoor, potted plants for his litter box.

I tried putting gravel and chicken wire over the plants to deter him but he just kept on peeing in the plants.

One day, I caught him in the act of peeing in the plants and gave him a big squirt of water, right between the eyes. I yelled, "NO!"

The cat never peed in the plants again.

On the other hand, the same cat used to counter surf the kitchen so I tried the same thing on that. I was never able to catch him in the act of jumping up and I was never able to squirt him immediately upon misbehaving.

The only thing that happened this time is that the cat learned not to jump on the counters if I was in sight of the kitchen.

In your case, squirting might work if you draw a proverbial "line in the sand" that the cat isn't allowed to cross or else he gets wet.

You just have to be sure to do it immediately upon the infraction and you have to do it every single time.

I know we always say "water squirt guns are bad", but when it's a case of your cat's safety, it might be worth it to try. But also, try to get the humans in the household to take the danger to your cat more seriously, and maybe don't linger so long with the door open.

In the house we have mastered the art of leaving the house by stepping backwards, our backs facing the door, so our eyes are glued to whoever is planning for a quick escape, and only opening a fraction of the door - enough for our bodies to make an exit. Usually what I do is block my bag while leaving or stomp my foot. When nothing works, I open a bag of treats, leave some on their bowls and while they are busy gobbling them all up I dart out the door. It is always a struggle, but it works.

FeebysOwner said:

Cat repellent sprays immediately inside and outside the door?

Click to expand...

Those sprays don't work. I've tried them in the past to keep a cat off a "closet" (a stand alone locker-type thing) but the supposed horrible-to-a-cat scent never did a thing.

I don't know if there is a cat equivalent of an invisible dog fence.

Maybe a plastic multi section baby gate in front of the door, low enough for you to step over when you leave . While the kitten(s) can at this point jump over it at least gives you a second or two advantage to open the door and leave.

It might make your neighbors crazy but you could try setting something motion activated outside your door that jiggled or made noise when you opened the door. That might be enough to frighten your cats into not going out there.

Hmmmmm good to know I won’t scar him permanently if I use a squirt bottle. The real problem is my mom’s front door is kinda broken and difficult to shut ..... so it takes extra second to close. Add in extra people in a house plus his brother and sister also looking for a way out and it can be mayhem.

The baby gate is a good idea for most people. I’m physically limited by MS and a baby gate in my case sounds like a very bad idea. Basically my stepping over a baby gate could end very badly as I face plant into the floor and Jackie prances over me to run out the door. Also in no way may I put a baby gate outside the door of my apartment. I will look for a large piece of cardboard (about 4 feet by 4 feet) to block him when he tries to run.

Hopefully between a cardboard shield, a squirt bottle & treats I can train him to respectfully wait 5 feet away from an open door. It may take 2-6 months but that little twerp will learn darn it!

Here's what I would try --

If you haven't already, buy two separate large chewy-dot-com shipments so that you end up with two, very large cardboard boxes.

Flatten the cardboard boxes into flat "shields", perhaps taped flat with duct tape or something.

Lean one shield just inside the front door. Lean the other shield outside the apartment door.

Now do a variation of what Maria Bayote or susanm9006 suggest. Leave some treats across the room (away from door) for the cat to eat and while cat is eating, make your way to the exit. Turn to face inwards towards the cat when you leave the door, holding your shield as a block at the door gap just in case the cat approaches... lean the flattened box against the interior apartment wall just as you door shut the door. When you come home, grab the apt hallway shield and block the door opening as you enter apartment, and --once in and shield safely set aside-- get out the treats and treat the cat far away from the doorway. Pretty soon, you may not need to use the shields and the treat-giving will do the job.

Can you place a cat tree, shelf, table, or perch by the door that he can occupy as you are exiting? That is also in arm's reach as you are exiting out the door? Use clicker training. This is essential so the training will be effective at mom's house too where the tree/perch may be different. When you are about to leave, train him with a click to come up to the top of his tree or perch for treats as you walk out the door.

Rather than giving him some weird phobia or disorder about the door, you are teaching him that remaining inside, that coming to his spot, is more rewarding than trying to escape. This avoids the need for a squirt gun. This is training he'll want to learn and keep up because he gets rewarded for a behavior he can understand rather than punished for something that may not be clear to him.

One word of caution: As tempting as it is to use the newly trained skill of getting a cat to come when called, please only use this for tasks with positive outcomes. If you use it to call him over for a vet visit, a visit to mom's, or to administer medicine, this will undermine the training. He should know with absolute confidence that coming to the click will have a positive outcome, e.g. a treat.

When training him, don't use the squirt gun. You'll confuse him. "Is this a positive ask of me? I'm getting a treat. But then why am I also getting sprayed?" Instead, make a barrier on the outside of the door. It's only for training so you can make it as cumbersome as it needs to be to keep him indoors. He probably won't learn this on the first try and he's quicker than you. This is your safety net until the training takes root in him. First you will teach him to come to the clicker. Then you train him to come to his spot by the door. Finally, you will train him that he only gets his reward as you are exiting. If you open the door and he leaves his spot, close the door, and start over. Click him away from the door. Then click him back to his spot. Then you try the door again. When you can get most of the way out the door and he stays in his spot, you can give him his treat. Eventually he will learn that you leaving means he gets a treat, but only if he waits in his spot for it as you're exiting an open door. You can use your cardboard shields until you don't need them. But if you use a squirt gun during this training, he will not see this as something he wants to do. And cats only do what they want to do.

Speaking of outside the door barriers, can you take an airlock approach to this until his training takes root or as a backup to his training? Use a baby gate or barriers on the outside as a backup in case he does get out the door. Make it so that you can operate the outside exit after you have shut him back inside.

He is pretty good at avoiding the apartment front door with some stomping and hissing. The sliding glass door he is a nightmare about! The front door and sliding glass door at my mom’s house? Nightmare again! (Personally I think it is because I have taken him out into the hallways of my apartment building many times and he knows he can’t escape to outside through that door. No I can not train him to use a cat tree by my door because there is no physical place to put a tree there.

So really it is training him to quit darting out my sliding glass door and the doors at my mom’s house. The problem with the doors at my mom’s house is there are 4-6 other adults there at any given time plus there can be little kids there leaving the front door open for a minute or two. I really can’t see an answer at my mom’s house that doesn’t end with a squirt bottle at the front door. I can try the sheid idea at my sliding glass door at home. The sliding glass door at my mom’s house? It is easier to teach the kids that in order to open the sliding glass door we need to lock all three kittens up in the spare bedroom/the cat room.

danteshuman said:

Personally I think it is because I have taken him out into the hallways of my apartment building many times

Click to expand...

This is a problem right here. Sometimes he is rewarded with outside.

If you want to keep rewarding him with outside access, even just the hallways, you have to make it teachably different than when you don't want him to have outside access. Otherwise he will try every time not knowing which time will be rewarded. Add reprimand and discipline to this and you're going to make a neurotic cat who isn't sure whether the door is a good thing or a bad thing. Sometimes he's rewarded and other times he is reprimand and squirted.

One way you can make permissible access different from prohibited is to give him a routine he has to complete before he is allowed outside. An example might be a leash and harness. He's not allowed outside unless he is wearing a leash and harness. Once he's outside, even if it's just the hallways, you may let him off leash if you wish. But this establishes in his mind, if he's wearing his harness, he's allowed outside. If he's not wearing his harness, he's not allowed outside. If you don't think you'll be able to get a harness on him, think of another simple routine that makes permitted access teachably different than non-permitted access. Then always, always perform the routine before you let him out. If you sometimes let him out without performing the routine, then you teach him that sometimes he can get out without the routine so its worth it to try.

Although I still don't like the use of a squirt gun, when he can tell the difference between when he's allowed out (because he performed his routine) and when he's not allowed out, then I suppose you could use a squirt gun here. As long as you are consistent. He needs to link the discipline to the unacceptable behavior, and not just because you're an unpredictable ape. But if some people are squirting him and some aren't, then I'm not sure he'll make the connection to the behavior or just the person. This why cats and discipline is tricky.

I have a converted darter! She was fast like a torpedo but she stopped now after about a year, my guess is it’s because her darting was not effective, as we managed to get her before she went out (and she’s strictly indoors kitty).

I wouldn’t use squirt gun on my cats. It’s mild violence to me and even if it’s effective, I’d never want to intentionally “hurt” my babies without medical reason. But I don’t believe in punishment in general, it seems to be working by creating some sort of a trauma and I don’t want that.
In your case, I would hope that with cooperative effort from all your family, he’d eventually learn that there’s zero chance to escape and eventually he’ll get bored trying. Good luck!

Olive would dart out the door. We stopped it by never allowing her access, hissing when she gets too darty and the Natural outcome of coming home with groceries made her think the door was not a cool place.

We also tried a laser pointer to occupy her attention but I felt bad using it for 10 seconds and then leaving. But I suppose it’s better than an escape?

He gets outside time in a harness only (unless the little twerp escapes!) I even started carrying him over the threshold in his harness to try to illustrate the difference between going for a walk or his sneaking out.

But his harness walks in the hallways of my apartment building have shown him that out my front door does not = outside.... it just equals hallways and strangers. I have also walked him into my building and down the hallway into my apartment but again that has shown him the lack of escape options ( the front door to my building needs a code and then open/closes automatically.)

So back to my mom’s house where he loves to escape from, any ideas that can be done by inexperienced cat people? She has a small plastic bottle with pennies in it to shake but my little dude isn’t phased by my penny can .... so that isn’t going to work. Making Psssstttt psssssssttttpsssssst sounds at him along with stomping and foot waving where I’m basically doing a slow pretend kick that will scare him enough into backing away a few feet for me. However I need a solution that will work for my mom’s household and visiting guests. Basically an idiot proof solution. No I have never kicked or hit him; nor would I! However even if it causes some trauma squirting him with water, it is better than him getting hit by a car!

I never yell at him or scold him during his outside self walks. I just follow him calmly and call him to me. When I catch him, I pick him up, pet him and carry him inside. Today he wiggled out of his harness and started exploring& wasn’t coming to me when I called him.......... so I walked back the 30 feet to my patio door and got his treat bag. I shook it and he came right to me. He got a treat and his harness put back on ... a little more tightly. I guess I could try yelling at him when he gets outside but I’m not sure what that would accomplish.

I’m brainstorming here: what if you place a box near the door at your mom’s, and motivate him with treats to get in and stay in there, or using method described by daftcat, every time someone is about to open the door? Simple cardboard box can easily be moved away if there’s no regular space for it near the door.

He is the more aggressive sneaker outer but the other two kittens like to sneak out again. So again it is 3 seven month old kittens trying to rush the door all at the same time combined with inexperienced cat people.

I think a cardboard shield and a water bottle should train those cute kittens to respect the door boundary. I can practice training my kitten at home so he knows better what is expected of him. (Yes a cardboard shield can be left just inside or outside my mom’s door, no a shield can not be left in the hallway of my apartment.) The baby gate idea is a maybe? The little kittens started off getting time in their bunny pen and they learned to climb over it very quickly. I think they would just jump over or climb a baby gate.