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- Feb 14, 2022
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I have three cats total. Two cats (2 and 1) were abandoned, and therefore have no interest being outside other than looking out the window.
This cat (2.5 years) was a fostered cat before adopted, and always was interested in the outdoors. We had him leash trained since no outside cats allowed, and he loved it.
The problem was that an hour, even two hours was never enough. He would scream to be let outside, and when we wouldn't, he would get insanely aggressive. One second he would be nice, the next he had his arms fully wrapped around ankles and wrists with claws sinked in and would bite *hard*. There were multiple times we had to lock him upstairs for twenty minutes to calm down, and we always had huge scars at all times on our wrists and ankles, because we'd be bitten five times a day if we were lucky and caught him, twenty times otherwise. Calming collars, medicine, different food, siblings, nothing worked.
We then moved to a house with a huge backyard. We thought he wasn't able to jump the fence due to us monitoring him, so we let him out in the backyard whenever we wanted.
We just found out that he in fact can jump the fence. He just stays in the neighborhood coldesac, doesn't get near any animals, and knows not to be remotely near cars (to our knowledge). But he's still out unsupervised.
Were terrified, we don't want him completely unsupervised, but he was apparently doing this for four months.
The problem is, at the same time, we don't want to stop letting him out either. He now never bites us ever. He is now only his affectionate self around us, and in fact is twenty times more affectionate. He comes inside when he knows my girlfriend is waking up (I wake up earlier) and when we get home so he can make sure to get love from us. He's out for two hours at a time twice a day, otherwise he's lying down happily or playing with the cats and dog. He'll even stay in the backyard and play like crazy with the dog when she is too energetic
He's clearly the happiest he has ever been, and it feels cruel to take away what makes him happiest, even though it's terrifying. We don't let him out at night, and we don't let him out when we're away from the house. I work remotely so I can bring him in at anytime
I just need advice on what to do
Tldr: terrified of letting cat outside, but he's no longer aggressive toward us and is way happier being free. Not sure how to proceed
This cat (2.5 years) was a fostered cat before adopted, and always was interested in the outdoors. We had him leash trained since no outside cats allowed, and he loved it.
The problem was that an hour, even two hours was never enough. He would scream to be let outside, and when we wouldn't, he would get insanely aggressive. One second he would be nice, the next he had his arms fully wrapped around ankles and wrists with claws sinked in and would bite *hard*. There were multiple times we had to lock him upstairs for twenty minutes to calm down, and we always had huge scars at all times on our wrists and ankles, because we'd be bitten five times a day if we were lucky and caught him, twenty times otherwise. Calming collars, medicine, different food, siblings, nothing worked.
We then moved to a house with a huge backyard. We thought he wasn't able to jump the fence due to us monitoring him, so we let him out in the backyard whenever we wanted.
We just found out that he in fact can jump the fence. He just stays in the neighborhood coldesac, doesn't get near any animals, and knows not to be remotely near cars (to our knowledge). But he's still out unsupervised.
Were terrified, we don't want him completely unsupervised, but he was apparently doing this for four months.
The problem is, at the same time, we don't want to stop letting him out either. He now never bites us ever. He is now only his affectionate self around us, and in fact is twenty times more affectionate. He comes inside when he knows my girlfriend is waking up (I wake up earlier) and when we get home so he can make sure to get love from us. He's out for two hours at a time twice a day, otherwise he's lying down happily or playing with the cats and dog. He'll even stay in the backyard and play like crazy with the dog when she is too energetic
He's clearly the happiest he has ever been, and it feels cruel to take away what makes him happiest, even though it's terrifying. We don't let him out at night, and we don't let him out when we're away from the house. I work remotely so I can bring him in at anytime
I just need advice on what to do
Tldr: terrified of letting cat outside, but he's no longer aggressive toward us and is way happier being free. Not sure how to proceed
