# Entertaining a cat desperate to get outdoors



## flev (Mar 6, 2011)

Hi,

I brought my first ever cat home from the rescue centre a week and a half ago. He's an ex-stray, called Timothy, and estimated to be around 5 years old, although possibly a bit younger. He's extremely loving, and settled into the house immediately. He now has the run of the house, and has several toys, scratching posts etc.

However, he seems to be really frustrated by the fact that he can't go outdoors. He's mewing lots, scratching at the back door and constantly up at the windows. I am eventually intending to let him outside, as I live in a quiet area and have a garden, but I obviously can't do that for at least another 2 1/2 weeks. This morning he got out through a window my housemate had left open :rolleyes5: and jumped down onto the corrogated plastic roof of our lean-to...and fell straight through the roof. Thankfully he is fine (although I now have a cat-sized hole in the roof!), but it just worries me that he seems to be prepared to try anything to get out. And I'm sure that having been a stray before he ended up in the rescue centre means that he's been used to having a lot more freedom to explore as he wanted.

I'm out at work in the daytime, but have been making sure he gets lots of attention before work and in the evenings. Getting a second cat is unlikely to be an option, as the rescue centre mentioned that he didn't seem to get on well with other cats and would do better being an 'only cat'.

From reading on this forum, I'm aware that many people have indoor cats, who obviously get enough stimulus and freedom indoors. Presumably everyone has had to at least keep a cat inside for a while. Do you have any suggestions for ways I can help entertain him over the next few weeks (and years)? Would seeing if I can get him on a harness and taking him outside for a bit make things any better - or worse?

Thanks very much for any suggestions.

Jacqui


----------



## springfieldbean (Sep 13, 2010)

Hi Jacqui,

Our kitten is too young to go outside at the moment, but we will be letting her out in a couple of months' time. People's opinions differ massively on this subject, but I really feel that our cat would really benefit from having the freedom to go outside, and, rightly or wrongly, I would feel guilty about depriving her of that. It does seem to me that some cats really do long to be outside, and perhaps Timothy is like this too.

But while you have to keep him inside, I reckon it might help to take him out on a harness every now and then. We do that with our kitten, and after the first couple of times it seemed to make things worse, with her desperately wanting to go straight back outside again, but after a week or two, she seemed to understand that once she's back inside, she's back inside, and she stopped making a fuss. Now she LOVES it when we take her out on a harness, and is happy enough when we bring her in again. 

So you could definitely try that with Timothy. Apart from that, you obviously spend a lot of time playing with him, so I reckon you're just going to have to wait for him to get used to being stuck inside. He will eventually calm down when he realises that he can't get outside on his own. It just takes time!

Have you got any photos?!


----------



## Viki (Jul 16, 2009)

My cat has always been allowed out, but sometimes i do think if i had another choice would i keep him in, only as i worry about him running across the road at night. he has always been ok, and as a kittne was found up a tree, so he likes to be out.

Each cat is different give him awhile to settle and try the harness, and if it doesn't work maybe try letting him out then if he is too stressed in all the time. 
Good luck!


----------



## flev (Mar 6, 2011)

OK, so I popped out and bought a harness. He took to it immediately - standing still to let me do it up properly and adjust it, and was completely unbothered by it. Similarly, he was unfazed by me clipping the lead on and wandering round the house with him. So we've just had a 30 minute explore in the back garden and he was purring like crazy, then came back in happily, went and had some food and is now curled up contemplating a nap. This may not solve everything, but has certainly made him a very happy cat today. Thank you from both of us.


IM000442 by jtcw78, on Flickr


----------



## Gem16 (Aug 5, 2010)

Oh wow your so lucky he took to it straight away  most cats take a lot of persuasion!
I think this will be a great solution for now


----------



## Elsbells (Feb 18, 2011)

Oh he's like the double of my rescue cat (& ex stray!) Tiger.

I had the same issue a few weeks ago and have managed to get round it with plenty of cardboard boxes, chasing cord, da bird, scrunched paper and a laser light. 

But he's so much more content now he can go out, as you say. He's in at night so has to fill his boots in daylight hrs!

Good luck to you & Timothy - seems like you're both very lucky to have found eachother!


----------



## Elsbells (Feb 18, 2011)

Also meant to add... it's not long till he can have more access to the outside world and definately worth hanging on if he's been a bit of a roamer/lived rough in the past.


----------



## Gem16 (Aug 5, 2010)

You may even find you prefer taking him on the harness instead of letting him out loose in the end


----------



## rcmadd (Feb 6, 2011)

we built a large (8 x 6 x 4) pen and attached it to the back wall so we just have to open the kitchen window and our cats go out in that..


----------



## flev (Mar 6, 2011)

Well, I let him out for the first time on Saturday morning, and he spent the next 2 hrs exploring the neighbourhood. I was just starting to worry he'd never come back when I heard a slightly plaintive "mew". When I went out and called for him, he immediately appeared on the neighbour''s fence - it was almost as if he'd got most of the way back and then got a bit confused.

Yesterday he encountered the 2 young cats who live next door and have just started getting out. Initially there was a stand-off in their garden, which ended with them retreating. However, by later in the day they seemed to be tolerating each other's presence - providing neither of them came in my garden!

So this evening I spotted them from my bedroom window, and Timothy appears to have adopted the male cat from next door, who is happily following him around and copying what he does. Timothy jumped down off the wall, then waited for Clark to follow him before carrying on through the garden!

Does this happen often? I'm assuming that the fact the other 2 are much younger than him (10 months old) is helping? It's really sweet to see, so I really hope it continues.


----------

