Question:
Recently, an adorable kitty cat adopted me. It is an outside cat. How can I train it to be an inside cat? I feed it on my screened-in porch. I leave the door open a crack, and it goes in and out at will. I put a litter box on the porch, but it ignores it. I plan to put an insulated cat house on the porch for the winter if all else fails. I would appreciate your help. Thank you.
A.V., Westerly, RI Feb 11, 2007
Answer:
The first step is to get the cat amenable to being petted and held. Then get the cat into a carrier and to the vet for a checkup and shots. Spay/neuter a month later. Make indoor life fun for your cat with environment/habitat enrichments like a cat "condo" or a secure tree branch to climb. Tack strips of carpet spiced with catnip tea to backs of furniture for it to claw, and put them on a sunny windowsill to invite the cat to lounge.Visit the local pet store, and check out all the creative toys designed just for cats. Consider adopting a healthy, younger cat for companionship.Some cats that want to get outdoors can be scared back indoors and develop an aversion to going out when spooked by a large umbrella being opened beside them, or a person covered in a large towel or bed sheet jumping up and down in the yard.
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