How To Keep My Cats Indoors?

[Ninipow13]

Hello!

In short- I am trying to find out how I can train my kittens to stay indoor cats?

In long- we had a cat for 9 years and as she got older she just stayed more and more outside. Just came inside to eat and take a nap. We got a second male cat and she did not like that one bit and she took off, returned after 3 weeks. Peeked in the house, and left again and pretty much never returned.
I’ve had a LOT of behavioral issues with her in her younger years as well. She would scratch and scratch the door to get outside or inside, bleeding from her paws. In-out-in-out. Attacking us if she had to wait a little on her food. Harassing neighbors. And she can’t get along with other cats. But we didn’t learn that till after we got another cat.
Then, Jackson started off being indoors only. But he was always asking to go outside so eventually we gave in. He initially would come right back but stayed out longer and longer and eventually never returned . Broke our hearts.
We now have 3 new kitties and whatever I did wrong, I want to stop that so they can be indoor cats.
I’ll no longer let them out at all. I got them a cat tree, scratching poles etc
Any other suggestions? They are all similar in age so they can adjust to being around other cats and grow up together.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. So, the only cats remaining in your home now are the 3 kittens - the other two are gone? That being the case, just don't ever let them out. Not even a hint to what might lie on the other side of that door is the best practice.

It sounds like you have all the right equipment for them in terms of interesting things to do inside.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it so much. It would seem to me that you are making sure you don't repeat history.

 

[Ninipow13]

Okay. Good advice, thanks! It’s hard though because when the front or back door open they can see and smell the outdoors.

 

[Caspers Human]

Once a cat has seen The Great Outdoors it will always try to escape the house.

If a cat is brought up indoors from the start it will be happy to stay indoors.

Even if you bring home an older cat, if you keep it indoors from the start, it will become an indoor cat.

We adopted Casper as a 2-year-old adult cat. He was abandoned outdoors but, once we brought him home and kept him inside where it was warm and comfy, Casper thought, "It's GOOD to live indoors!"

In fact, one time, he escaped from the front door when it was cold and snowy outside. He spent about a half minute on the front doorstep and headed back inside where it was warm.

We rarely have trouble with Casper trying to escape. Only when other cats, that our stupid neighbors let go outdoors, come around and taunt Casper does he try to get out.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Okay. Good advice, thanks! It’s hard though because when the front or back door open they can see and smell the outdoors.

That is true. But, if they never go out there, and consider it normal to be inside, just being able to smell and see the outdoors for brief seconds at a time will not likely trigger them to want to bolt out the door.

I don't know your residence, but if you have an enclosed in patio you could allow them out there - to enjoy brief periods of time in a secure outdoors area. My Feeby has always been an indoor only cat since she has been with us (she is 14+), but she has free access to our patio. It has never seemed to make her expect or want to be outside to roam. I think that is because for the most part, she doesn't "know any different", if you get my drift...

 

[Kflowers]

Like Casper, ours were rescues, who had suffered when outside. And like Casper they were quick to decide it was good to be indoors. Only one wanted to go back out there and he was a later in life neuter. The rest took care to stay away from the doors. The one who wanted to go back out, lived to fight. period. The vet said he was insane. It's possible.

Of the two I hand raised the first only wanted to go out if there were dogs on the porch he wanted to run them off. He wasn't the one who lived to fight. Other than that he didn't want to go out.

The second one I hand raised liked to run into the fenced in back yard during her first three months. However, she always let us catch her easily, so I think it was a game. Once she realized the yard was not another room and that strange cats got in it, she wanted nothing to do with it.

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. We have a couple articles on keeping cats inside that might have some tips for you.

How To Prevent Your Cat From Darting Out The Door
How To Make Your Home Bigger (at Least For Your Cats)

 

[Elphaba09]

Are the kittens spayed and neutered? That will help a lot.

Of our nine, all of which have spent at least a portion of their lives outside before they came to be with us, only two have ever gotten out. We think one was accidental. He likely fell out of the kitchen window over the sink. He sat in front of it for goodness knows how long before he was seen by our neighbors. The other was just because she is a crazy cat. We have no idea how she got out, but my son saw her playing in the side yard one morning. We had had her for about a week at that time, and she was about four months old.

 

[Caspers Human]

But, if they never go out there, and consider it normal to be inside, just being able to smell and see the outdoors for brief seconds at a time will not likely trigger them to want to bolt out the door.

...Only one wanted to go back out there and he was a later in life neuter. The rest took care to stay away from the doors.

On a couple of occasions, I absent-mindedly left the sliding screen door to the patio open but Casper never tried to get out. Whenever I go in or out, Casper usually vacates the area of the door because he knows I will shoo him away from the door with my foot.

There was even a time when Casper opened the sliding screen by himself! I came into the room to find him sitting in the doorway watching the birds, just the same way he does when the door is closed. He never even tried to get out even though he could have simply walked out.

Casper knows which side of his bread has the butter on it!

 

[Kflowers]

We had one fall out of a window. There was a pane missing in the pantry window. He lay below it, silent in the dark. We found him the next morning right where he fell. You need flashlights to find black cats, who won't answer, in the dark. We got flashlights. He was fine.

@Elphaba90 I'm glad he isn't the only cat who fell out of a window. I feel better about it now.

 

[Genesis123]

Long story short, I built a cage outside, off one of the house windows, and a ramp in between the two, where the cats could go outside and (yet) feel safe. And I, certainly, felt better knowing they were safe. The "cage" was 8'Lx6'Wx6'H, set on the ground, and had several shelves. If you have the environment, something like that might be nice. A research of such fixtures can be found on the Net (examples, diagrams, pics of other people's "cat porches"). Some hang from windows & don't touch the ground.

Cardboard and wooden boxes are very entertaining to cats, especially kittens. Some of those might be helpful. Cats, too, like high places. So, anything you can do to provide that for them might quell the desire to go outside to climb trees.

 

[Kflowers]

You'll find in time you do the put your foot to the side in the cat's path so automatically you'll be doing it the rest of your life, wherever you go. Even places where there are no cats - work, restaurants, stores...

It's like a secret handshake for cat people.

 

[LittleShadow]

I had an indoor only baby that was rescued as a tiny kitten when her mother was hit by a car. Dad saw squished road kitty, slowed down, and saw movement next to the road. Turned out to be a kitten, and while he looked, he never found any litter mates. We named her Kilana, and much learning was done on both sides, as she still had her milk teeth and was just baaaarely old enough to eat kitten mash instead of needing bottle feedings.

We raised Kilana inside, and I harness trained her early, with the idea that I could take her outside on a leash, so she could explore without risking her mother's end. A few months later, she's fixed, leash trained, and seems curious as to what our other indoor-outdoor cat is doing, so I decide to take her outside. I get her in her harness, her leash, and we go out the door. She looks around, sniffs, then....looks up. Where there is NO CEILING. She climbed my leg, then my shirt, clung to my chest, and shook, clearly terrified. That was the end of my attempts to take her for walks. Apparently, being raised indoors from such a young age, she was afraid of the sky/lack of ceiling.

During her life, there were a couple dozen times she'd door dart and escape, but it was always really easy to find her. We'd just look under the nearest bush or other object near the door, and there she'd be, puffed up huge and terrified. The time she escaped in the rain....I've never seen a cat come back inside so fast. Which I found particularly hilarious as she loved taking showers with me.

So you may find that your indoor only babies, if kept indoors, are actually just fine with never going out. Just make sure they have plenty of indoor stimulation and things to explore and do, lots of vertical space, and be consistent about never letting them out. With luck, they may even decide that the only thing outside is the V-E-T, and decide they want nothing to do with it. Best of luck!