I have a 4yo (?) fixed male alpha cat - rescued from the wilderness (literally) about 16mo ago. He's not the biggest animal, but he MUST be the boss. Luckily the reining champ has moved out of the neighborhood leaving my guy pretty much uncontested. But he does still have to fight on occasion and the way I see it, he's bound to have a serious complication someday the way things are going.

But he LOVES being outside (of course).

Is it possible to convert him GENTLY to an indoor cat. Is there some secret trick? Sure, I could just force him to stay inside, but I don't think I could handle the noise and surely behavior that is bound to occur.

ideas?

Would that be you, or the cat that is going insane???

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Aloha, Ken


“I have developed significant attachments to several members even though I wouldn't recognize them if I sat next to one on a park bench. I'm often tempted when in an airport to walk around, hollering "The Løpe", to see if anyone other than the Homeland Security people will acknowledge me. ” - The Løpe

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us." Justice Robert Jackson

its definitely possible but the only way to know is to try.

you could also put him on a harness and a leash when he goes out. i do this with my mostly indoor cat and he purrs as i put his leash on. i'm also very lucky that he begs to go out only when other people are in the yard. its a "not fair! why can't i ?!" sort of thing.

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Get him litterbox-trained and keep the litterbox meticulously clean.

Keep plenty of toys around the house to distract him.

Feed him smaller meals on a regular schedule so he always wants to be around at those times.

I've already lowered the boom on late evening outings and it's pretty hard already. 'I wanna go out, I wanna go out!!' etc, etc... 'No, No, NO!' and repeat forever...

a harness? not this guy... remember - he survived in the wilderness for at least two weeks - maybe two months. He's WAY to macho for a harness.

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Doc
Get him litterbox-trained and keep the litterbox meticulously clean.

Keep plenty of toys around the house to distract him.

Feed him smaller meals on a regular schedule so he always wants to be around at those times.

I'm already there. He's up to 4 small feedings a day. Often, like a cat, he comes in to eat, then wants to go out and play.

He like to hang out for some loving for a part of the day, but when he wants action, he wants OUT.

"Would that be you, or the cat that is going insane???"


Yes ;) .

Someone shot my cat in the head with a pellet gun, so I'm contemplating the same thing. Keeping him in the house is not really a viable option, but I have to figure it out otherwise he will meet an unfortunate demise. He's OK by the way. I plucked the pellet out of his head with tweezers and he's almost completely healed already, a mere 5 days later. Cats are amazing.

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We did this with a stray cat that was nearly starved when he wandered up.
He's now in the house a lot but he takes spells when he wants out and
then back in 10 minutes later, someone he'll do this 5 to 6 times in a
row 5 minutes in and 10 minutes, it gets to be a pain sometimes. Now he's
about 6-8 lbs. overweight.

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Grateful11

I converted a stray to 100 percent indoors. And the answer is you "will" go slightly insane. I had adopted him and let him keep being outside. I eventually observed him being punked out by a much smaller cat. I was humiliated. I told him that he should be able to kick that cat's ass. He just didn't have the heart for the rodeo out there. He had to come on inside:



Now I have him doing work as my assistant:



And he dreams of his paycheck:

great photo essay!

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ztirffritz
Someone shot my cat in the head with a pellet gun, so I'm contemplating the same thing. Keeping him in the house is not really a viable option, but I have to figure it out otherwise he will meet an unfortunate demise. He's OK by the way. I plucked the pellet out of his head with tweezers and he's almost completely healed already, a mere 5 days later. Cats are amazing.

two things:

WHATTA JERK!!!

and

whatta shot!

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hal

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ztirffritz
Someone shot my cat in the head with a pellet gun, so I'm contemplating the same thing. Keeping him in the house is not really a viable option, but I have to figure it out otherwise he will meet an unfortunate demise. He's OK by the way. I plucked the pellet out of his head with tweezers and he's almost completely healed already, a mere 5 days later. Cats are amazing.

two things:

WHATTA JERK!!!

and

whatta shot!

I cannot believe what that guy did! He is a homicidal maniac as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not a big guy - nor a fighter, but if someone shot my cat (even with just a bb).... I'd be very, very VERY upset

Well, if you lived in the right kind of neighborhood, being an outdoor cat could be a heck of a good deal. Bob Cat, of Olympia, Washington, knows the best place to hang out - at the state capitol. Bob has his own blog, and he got a short write up in the political blog of today's local paper.

Monday, January 26th, 2009
That cat who is wandering all over Capitol Campus has a home
Posted by Joe Turner @ 11:55:17 am

He also has a name. It's Bob. As in, Bob Cat. I think.

Anyway, we in the press corps never knew its name, even though he's been hanging around the White House (and the Blue House, and the security guard shack next to Newhouse) for a couple years now.

We called him "The Lobbyist" for a while, but nothing really stuck.

Then, Austin Jenkins, the NPR guy, and Rachel La Corte, the AP gal, put a note around his collar and asked the real owner to contact us. He did. That's how we now know his name is Bob.

Turns out, Bob is pretty well heeled. Belongs to a couple doctors in the neighborhood.

Anyway, now you know his name. And he's also started his own blog.

[capitolcat.blogspot.com]

It might be possible, but you're more likely the one to go insane.

My cats only go outside while I'm out & come back in easily.
The herd has dwindled from 7 to 4, with a 10 week old kitten vying for a shot at becoming an indoor cat.

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hal
I'm not a big guy - nor a fighter, but if someone shot my cat (even with just a bb).... I'd be very, very VERY upset

I saw a female jogger smacking her Boxer on the head with the leather leash for not going the direction she was I almost came to smacking that witch but I didn't. I still feel guilty till this day. I came close to show some guy some manner for aggravating our dog!

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SoCal for now.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2009 07:51PM by kap.

Believe me, I'd be plenty upset if there was any way to find out who did it, but pellet guns leave scant forensic evidence. I suspect that it was done point blank because the pellet was between his eyes, a little above. He feels no pain, but it still made me sad to see him like this. He squirmed a bit when I plucked it out, but other than that, he has shown no sign of any problems.

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Had to add a couple pics. This LC he weighed about 4 lbs. when he
wandered up and now he weighs 17 lbs.
Resting

Mousing

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Harbourmaster
Would that be you, or the cat that is going insane???

I was about to ask the same question. Maybe the answer is BOTH!

Live where there's 8 inches of snow still on the ground and the temps are down around freezing or below every night. He'll be an indoor cat fast enough.

Malibu bugs me from March to November to be outside, but he hasn't gone out, except for a couple minutes once in a while to make sure it's still as bad as last time, since, oh, Thanksgiving or thereabouts.

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And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Western Massachusetts

if I moved to the frozen north, he'd be so shocked, he'd never want to go out. But neither would I...

OK, a picture of my cat....





















OK, seriously....

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this is toby a few days after I first got him - SKINNY



And here he is - happy cat

Have tried domesticating 'wild' cats for 50 years.
Now that all the farms around here are gone, so is thier sustenance so unless someone dumps kittens they are all gone.

Kittens if brought in would be OK, but once they learned to fend for themselves it's an instinct that's hard to ignore. Probably like trying not to be gay when you are.