Jerseygirl

I always wondered why you never see cats roaming around like you do in the UK. Most cats are house cats because of the wildlife. I wonder if cats that are used to roaming freely get used to suddenly becoming house cats.

chartreuse

The kitten has been an indoor cat most of her life, but we do see outdoor cats round here. Though we have a lot of wildlife, that doesn't seem to be the problem - rather it's cars and trucks that seem to kill most of them.

Bermudashorts

One of my cats is a pampered persian and he is used to being a house cat, if he were an outdoor cat his coat would be even harder to keep tidy than it already is! The other one goes out regularly and we live in the country but I think a fox will be the scariest thing he might have come across.

Jerseygirl

In 13 years I've only seen one cat outside and it was huge. I thought it was a mountain lion...but honestly it was an enormous pale ginger cat.

chartreuse

I've never seen a mountain lion, though we do get cougars round here, apparently. Some folks like to hunt them, but although I could hunt deer (to eat) I could never bring myself to shoot any kind of kitten.

Jerseygirl

Speaking of cats...this story has just been aired on the TV.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...rre&id=7027337

chartreuse

Bastards. :curse: Makes me want to go to the city of brotherly love - with a baseball bat. And I don't play baseball.

Jerseygirl

My husband said they should cut their hands off.

chartreuse

That would work. Even better, just take them to the zoo and chuck them in with the tigers.

PepsiChic

Well, my ginger tom seems to have adapted better now he has the kittens to play with and look after (hes been mothering them)

When he first arrived at the house the travelling and new smells and people scared him and he spent a lot of time hiding in his bed.

Eventually he started to roam around the house and he settled into house life quite fine. After a month or so i noticed he was becoming unusually quiet and wasnt playing with the numerous toys we had bought to keep him occupied.

We suggested getting a kitten, but ended up rescuing 2, he wanted nothing to do with the girls at first and hissed at them if they got too close. we've had the kittens 2 months now and he loves them. Washes them after they eat, makes room for them in his bed when they climb in to be with him and he plays with them really gently.

Hes back to playing with his toys and running around the house again which is a GREAT relief.

So my sum-up is, yes going from an outdoor cat to a indoor cat did affect him, but providing him with company, space to roam in the house and plenty of toys and affection seems to have solved the problem!

(I did try taking him out on a harness which i did back home occasionally but he hated every minute of it here)

Id love to let him outdoors here during the day, but im worried he wont come back to the house as hes scared of MIL's kids and they live here. The girls will most likely stay as indoor cats when they are older and they are fine out on the harness in the yard.

Bermudashorts

When my persian was about six months old, I bought a harness for him to take him out in the garden. He hated it, lay down and made himself a dead weight, I was dragging him round. I think I tried one more time but then gave it up as a bad job

PepsiChic

Wirelessly posted (LG-GR500/V10f Teleca/Q7.0 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 UP.Link/6.3.1.17.06.3.1.17.0)

The thing to remember with harnesses and cats is they arent dogs and therefore wont walk on a leash likr a dog.

The weight of the harness on the cats body will make it spend the first few tries just lying down or walking in a crouch position.

Dragging kitty around doesnt help improve kitties mood thats for sure.

Its a case of rewarding the kitty lots, it walks foward, treat, it comes over to you treat. Youtube clicker training cats. A click reward system works wonders!

We put the harness on my tom cat when he was almost 2 first we just let him get used to it, a few hours a day just wearing it, after lying down for an hour he got bored and started moving. Took a while before i could get him good on it but eventually did!

chartreuse

Yep. It was the same with The Kitten. When she was very poorly, we took her out in the garden on a harness, to try to cheer her up. She had refused to do have anything to do with it, up until then, but once we found something she wanted to do more than she disliked the harness, she was fine.

Ooh ooh - did you get a new phone?

PepsiChic

Wirelessly posted (LG-GR500/V10f Teleca/Q7.0 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 UP.Link/6.3.1.17.0)

another tip, if you have indoor cats - especially if they used to be outdoor cats - get them a vitamin supplement. Walmart sells a 100 tablet bottle in the pet aisle for cats and kittens, its about $5 a bottle.

The reason i say this is a good investment is because cats get a good amount of vitamin and nutrients from things outside. Grass, dirt, bugs.
Also vitamin d will help with kitties fur and skin, which they would normally get from the sun. Cats shed a lot more without vitamin d.

Cod liver oil is great for fur and joints too for older kitties.