One of our dearly departed kitties (Puss-n-Boots) was a stray living rough near our house for a couple of years before he would come anywhere near me. It took a few weeks of concerted effort, bringing him food and sitting quietly, before he would come close. But, the first time I petted him, he started drooling heavily. I was worried it meant he was sick, so I called a vet to make sure.
Nope, not sick, he just had not had any love for a long time. He was fixed, so he was someone’s cat at one time, but I think he was dumped (we’re just outside of a small town). Puss-n-Boots was my devoted friend after that, and lived with us for a couple of years until his wanderlust took him out to the highway, and he was hit by a car.
Manny has tried to go up the (long) driveway to the road a few times. When I see it, I go get him and lock him in the bathroom for an hour or so. There is a nice kitty bed in there, and water and a litterbox, so it’s not prison. I’m trying to convince him there is nothing down there he needs, and it ends with him in kitty-jail.
I have indoor cats; whenever they get past me and end up outside, I let them get to the garage door, and then trigger the automatic door. That generally scares them back indoors.
My SO grew up in the country along a major highway. What with cars and predators, the cats never lasted long. So we have a strict indoor-only rule. Fortunately the kitties don’t seem interested in the doors to the outside, or when they do get too close, respond to a major “shoo!”
Surprisingly, time-outs do seem to work with cats . . . sometimes, more or less. But it’s really hard to train them to not do something they want to do. Easier to train them to do something they haven’t done before, provided the treat is good enough!
our cats are all-indoor only, too. they don’t even seem to care to go out, but i still worry they’ll try. they seem perfectly happy to hang by an open window and watch the world through a screen… even when the door is wide open, they just sit far back and kind of look, but that’s it. the outside is full of things that startle them, so maybe that’s why they just don’t even bother to try.
Only one of ours has ever been indoor-only and that was with her previous person (who passed away, that’s why she came here). All the others were born in an auto shop, or got here on their somehow, so keeping them in doesn’t work that well.
When the weather was super cold, I did keep them in, and cat society was on the verge of a major revolt, with fighting among themselves and destroying things.
I know they are safer inside, but if it was me, I’d want to get to go play outside. It can be said that I anthropomorphize my cats too much, but they are sentient creatures, and I can’t do otherwise.
Edit: Our dearly departed Stinky used to go trekking for days at a time, sometimes a week, but she always came back. In the end, it was cancer that took her. It wasn’t any easier, there is always grief at the end of their little lives. I just hope the joy and goodness of their living makes it all worthwhile, from their perspective.
well, our two cats are siblings, and came from next door at 8 weeks old, so they literally have known nothing else but indoors anyway. they keep each other company and seem very happy as all-indoor cats. i am sure if they got a taste of being outdoors it would change them, but we are not really inclined to let them out after experiences we’ve had with previous cats. if we had thought about it early enough we might have gotten them used to being in a harness for walks… that would probably be much healthier for them than just being mostly sedentary, indoor cats.
We are back to cat normal here after the year’s rough beginning. Dyson’s eating with no toof problems. Talia was able to ditch her e-collar a week ago, after 9 miserable (I assume) days. She had a recheck at the vet and all was fine, except for that brief time when she disappeared:
