How to make my cat stay at home?

Hi, Marie,

          First ,easiest & best solution is as others have suggested to neuter your male. Un-neutered male cats have a natural, instinctive desire to mate & roam for a mate.There are clinics which you can find out about through the Humane Shelter in your area where the cost to neuter your cat is much more reasonable than what a regular vet will charge. There is a lot of misinformation about neutering an animal. Not only is easier on a male, but the recovery is short & relatively painless. Also, your male cat will live longer, get in fewer fights( if any )with other males, not get infections & cuts from being in fights with other cats, and not spray your furniture. Also, neutering your cat will make him a better pet because he will not be so focused at escaping & will probably be more affectionate with you as well.

Second suggestion,I have rescued a feral cat and one of the things I discovered from an excellent resource, “Cats for Dummies” (they have a section just on feral cats)., was to establish a safe room. What that means is that you set up a room where you keep the cat at first. You put his litter box, food etc., in there. This gives the cat a sense of security. Keep the cat in there for awhile, and gradually let him out for a little while maybe while you pet or cuddle him. Eventually, you can let him go out in other room. I have 7 cats, and my cats like to go back to their safe room frequently. What’s nice about this, too is that you can confine your cat when people come in & out of your house, or repairmen come into your home. The cat will not be let out accidentally. Also, you can condition your cat not to go out the door by using a spray bottle with water in it ( direct the stream of water at his face), or try to find a toy that blows air which you can direct into his eyes (cats don’t like air blowing in their eyes). I use this last trick on one of my female cats who is so smart that she waits by the door when I am coming back from walking my 2 dogs. I keep the toy right by the door, and squeeze the toy (a fish) which blows air out of the fishes mouth & direct the air at her face. Now, when she sees the fish she runs away from the door.

The last thing you might want to do,( after you get him neutered), is to adopt a rescued female cat. There are many very reasonable sources. This will keep him happy to have another cat to keep him company indoors, someone other than you who will play with him & can be there when you are away at work,etc. My cats love to play with each other, and they still love me. In fact, having multiple cats has added only more pleasure & fun to my household. Marie, I sure hope this helps you with your situation! Good luck! :-) :-)

un-nuetered cats will roam, it is their instinct to look for food and mates. Cats are a lot more feral than we give them credit for, they are not nice little pussy cats but killing machines of great ferocity! The only way to make him stay close to home is to have him neutered. Keeping him in against his will won’t work as he’ll probably turn destructive and trash the room!

nuter him i think might help its worth the try and u can always keep him as n inside cat

my family has 3 cats all inside they never go outside

get him fixed and take him out on a leash like I did.

marie1991,

if your cat likes it outside you should let it be happy and run where it pleases, but if you are one of those over protective mothers you should stick with your instints and keep her inside your safe encloser. and if she just wont give up on wanting to go outside you can make your home more interesting with these fun exsecers such as a cat tree and fun little toys & cat nip and you can find them almost anywhere at any time. so have fun wit it.

yes get him fixed and keep in inside trust me its for his own good,there are low cost neuter vets. and marie thats a good answer…

keep your cat indoors

dont let him out the doors.