How do you keep a cat indoors?

[Pooh Girl 71]

Didn't want to hijack the other thread....

We have 6 cats. 4 of them have never been outdoors and have no desire to do so. The 2 others were strays and have been outdoors. We have the hardest time keeping them in. I don't want them to go outdoors for many reasons. The main one is we live on a busy street and I don't them to get hit by a car.

So, do you have any tips on how to keep a determined cat inside?

 

[Disfan1]

Is there a way you could put a screen door in front of one of your exterior doors? That way, you would at least have a chance if the cat decides to run for it. We have always had screen doors & they seem to help deter escape attempts.

 

[oogieboogie]

I tried and lost the battle with Tiki. If she wants out she'll meow like there's no tomorrow. After driving me nuts with the meowing, she wins and she'll go out.

We typically don't see her at all during the summer except in the morning and evening when she wants her food. But in the winter she comes indoors and won't go out at all. Go figure!

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

Well there is a screen door and that doesn't seem to work.

Sassy will go out on the porch but not in the yard. So, I'm not too worried about her.

Moxie is a kitten (we found her in the driveway about a month ago) and will bolt out the door the first chance she gets. She'll come back on her own but it's when SHE wants to, not when we want her to.

 

[poohtown]

nail his paws to the floor ! LOL - sorry couldn't resist. Seriously, our oldest cat used to go outside until he was attacked by some unknown animal and almost died. He tried to sneak out a lot, but eventually became used to staying inside. Every couple months if someone leaves the door open, he linger around it kind of wondering if he should take the chance. Now, the kitten will bolt the second the door opens. We're hoping he'll eventually learn like the older one.

 

[DisMN]

They can howl all they want but we never let them out. At one point we had 3 cats and while they always tried to escape we'd catch 'em and bring 'em back in.
It's not really all that hard, but it takes a fair bit of determination to stick to your guns when they're as persistent as they are.

Actually, their persistance used to make us laugh. We found the howling comical and quite useless as a weapon to MAKE us open the door.

No cats now but boy am I ever tired of the neighborhood cats pooping in my vegetable garden, squirting on my front door and piddling on my lawn furniture, killing and chasing away all the birds in our yard.

 

[poohandwendy]

I really don't know the answer but I can say that Heidis experience really scares me. Someone that sadistic is dangerous to everyone.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

We always chase her when she gets out. But, she's a lot smaller than either of us so she can get into all kinds of little spaces.

At the moment, we're manning the door when anyone has to go outside. She got out on Sunday and had a great time running around with me trying to chase her.

That was a scary story indeed.

 

[CookieGVB]

Luckily, we have a scaredy-cat. If she even thinks about going out the back door onto the porch, a truck or loud car roaring by usually has her turning tail and dashing back inside.

We live right on a "main" road, so I'd never want her to be an outside cat. I'm happy she sees it my way.

 

[chager]

We had to make it a rule to pay attention to where the cats were and not just open the door and hold it open. None of them attempt to go out now. Our youngest will sit and look out the screen door though.
Mom had a male that was a stray a long time ago. She had him nuetered and front declawed. (This was satan cat! He would literally rip the skin off you with his claws after begging to be petted!!) She would put a small harness and a leash on him and take him out back. With the leash he never tried to leave the yard. She would just let him drag it around. He was a large black cat...kinda looked like a baby panther. An apartment resident behind them actually called the police and said they were raising a baby panther!!!
We also will chase the cat away if we are going out or clap as we enter to get her away from the door. Good luck!!

 

[skiwee1]

Our cats have been indoors since day one so they never try to get out. They don't whine or anything. The cat we have now is so scared of the outdoors that she won't even go on the screened in porch. I think if you want your cat to be indoors then it can be done very easily. I feel for the cats that are outdoors and something happens to them. I have only the owners to blame. All cats should be indoors.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

If your cats have never tried to get out, how on earth do you know how easy it is to train them to stay inside? And if it's so easy, then please offer some suggestions.

Moxie doesn't whine either. She just darts out the door when the opportunity arises. She's little and she's fast. I just need suggestions for her not to want to go out.

 

[Cruisin]

Here is a suggestion for a cat that bolts out the door when it opens.

If the cat does not like water, have someone outside the door with a squirt gun and squirt the cat when she tries to get out the door.

Don't know if it will work (not with our cat for sure because she loves water!) but it would be worth trying.

 

[LisaZoe]

My DD's daycare provider is having the same trouble. Her cat is so fast it's virtually impossible to move the door fast enough to block her. I think the idea of a squirt bottle or gun is a good one. The only other idea I have is that you might have luck with those products designed to keep cats away. Spray some outside just by the door and see if the cats notice it.

For the poster having trouble with neighborhood cats using the garden as a cat box, a friend told me he used ground black pepper and sprinkled it liberally over the areas where cats were most prone to mess. It's not 100% effective and I don't know how well it holds up after watering or rain but he said it definitely helped. I guess the reason for that is cats generally sniff the area <I>before</I> they go and they don't like what happens when they sniff the peppered area. I've seen ground black pepper in bulk food sections of a discount grocery so it shouldn't cost a lot to test.

<I>Edited to add:</I> I did want to note that the pepper <U>does not</U> hurt the cats just causes temporary minor discomfort.

 

[Virgo10]

We have 16 cats, all of which are indoor animals. Many of them were strays/shelter animals and I know for a fact at least 6 of them were use to being outside on a daily basis.

It took a while to convince those 6 to stay in but it wasn't all that hard. I may have it easier than some with cats. We are a family of 5 adults so that's probably helpful. I can imagine that young children may not be as observant on whether kitty has snuck out the door. I also have a very cat friendly house... lots of big windows for bird watching and a three season porch which is as close to being outside as you can get.

My area has an epidemic of feline AIDS and leukemia. Over the years we've had at least 3 strays put down because they showed up at my door hurt and hungry. I had them checked by a Vet and each of them tested positive for these very contagious diseases. It broke my heart to do this but what was the alternative? Put them back outside to freeze or starve? Shelters around here won't keep a FIV positive animal. Added on to that, we live on a very busy street. My yard is like a pet cemetary. The worst was seeing a dead neighbors cat that got run over two more times while I was standing on the side of the street waiting for traffic to thin out so I could bring him home and bury him! On a bright sunny day, those drivers never even saw him laying in the middle of the road!

We also have coyotes in this area and I think the sicko people problem has been covered in the other thread. Please keep your cats inside. It's a tough ole world for them outdoors.

Roberta

 

[MichDISer]

Our cat never really tries to get out.

I think if you have tried everything and you still cannot keep the cat inside, that you should just try to relax and not worry about it and if anything ever happens, just don't blame yourself because the cat lived their life the way they wanted to (free to do what he/she wanted).

 

[disneysnowflake]

Our cat Purrman is an indoor cat who likes to try to sneak outside.
She mostly wanted to just chew on grass, so we started a little cat herb garden for her. She still tries to sneak out though.

What worked for us is a little mister water bottle we keep by each door. Purrman doesn't like water, so every time we go to the door (and she follows everyone every time we go to the door) we just pick up the water bottle and she runs off. We've only had to actually use this bottle twice. Now the sight of the bottle makes her run.

Purrman is almost 8 years old. We've had her since she was 2 months old. You'd think she'd get the message somewhere that sneaking outside isn't going to work, yet she tries it every day.

I have a kinda funny story to share about her sneaky ways.

One day last Winter it has snowed quite a bit. We have a really long front porch. DH was trying to bring in some holiday decorations through the front door. He opened the screen door and Purrman ran outside. She ran very quickly down the one side of the porch. The snow was pretty high and level with the porch. Apparently, she didn't know that. Off the end of the porch she ran thinking she had the best of us. She went straight down into the snow. We looked, and there is a big hole in the snow. You could see the top of her head. She wasn't moving. I believe we had about a foot of snow on the ground. DH got her, she was so upset and flailing all over. We took her inside. She just took off running all over the house like a wildcat. DS2 tried to warm her up with a blanket. It was so funny to see that hole in the snow were sneaky Purrman fell. It was a good 3 months before she tried to sneak out again, but after that 3 months she was right back to her old trick of trying to sneak out again.

 

[Pooh93]

I feel your pain! We have two cats. One I brought home from the humane society and she has strictly been an indoor cat. She will stick her head out the door when I let our dog out, but that is as far as she goes.

On the other hand, our male stray that I brought home about 6 years agos would practically knock you down to dart out the front door. I swear he'd come out of no where to get out. Then if you tried to catch him, he'd run! Screens would not stop him as he'd go through them. A few times he was left out overnight because we couldn't catch him and we, too live by a 2 lane highway. I just knew if we continued to chase him, he'd head for the hwy and I didn't want him to get killed particularly in front of the kids. Anyways, for whatever reason in the last 6 mos or so, he's quit trying to get out. Maybe he had a near death experience that I don't know about! Or maybe it's an age thing!

Obviously, I don't have any great solutions, but it's kind of like a kid and I think you have to be consistent/persistent and not let your cat out. If they get out retrieve as quickly as you can and tell them a firm "no" and place them back inside.

 

[meeshi]

We have an indoor cat that tries to escape. We have to be really careful when anyone comes in or out, when we let the dog out, etc. Twice he took off and that was scarey, but usually he'll bolt out the door and the sniff around the yard and when he's done he'll roll over and let us "catch" him. There's a lot of "WATCH THE CAT!!!" around here.

Originally posted by disneysnowflake

I have a kinda funny story to share about her sneaky ways.

One day last Winter it has snowed quite a bit. We have a really long front porch. DH was trying to bring in some holiday decorations through the front door. He opened the screen door and Purrman ran outside. She ran very quickly down the one side of the porch. The snow was pretty high and level with the porch. Apparently, she didn't know that. Off the end of the porch she ran thinking she had the best of us. She went straight down into the snow. We looked, and there is a big hole in the snow. You could see the top of her head. She wasn't moving. I believe we had about a foot of snow on the ground. DH got her, she was so upset and flailing all over. We took her inside. She just took off running all over the house like a wildcat. DS2 tried to warm her up with a blanket. It was so funny to see that hole in the snow were sneaky Purrman fell. It was a good 3 months before she tried to sneak out again, but after that 3 months she was right back to her old trick of trying to sneak out again.

I have a similar story, but instead of snow it was pouring rain. My dd's friend was leaving to go home and Chloe got out the door, ran off the back porch into the pouring rain. He just stood there stunned, I stood there holding the door open and he looked at me and walked back in the house defeated.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I like the water bottle idea. She hasn't shown any fondness for water so that might work.