Advice from cat owners please re starting to let cat out

A question about : Advice from cat owners please re starting to let cat out

Kitty (2.5 years old) has now been with us two months. We don't have a cat flap (yet) and both work full-time, out 8.30-5.30 Mon-Fri.

My eventual ideal would be to have a flap and have him able to go out during the day (seven days a week). We'd then set the flap to in-only at his dinner time (6pm ish), so once he comes in to eat he's then inside for the night and let out again the following morning.

However, we're keen to start letting him out and getting a flap will take a little while as we need one put in a glass door.

Also, I read that when you first let a cat out you should start with 10 mins one day, 20 mins the next, etc and build up the time. How do we do this when we only have the weekends that we're free during the day?

My idea:
Start at a weekend. Let him out for a short while in the garden when he's due his dinner, then call him in with the dinner sound. Come Monday, we'll have to do this by letting him out when we get home (5.30) then calling him in for dinner.

But... If it ends up taking longer for us to get a flap, he'll end up just having an hour or so out in the evening. We wouldn't let him out during the day when we're at work, as he wouldn't be able to get in. Will it then be hard to re-train him to be out during the daytime? And is it mean to not let him out for very long? Should we just keep him in for a bit longer until we get a flap sorted?

Also, the current plan will mean his initial letting-out will be in the dark when it might be harder for us to spot him if he doesn't come in when called.

Or am I just over-thinking the whole thing?

Best answers:

• I'm inclined to agree you maybe over thinking things. I tend to listen and watch my cat to see what they are comfortable with.
  My cat flap is open 24/7 and they come and go as they please. remember cats are nocturnal generally so like to go outside at night as this is instinctive for them.
  When i first let them out we used to carry them out and keep hold of them, and just for 5 or 10 mins. They seemed happy with this approach and didnt try to jump down, they just had a look and a sniff, then after a couple of days of this i just left the back door open when they were around and went out myself. they tended to follow me when they were happy. they spent so long sniffing for the first week thats all they were interested in,. a couple of times next door's cat or dog came out and the scarpered back in for a while.
  I have always used this approach for my 5 cats
• I've never heard of this 10 minutes, 20 minutes thing before. Usual advice is to go out with them in case they are a bit overwhelmed and do it just before their breakfast so they have an incentive to come back.
  I think though you may be better off waiting until you have the flap installed as if he can't get back in he may assume he's not welcome anymore
  I'd advise paying a bit extra to get a chip enabled flap as these also have modes for keeping puss in at night as well as stopping any other cats coming in. General advice these days seems to be to keep cats in at night but I must admit mine does go out as she'll kick up a fuss if I don't let her have a midnight prowl.
• i used to take mine out in the back garden on a lead!
  It sounds mental but she loved it, and it got her used to where was "hers" and where was a good hiding and scratching place for her. She generally only goes out during the day now and she's in at night. There are the odd nights in the summer where she doesnt come back but not too often
  We both work full time and she can be out from 6am to 6pm or she can be in all day while we are out. We used to leave the window open for her to come and go as she pleased but another cat from up the road was coming in to my house, peeing against all my furniture and eating all her food so we had to stop leaving the window open
• At the moment it's cold anyway. So supervised visits in the garden at the weekend, and then in the evening during the week *if* kitty is interested.
  Cats don't need training to go in or out - they like what they like. Some cats won't go out at all, they don't want to. Others want to be out ALL day, every day. Mine are house-loving cats - I've just moved to a new place with them, and they've been outside, supervised. I need to get a cat flap in a glass door as well, so they won't have regular access until I do that - but as it's cold they're not fussed.
  The main thing is that you don't shut him out if he can't get back in. Better to stay in than not until you have the flap, but if you can let him out every now and then so he gets used to it and learns his territory that will be great.
  HTH
  KiKi
• Don't be surprised, though, if kitty disappears for a day the first time you let him out to stake out his new territory! Some cats will do that!
  But no, it's not mean to only let him out for a bit. I think it's better for cats to have some access than none, and you're planning on a flap anyway, so it's not like this is forever.
  KiKi
• Thanks all.
  Re going out overnight, we won't be letting him (apart from when he fails to come home and we don't have a choice!). I won't be able to relax and, more to the point, the shelter he originally came from rehomes cats on the agreement that they're kept in overnight due to road danger. Perhaps unfortuntely, we're still linked with the shelter even though it was his previous owner that got him from them. They're a shelter who refuse to change the microchip details to us - they always keep it as their contact details. If something happens and his chip is read, they're contacted then they contact us.
  That's why I mentioned that once he comes in during the evening, he'll be in for the night until the flap is opened the next morning.
  We were planning on a microchip flap. There are other cats in the neighbourhood so seemed sensible.
  I wouldn't let him out when he's unable to get back in, so any weekend/evening time outside until we have the flap sorted will have to be when we can check frequently that he's not waiting at the door!
  His previous owner let him out from about 4-10pm ish so he's used to that, but apparently he didn't go further than her back garden for the first few months. We'd rather get him in a bit earlier in the evening so we're not looking for him when we're trying to get to bed and need to sleep. Hence the idea of a flap and letting him go out during the daytime, if he wants to. Will never be forcing him!
  Thanks for the reassurance that a little bit of outdoor time until the flap's installed is OK.
• You could try a bit of Pavlovian training in advance. When you give him treats sound a noise (shake the box or even ring a bell) That way when he is out and about you have a way of tempting him home!
  Do remember to actually treat him each time you do it though - cats need constant rewards for their co-operation - they're not daft like dogs.
• Ours only goes out in the summer. He likes his home comforts too much to venture out in the cold and wet so spends the winter months totally inside. He's also not keen on coming back in through the cat flap and much prefers us to keep the back door open for him.
  They are peculiar little things - you may find that Pops doesn't wander far anyway if he hasn't been showing much inclination to go out so far.
  The first time P went out he disappeared under the hedge and was gone for over an hour. I thought he'd have a 5 min wander round the garden then be back in. I was hysterical, completely OTT reaction lol (in my defence, was on strong hormones at the time!) Now he's had a look around and knows his area he generally stays in the garden.
• On a side note, are you able to get a second chip with your contact details on? I've no idea if that's possible, it may be a silly idea (so ignore me lol )
• Well, we let him out twice yesterday (brief trips out).
  First time we went into the garden ourselves and left the door open. He cautiously ventured out and sniffed around a bit. One thing made me very happy - he repeatedly got freaked out and instantly hurtled back into the house. Very happy his 'escape route' is back into the house and not off into the distance.
  Second time was more confident and he's had a good trot around the perimeter of the garden.
  Both times were short (20 mins or so) because DH was really nervous (bless him). He's only ever had indoor cats before and this was a big step! Once he couldn't take it any more he rattled the dry food box and Pops came running back in. We gave him a couple of dry biscuits each time even though it wasn't meal-time, because we didn't want to fake-call him and he think that he won't always get food when called in.
  More work (mainly for DH rather than Pops ) next weekend. If it were summer he could go out for a bit when we get home from work each day, but I'm reluctant to let him out in the dark until he's been out a few more times, just because it's harder for us to spot him if he runs off.
  tea - I doubt the vet will want to 'install' a second chip but we're going to ask (need to go in April for annual jabs). He has a collar with our details on a tag at least. The rescue centre are really hard to get hold of (they never answer their phone) so I do worry that if something happens it'll take us ages to hear!
• Cute pic!
• Ahh what a sweetie.
  We had all the horrors of letting Pixie out a few weeks back. For the first week or so we stayed out with her in the garden and blocked her routes out to the front. After we were confident she knew the garden and that her instinct was to run for our back door if she was scared, we finally had to just let her get on with it after she hopped over the fence into next door's garden. She's now mastered the art of coming in through the flap, but not going out yet! We're having to partially prop the flap open with a peg then remove the peg when she's gone out so she can get back in. Today she's been out about 10 times, previous days it's only been once or twice, never for more than about 5-10 minutes today though.
  If I were in your situation I'd only be letting him out in daylight even if that means that he's only going out at the weekends. It's only a few weeks until it starts getting lighter in the evenings, it's nothing in terms of the lifespan of your cat, you really don't want to lose him.
  Has he still got the blue fur?