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- Jul 28, 2020
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My girlfriend and I moved to a new house 8 weeks ago with two British shorthair brothers. They'd lived with us at the previous house (a quiet crescent off a fairly busy road) with us for seven years from kittens. They used a cat flap and enjoyed day and night freedom. We had a decent size back garden and there were many other gardens for them to explore as well as a green out front. Both cats are neutered, microchipped and wear collars.
Our new house is in a quiet close with a similar size back garden and even more green areas than before. When we moved in, we kept Pixel and Widget inside for two weeks and in the third week let them explore the garden during the day. We always accompanied them apart from when they darted off to investigate adjoining gardens. However, they would always return when called - and we still kept them in at night.
At the end of the third week we had a cat flap installed and they were allowed out at night. For nearly five weeks they’ve been coming and going fine. Both cats seemed happier than ever, and Pixel far calmer than the previous house. They seemed to be settling in well until last Wednesday evening, Pixel went missing. This was extremely unusual for him as he tends not to be away from his biscuit bowl for too long and needless to say we were extremely worried. He turned up three days later, on Saturday evening at our old house, which is about 800 metres away as the crow flies (but many gardens and two roads in between).
He was incredibly pleased to see us when we collected him. He willingly went into his box and we drove him home where he ate, drank and slept plenty over the next couple of days. We kept him in on Saturday night and Sunday night opened the cat flap again, but he didn’t want to go out and just wanted to stay close to us. We gave him lots of attention and tried to make him feel like this was his home. He seemed perfectly happy, but then last night (Monday) he went missing again.
As I write this on Tuesday night, he’s still missing. We asked the new owners to call us again if they see him and they reassured us that they will. We’re assuming that’s where he’s heading, but obviously, once again we’re stressed and worried.
Why did it take him five weeks to decide he wanted to return to the old house? Has he been scouting the area working out how to get back all that time? Have I mistaken his seemingly calm demeanour for depression? How can we convince him to accept his home and establish new territory? Or will he just keep returning to the old house every time we let him out?
Meanwhile his brother, Widget, appears to be adapting fine. He’s notifying the local cats that this is his garden, lounging on the shed roof and generally seems happy. He was never as adventurous as Pixel, and we’re fairly confident he won’t wander off, but are we also misreading his mood?
Sorry about the barrage of questions there, but we’re really worried about what we should do to stop Pixel going back over and over again.
Any tips will be most welcome.
Thanks.
Our new house is in a quiet close with a similar size back garden and even more green areas than before. When we moved in, we kept Pixel and Widget inside for two weeks and in the third week let them explore the garden during the day. We always accompanied them apart from when they darted off to investigate adjoining gardens. However, they would always return when called - and we still kept them in at night.
At the end of the third week we had a cat flap installed and they were allowed out at night. For nearly five weeks they’ve been coming and going fine. Both cats seemed happier than ever, and Pixel far calmer than the previous house. They seemed to be settling in well until last Wednesday evening, Pixel went missing. This was extremely unusual for him as he tends not to be away from his biscuit bowl for too long and needless to say we were extremely worried. He turned up three days later, on Saturday evening at our old house, which is about 800 metres away as the crow flies (but many gardens and two roads in between).
He was incredibly pleased to see us when we collected him. He willingly went into his box and we drove him home where he ate, drank and slept plenty over the next couple of days. We kept him in on Saturday night and Sunday night opened the cat flap again, but he didn’t want to go out and just wanted to stay close to us. We gave him lots of attention and tried to make him feel like this was his home. He seemed perfectly happy, but then last night (Monday) he went missing again.
As I write this on Tuesday night, he’s still missing. We asked the new owners to call us again if they see him and they reassured us that they will. We’re assuming that’s where he’s heading, but obviously, once again we’re stressed and worried.
Why did it take him five weeks to decide he wanted to return to the old house? Has he been scouting the area working out how to get back all that time? Have I mistaken his seemingly calm demeanour for depression? How can we convince him to accept his home and establish new territory? Or will he just keep returning to the old house every time we let him out?
Meanwhile his brother, Widget, appears to be adapting fine. He’s notifying the local cats that this is his garden, lounging on the shed roof and generally seems happy. He was never as adventurous as Pixel, and we’re fairly confident he won’t wander off, but are we also misreading his mood?
Sorry about the barrage of questions there, but we’re really worried about what we should do to stop Pixel going back over and over again.
Any tips will be most welcome.
Thanks.