# Moving into a flat with an outdoor cat



## Simsim123 (Aug 14, 2016)

Hi everyone,

I am in a struggle. I have a 4 year old female cat which I have had since she was 16 weeks old. She has moved houses with me and my family 3 times so far and has been quite fine with moving and she's very happy to go out and explore the outside (she loves being outside!) first when I got Simsim she got pregnant and had kittens, she raised her kittens to roughly 12 weeks old then the kittens were rehomed and Simsim was spayed. She's very affectionate cat and comes running home when she's called.

My dilemma is- I am getting married end of August and moving out of my parents house and into a first floor flat with my partner. My plan was to leave her with my parents as she's used to the house and loves sitting in the garden. However my parents are also having to move into a smaller place which will possibly be a flat. In this case Simsim will either have to move in with me and my partner or with my parents.

How could I train her to be an indoor cat? Giving her away isn't an option- please can someone advice me which would be the best way to go about training Simsim to be happy in a flat when she loves the outdoors. She has used a litter before when she I first got her so I'm sure she can use it again.

How can I train her to be happy? ☹


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Presumably you work, but are you parents around more, possibly retired?

If so, perhaps the cat would be better off with them as she will have more company. Important if she can no longer go out. They could possibly train her to a harness for some outside time.

There are lots of toys and climbing frames, etc. that you can buy to enrich her life but she will need lots more human attention to keep her content.

Unfortunately, there are no guarantees she will settle as she has always had the freedom to go out and may never adapt.

If you/they could find a ground floor flat (away from busy roads) that may be a fair compromise.


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## CaptainPhasma (Aug 11, 2016)

Is it too busy the location of your flat, because my o/h's brother lives in a flat, and he's been telling us about a cat that lives in his apartment block, her owners let her out and she's learnt to hang about at the entrance to the flats for people entering or leaving and she makes her way through the door and up to her apartment then, they have a box with a bed in at their own front door incase they are out.
She has made friends with lots of the resident's too, visiting a few of them in the day.
Also if she comes back when you call perhaps only let her out at times you could be about to call her back. x


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## Simsim123 (Aug 14, 2016)

Lurcherlad said:


> Presumably you work, but are you parents around more, possibly retired?
> 
> If so, perhaps the cat would be better off with them as she will have more company. Important if she can no longer go out. They could possibly train her to a harness for some outside time.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the reply! Yes defiantly my parents would be home a lot more than I am, I'm a teacher and I would be out of the house from early morning to early evening. Hopefully my parents are able to find a ground floor flat otherwise I will have to find a way to keep her happy in a flat ☹ Thank you for the advice!


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## Simsim123 (Aug 14, 2016)

CaptainPhasma said:


> Is it too busy the location of your flat, because my o/h's brother lives in a flat, and he's been telling us about a cat that lives in his apartment block, her owners let her out and she's learnt to hang about at the entrance to the flats for people entering or leaving and she makes her way through the door and up to her apartment then, they have a box with a bed in at their own front door incase they are out.
> She has made friends with lots of the resident's too, visiting a few of them in the day.
> Also if she comes back when you call perhaps only let her out at times you could be about to call her back. x


Thank you for the reply! It is fairly busy- it's a car park for the flat on one side of the building and on the other it's a road. It's definitely an idea of letting her out and then calling her back in- just hope she doesn't get too sad ☹


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