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Old April 11th, 2010, 09:34 PM
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14+kitties 14+kitties is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by muddmutt View Post
Hi 14 kitties...how do I get him back to being an indoor cat? I believe part of his anger is the fact that I make him come in and don't let him out at every "meow"..this is very frustrating and the significant other believes quite the contrary as you, that he wants to stay out and is angry with me for not letting him out. I am on my own regarding this, no support, except for this site, and mind you, I sit in front of a PC all day and this is the last thing I want to do is type away my evening, but I care for Desi and want him to be happy and content, I appreciate all your advise and only wish I never let him out to begin with. Keep in mind the first 5 years we lived in an apartment on the 8th floor, so they were not going out. Now were in this 4 level townhouse with the deck off the woods. It began innocently, letting them on the deck and Lucy has always been so good and still is, stays close. He takes off and running. One night he growled at me for corralling him in. I just don't know how to proceed.
Y'know, it's always a little humourous to me when people say "I can't make my cat stay indoors." I know they don't mean it's because the cat overpowers them or anything but that is always the picture I get in my head. I mean, picture a what, 10, 15 pound cat making a human that outweighs them at least 10 times let them outside. Does the cat hold a gun to their head? Does he physically make them open the door? Does he demand they let him out or they will get no food?
I don't mean to make light of your situation. Believe me, there is not much I, as a cat owner many many times over, have not gone through. Right now I have four cats in the house that barely spent any time outdoors when they were tiny. Occasionally they may get curious about outside but very seldom ever try to get out.
I have four others that were outdoors full time now in the house. One is very ill so I can't really count him. Another shows absolutely no interest in going out. He did when I first brought him in a few months back. Now, nadda. One more is a house kitty because she did the impossible for a cat. She climbed upside down on an unstable fence to get out of the cat sanctuary I have. Cats aren't supposed to be able to do what she did. The other is being treated for an abscess. She is totally an outdoor cat being semiferal and normally allowed to roam the farm. She won't be allowed any more. I don't want to have to go through patching her up again. She's complaining a little. Well, a lot actually. Meows quite a bit. You learn to harden your heart to their pitiful show of evoking sympathy because you know you are doing the right thing for them.
I noticed you say you "corraled him in". Does that mean you cornered him? If so that is the absolute worse thing you can do to a cat who is showing the aggressive tendencies he is showing. A cornered cat will react with claws and teeth. If all you got was a growl consider yourself very lucky.
The biggest thing you need to do, as I think Winston said, is to redirect his wanting to go out. Get some of those wand toys or even a simple string. Start waving it close to him. Not in his face or he may react in a way you don't want him to. Tie the string to your belt loop and walk around trailing it. He will probably be so intent on trying to catch it he will forget about outside. It is also a great way to bond with your kitty.
You said for the first five years of his life he was an indoor kitty up high on the 8th floor. Mmmmm, 8th floor. He would not have been able to see a strange cat from that level. Or, for that matter, anything else that is now acting as a "trigger" for his behaviour. When he starts acting like he is going to attack try to lure him into "his" calm room. A room where he can chill for a while that has all of his favourite things in it. A room with hopefully no window or a window high enough he can not get to it to look out. If he is at the point where he is going to attack throw a towel over his eyes and try to get him into a carrier. Hopefully from there you can get him to his room. He needs to be able to calm himself past the point of attack.
Sorry this has turned into a novel. He was an indoor only cat for five years. He can be again.
Here are a few websites to read. Maybe have your husband read them too. Hopefully they will provide you with some insight.

http://fly.hiwaay.net/~keiper/indoors.htm

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cats-1606...indoor-cat.htm

http://cats.about.com/cs/catmanageme...ooroutdoor.htm
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