How Do I Keep My Outdoor Kitty in the House

From Jill in Massachusetts

"I have a 10 month old male Persian named "Pounce" who is now an indoor cat. Back when he was around 7 months old, however, I put a harness on him so he could be outside, as I thought he would like it. It turned out he liked it so much that he has me taking him out every morning before I leave for work, and as well as when I return.

"I'd wanted him to have a treat with an outdoor walk every couple of days or so, but it's gotten out of hand. He now walks around the house crying to go out.

"Now I want to break him of this habit. I'm curious if, once a cat has gotten a taste of the great outdoors, is it possible to bring him back to being a contented indoor cat again? He is neutered and has access to five windows in the sun room to watch the outside world. And he is a great cat!"

Give your cats an inch, they'll want a mile! It used to be that my cats received a "treat" of wet cat food on weekend mornings. Somehow, it went from every weekend, to every day. Now, they're milling about before I even get out of bed. Every movement anywhere near the steps is cause for a virtual stampede to await the coveted treat. And once I do actually manage to make it downstairs, I'm greeted by a chorus of yowls, necessitating I drop everything and FEED THE CATS!

The thing is, the cats behave like this because, in their little kitty minds, it's what causes the food to arrive. While the yowling may be the most obvious, to them other behaviors, such as walking in little circles and wiggling their tail, are just as important. It's all part of the mystical ritual they have to go through to get food in a bowl. They associate these behaviors with getting the food they like - sort of a "trick" they've come up with all by themselves.

Getting back to your question, yes, it's completely possible to make a formerly outdoor cat a strictly indoor one -- All it requires is persistence and patience. My Sammy was an indoor/outdoor cat for years. However, I decided that rising vet bills associated with his repeated fight-sustained injuries were more than I wanted to deal with. So his nightly forays into the great outdoors were cancelled. For quite sometime afterwards we had to watch how long we held the door open lest we see a suddenly darting Sammy zipping past us.

Amusingly, this problem was largely solved by the installation of a glass storm door. We had it open to let some light in when we heard a loud "Bam!" followed by the shufflings of a mortified cat running to hide his aching head in shame. The poor thing must have thought that we'd put up some sort of invisible barrier to prevent his egress! He began staying far away from it from then on. Interestingly, he understood the concept of the glass patio door, and would only run through it when it was open. But the front door confounded him until the end of his days.

So we know that cats can be very ritualistic as well as incredibly patient. Right now your Pounce associates certain behaviors with going outside, behaviors you need to break him of. My suggestion would be that, every time he begins engaging in his "going out" behavior, give him a little squirt of water. Hopefully, he'll quickly learn that it will avail him nothing but the undesirable squirt. Do the same thing when he's hanging out near the door before you go out. He'll begin to associate the door with wet unpleasantness. Eventually, he'll be content to stay inside, within his territory. He may still want to go out, but will stop bugging you about it.

I always recommend people who love their cats keep them inside, as there are simply way too many hazards for them on the outside. Good luck!