Indoor Cat going Out

[Red wine lady]

Hello Everyone

We are moving house in the New Year (whoop, whoop) and in fairness Oscar has played a big part in the house we have bought!! The house has a long front garden & drive and a good size garden at the back with tall hedges (hedgehog paradise, I'm told) with open fields beyond. The only draw back in there is a busy road at the front (I live in the Lakes, so it's not the M6 but our lanes are very busy).

Oscar has always been an indoor cat and his previous owner has never let him out, he is now 6. However, he is the most curious of cats with loads of energy and I often feel he is bored (even with his tunnels, toys etc.), so we have decided to let him out when we moved out (obviously not for a couple of months).

We just can't cat proof the gardens entirely, but will try to divert him from using the front. Any recommendations how to break him in gently ??

Merry Christmas x

[MarySkater]

I made a cat proof area in my garden, using the existing fence and house wall as two sides, and getting fencing put in for the other two sides, with netting across the top:

Cat safe garden.jpg (154.18 KiB) Viewed 1617 times

If you can't do something like this, you can at least encourage him to go out the back, and discourage him from the front. It's usually recommended that, the first few times you let him out, do it when he's due to have a meal, so he'll be hungry and you should be able to call him back inside.

Good luck - I'm sure he'll enjoy the new environment.

[Lilith]

Yes, agree with Mary.

Lucky Oscar - and you too! Wishing you all all the best in the new home

[Red wine lady]

I made a cat proof area in my garden, using the existing fence and house wall as two sides, and getting fencing put in for the other two sides, with netting across the top:
Cat safe garden.jpg
If you can't do something like this, you can at least encourage him to go out the back, and discourage him from the front. It's usually recommended that, the first few times you let him out, do it when he's due to have a meal, so he'll be hungry and you should be able to call him back inside.

Good luck - I'm sure he'll enjoy the new environment.

Loving your garden x

[Red wine lady]

Yes, agree with Mary.

Lucky Oscar - and you too! Wishing you all all the best in the new home

Thank you...and have a very Merry a Christmas x

[MarySkater]

Loving your garden x

At first I wondered about cat proofing the whole garden, but for various reasons that would have been tricky (and expensive) to do. By staking out a simple rectangle for them (it's about 3 x 10 metres) it became a lot easier. There were a couple of escapes in the early days, but I've found and blocked all the weak spots now, and "furnished" it a bit for them. They have 24/7 access to it, and use it a lot. And I have great peace of mind, knowing that they can't wander off and get lost or hurt.

The area to the right of the pen is also my garden. In winter I put up a bird feeder there - it gives my cats some "TV" to watch!

[Lilith]

Merry Christmas to you and Oscar too x

We're Pagans (well I am and I think the cats are too) so we do Yule really, which is today, but as far as the cats are concerned they get a special Yule dinner AND a Christmas dinner