Indoor Kitty Sneaking Out

[Mamakitty&me]

I am not capable of letting my cat outside without having a complete emotional break down; please don’t suggest it.

My cat keeps running out every chance he gets! He listens very well so if I’m there I just tell him him a stern voice “no. no.” And make a clicking sound I use to call him and he’ll go back inside, slowly and close to the ground.. but if I’m not in the room (say my kids accidentally let him out) he’ll be gone until sundown! It’s causing me ample amounts of anxiety and depression. I live in a area with wild animals of quite the variety that would easily eat my large cat. Please give preventative tips.

 

[ArtNJ]

You have to train him to stay away from the door. I use foot stomps as I approach/at the door. All cats instinctively avoid a human stomping their foot because they don't want to risk being stepped on. You could also keep a squirt gun on the coat rack. When coming in, crack the door and foot stomps. One poster likes to toss down a penny can, the idea being it makes an awful and scary racket. An air horn can be considered if nothing else works.

Its unlikely to take more than a few weeks if you can get your family to be really consistent about it and there are no slip-ups/escapes. But no slip-ups can be hard!

 

[rubysmama]

Here's a TCS article that might be helpful:
How To Prevent Your Cat From Darting Out The Door

How old is your cat? Is he neutered?

 

[ArtNJ]

There is some good in that article, but the notion of having a third party do the door training so you don't damage your bond is ridiculous. The training will likely take weeks, not once or twice. And cats are smart enough to realize that they can't do certain things around certain people and can do them around others.

 

[danteshuman]

I hear you about your worry. I have cars and coyotes in my area. One thing I do for all my cats is I NEVER scold or get angry or try to punish a cat that is coming back to me from outside. When my twerp got out, I just talked softly and slowly walked up to him while he led me on a merry chase, then I picked him up, pet him and carried him inside. He escaped my mom’s house 12 times so I got squirt bottles filled with water .... no more escapes!!! ( penny cans did not scare the cute little PITA!) So I would try treats for returning and penny cans when he tries to dart out the door, first. I’m assuming he is neutered.

I got my niece,6 and nephew,7 in on training my cat to not escape (use the garage door to go into the backyard unless all three teen kitty’s are locked in the cat room!) I knew I did a good job when I saw my niece clap her hands at my cat when he was getting ready to try to sneak out.

Also I harness trained all three kittens and my boy gets daily outside time every late afternoon or evening.

Lastly have you considered a catio or window catio or fencing toppers that keep cats from jumping into or out of your backyard?

 

[Kflowers]

If your children are old enough to open the door they are old enough to understand, "If kitty goes outside he may never come back and you will never see him again." If they are old enough to go outside themselves they are old enough to hear -- in detail the horrible things - cars, coyotes, raccoons, evil people who will catch him and torture him to death, other cats who will fight with him and run up his vet bills so that you won't be able to buy them the things they want... etc etc etc. There is no point in trying to protect the children from this reality. Think how they will feel if they let the cat out and one of those dreadful things happens to him? It will mean they didn't even get a chance to protect him.

danteshuman has the right of it - get them involved in training him to stay inside, but be sure you curb the enthusiasm so every one is safe.

 

[mchao1]

My orange tabby James use to try to rush out the front door when I came home. I put one of those PetSafe SSSCAT Spray Deterrent by the door. He really dislikes it when it goes off so it only took 2 or 3 times of it going off for him to learn to not go by the front door anymore.