Our cat wants out.
At every opportunity, he escapes out the front, back or garage door. If the door is shut, he smashes his little face against it until the door pops open and quietly slips away. He leisurely sniffs around the porch, taking in the fresh air - until he realizes that he has been spotted. At that point he dashes off the porch into a bush, under the porch or some other place from where he cannot be retrieved. Once in a secure hiding spot, he will not respond to his name, toys, food, bribes or threats and only returns when he feels like it a few hours later.
I think this is all normal behavior for indoor cats, who are naturally outdoor animals. The only problem is that when we adopted him years ago, he was already declawed. This was one of the reasons we chose him, especially since my husband is very attached to his electronic toys and the wires they come with. This makes our cat's little jail break episodes life threatening. He could be attacked by another cat, dog or animal and would have a hard time defending himself.
In addition, I fear he may pick up outdoor "issues" and bring them into our home. Ticks hitching a ride, dirt tracked on the floor where the baby crawls, poison ivy oils on his fur, and who knows what else! Just yesterday he was seen fraternizing with some neighborhood cat. How dare he roll around with some strange cat and then saunter back into our home!
I am not sure how to deal with this problem aside from sending him to live with someone else. Any advice?
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Oh cats are always amusing to me. I like to watch their goofy behavior. We don't own a cat and probably never will. Do you have a back yard that is fenced to let him out in? I don't know just a thought.
ReplyDeleteOur cat is strictly a house cat, but we let him out in the garage. The garage is his "outdoors." He revels in it. But, again, it is in again out again all day long, just as if it were outside.
ReplyDeleteHe has killed a couple of mice and a garden snake in the garage, so there is no totally keeping the cat away from outside stuff. I always hope the mice hadn't been in the seed corn (seed corn is sprayed with pesticides before planting, here in farm country). That can kill a cat.
See if your cat will be content to stay in the garage or something. Or, how about a chain-link moveable dog kennel with a chain-link top on it? You can buy those in home-improvement stores or sporting goods stores, I think.
Our cat still tries to escape to the real outdoors, though. I feel bad for him, but don't want him to pick up outside stuff, like you said, or get hit by a car or stolen.