Indoor cat yearns for the outdoors

[martiniscrazy]

Our 4 year old indoor cat has started constantly howling over the past few days. The cat has lived in an apartment his entire life and we moved into a house with big yards about 2 weeks ago. We took him outside into the yard on a leash and he absolutely loved it. Since then, he has been roaming around the house crying and howling at the door to go outside. He scratches at door constantly as well. He stops crying only when we play with him, when he's sleeping, or eating.

We don't know what to do because we are unable to constantly keep him outside. We have tried ignoring him when he's crying but it hasn't worked. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. And congrats on the new house, with the nice big yard. Too bad your kitty now wants to spend all his time out there. That's not a surprise, actually, as I've read that happening before when a cat starts to go outside on a harness and leash.

The only thing you can do is ignore him. And maybe try to have set times that you take him outside. Cats like routine, so it has worked for some cat parents. Just keep it the same time every day, like maybe after you feed him dinner, or something like that. And say something like "ready to go outside".

Another thing I've read, particularly to keep cats from running out the door, is to only take them outside by you carrying them. Don't let them walk out the door themselves. And when it's time to bring them back in, do the same thing, pick him up and carry him back inside.

Another option, would be to build a catio for him, then he could go outside anytime he wanted.

Just a couple thoughts. Hopefully other members who've experienced the same thing will reply with suggestions/solutions.

 

[martiniscrazy]

Wow thanks so much for the helpful advice! That is more thorough than anything else I've been able to find online. We will start doing this immediately!

 

[fionasmom]

I have owned cats who were trained to expect certain times of the day meant that the leash would go on and they could sit outside where I could watch them on a tieout. They really did become conditioned to it and yes, I always carried them in and out, not because I knew any better, but just because it was easier to manage the cat and the door at the same time.

 

[Dacatchair]

I had this happen with one of mine who had always been indoor. After spending time out in our yard on a leash every day for a few months, he got absolutely desperate to be out there, probably 8 hours a day. Which I couldn't do. Going out at the same time for a set amount of time didn't help. Not going out at all for a few months helped with the behavior directed at me, but watching him he was still desperate to be out. Close to 1000 square feet of enclosures did not help. A feline buddy didn't help.

What did totally solve the problem was a huge cat proof fence around the main part of the yard, about 1/3 of an acre, and now they both can be in or out all day, and are tired and happy to be brought in at night. But if yours has only been out on a leash a few times, he may forget if you just ignore him and don't take him out anymore. I live in an outdoor cat paradise, so it is likely some of the solutions that didn't work for me might work for someone else.