I'm absolutely desperate about this situation.
Male tabby - neutered - 10 years old - I've had him 8 years - and he LOVES to be outside. HOWLS to go outside. We live in the city with an unfenced yard. I've tried a harness, I've tried a long leash on a spike, I've tried putting him in a mesh box outside: he wasn't having it. He wants to be LOOSE in the yard.
I think I posted a few years ago and much of the advice was: make him stay inside. I tried that for a couple of summers, but he still howled to go outside all summer long. I thought he'd forget about it, but he never did.
This summer, since he seemed to want to be outside so badly, and I wanted him to be happy. I bought flea meds and started letting him go outside every day for a little while when I worked in the garden. While outside, I had to watch him constantly, because he kept trying to sneak out of the yard. He has been getting 30 - 40 minutes a day of outdoor time, which is a real sacrifice for me because I'm busy but, like I said, I want him to be happy.
The past two weeks, the howling has intensified and it's the worst that it's EVER been. He howls all night. He howls all day. He wants to be outside. When he does go out, he refuses to come back in and I have to drag him kicking and screaming. I closed the door to the sunroom so he couldn't sit by the back door and howl...now he howls by the kitchen door to be let into the sun room. I got a squirt bottle and started squirting him when he started the howling - it doesn't work. I hate chasing him and squirting him all day long - he's miserable and I'm miserable - but I haven't gotten a full night's sleep in weeks and I'm wearing down.
WHY is he so desperate to go outside? WHY can't he be happy with the outdoor time he does get? WHAT can I do to make the howling stop? SHould I just keep squirting him whenever he starts up? It's at least one episode every half hour - all day, all night. It seems so cruel to squirt him, and it doesn't seem to work. Should I just never let him go outside again? That seems cruel too but the more he goes, the more he wants to go. But the years he's stayed inside, he's never forgotten his desire to go outside and STILL howls...just not this much.
PLEASE help.
Male tabby - neutered - 10 years old - I've had him 8 years - and he LOVES to be outside. HOWLS to go outside. We live in the city with an unfenced yard. I've tried a harness, I've tried a long leash on a spike, I've tried putting him in a mesh box outside: he wasn't having it. He wants to be LOOSE in the yard.
I think I posted a few years ago and much of the advice was: make him stay inside. I tried that for a couple of summers, but he still howled to go outside all summer long. I thought he'd forget about it, but he never did.
This summer, since he seemed to want to be outside so badly, and I wanted him to be happy. I bought flea meds and started letting him go outside every day for a little while when I worked in the garden. While outside, I had to watch him constantly, because he kept trying to sneak out of the yard. He has been getting 30 - 40 minutes a day of outdoor time, which is a real sacrifice for me because I'm busy but, like I said, I want him to be happy.
The past two weeks, the howling has intensified and it's the worst that it's EVER been. He howls all night. He howls all day. He wants to be outside. When he does go out, he refuses to come back in and I have to drag him kicking and screaming. I closed the door to the sunroom so he couldn't sit by the back door and howl...now he howls by the kitchen door to be let into the sun room. I got a squirt bottle and started squirting him when he started the howling - it doesn't work. I hate chasing him and squirting him all day long - he's miserable and I'm miserable - but I haven't gotten a full night's sleep in weeks and I'm wearing down.
WHY is he so desperate to go outside? WHY can't he be happy with the outdoor time he does get? WHAT can I do to make the howling stop? SHould I just keep squirting him whenever he starts up? It's at least one episode every half hour - all day, all night. It seems so cruel to squirt him, and it doesn't seem to work. Should I just never let him go outside again? That seems cruel too but the more he goes, the more he wants to go. But the years he's stayed inside, he's never forgotten his desire to go outside and STILL howls...just not this much.
PLEASE help.