Letting out the kitten!!

[Mollysmummy]

We've had a kitten for 6 weeks now, an addition to our 1 1/2 year old skittish, anxious girl. They're getting on ok now, but we have to shut him in the living room at night as our older cat has free use of our cat flap.

Anyway, he's 4 months old on 23rd dec and so can be neutered. I'm after some advice on letting him out; our older cat had already had outdoor experience so was quite easy to adjust to indoor/outdoor life.

I'm going to buy a kitten harness and take him outside at different times of day over the next couple of weeks so he gets used to it, but I know I won't get any sleep the first night we leave the flap open!

Does anyone have any more tips? Thanks!

[bobbys girl]

With the occasional exception, all my cats are kept in between about 11PM and 6AM. I certainly don't let the youngest out. I'd never sleep for the worry.

Good luck with the harness! I tried one with Bobby after his op. He so wanted to go out but I was afraid of him hurting himself. He hated the harness and I ended up practically dragging him around the garden. Not one of my better ideas.

Does your youngster like dry food or treats? If you rattle some before meal times and get him use to the sound, then always let him out before you feed him. This SHOULD mean that you can get him back in for meals etc. It worked for me.

Good luck and let us know how you go on.

[Mollysmummy]

Our eldest wakes us up at about 5am every morning wanting to play anyway, I dread to think how often she would wake us if we tried to keep her in!

[meriad]

to be honest, I'd monitor the weather and possibly keep him in until beginning of spring. If he's used to being inside anyway then it shouldn't be too much of an issue, but definitely wait until the New Year is in and the risk of fireworks is done and dusted (hopefully)

Use the time between now and whenever you do decide to let him out to food / treat train him. Mine now come and go as they please 24/7 but for the first few years I used a rattle to call them in. I trained them by shaking the rattle and when they responded to it I'd reward them with a treat. Once they got the hang of that I would shake the rattle and then feed them so they associate that sound with food.

First time you let him out make sure it's on a good day, ideally a Saturday morning so you have the weekend to get used to it. Let him out before breakfast and give him a few minutes to explore. Then call him in and give him a small amount of food, let him back out and give him a few minutes longer then back in and a bit more food and hopefully after a few times of doing that he'll have the hang of it.

Cat flap training may be a different issue so you may have to be doorman for quite some time

good luck!!!!

[Mollysmummy]

Thanks for all the advice! We were going to get him chipped when we got him neutered but he's already made several bids for freedom! So we got it done at his 2nd vaccination.

He's desperate to follow our big girl out of the cat flap which is why I was going to take him out on the harness a few times, if we can get him in it!

I will definitely start the treat training, our older girl could probably do with it too!

Just a random question for the multiple cat owners...when ours chase each other round manically and bat each other then roll around, are they playing or fighting or a bit of both? I've not had 2 cats since I was a kid and then we had a mother and son who doted on each other! I don't want either of them to get hurt if it's fighting, but equally I don't want to seperate them if theyre having fun?

[andy2912]

My two 7 month old kittens, who apparently have never been out, have since this weekend been venturing out in garden and neighbours sheds but cat flap curfew is set at 5pm just now, which means Toby (4 years) goes out for an hour or 2 when i get home at 8pm

Kittens still using indoors trays for toilet lol.
And didn't take them long to suss out cat flap lol. being a chip sure flap.

[sarie]

Cat harness.. reminded me of this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSKatciX3hA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've never had any success with harnesses when trying to train my kittens but it's always worth a shot, every cat is different.

It's up to you and it's everyone's personal choice as an owner, but personally I wouldn't recommend letting him out unsupervised until he's 6 months old, particularly if you're planning on letting him out at night. At 4 months he'll still be quite small and vulnerable to predators which are more prevalent at night.. foxes being the main one but a 4 month old kitten could also make a meal for some of our species of birds of prey. Night time is also when a lot of cats fight for territory and again this isn't ideal for kittens who are too small to fight back.
I know it's not ideal when you have another cat who's using an open access catflap but if you can persevere for just another month or two until he's a bit bigger it would probably be safer for him

First time out is always stressful though I usually start by going out into the garden with them on a weekend when I have time to make sure they're coming back and aren't getting themselves into any danger. I leave the backdoor open and I supervise and whenever they come back into the house I give them treats to reward their return.

Andy - as for continuing to use the indoor trays even when they start going outside, you may find that many cats do this even as adults. My two (aged 5 and 6) occasionally toilet outside but my neighbourhood is a little scary to them as there are a lot of dogs and noisy children and a few territorial cats. As a result, they just don't always feel safe enough to go to the toilet outside so I provide them with a litter tray indoors permanently and it's used daily. I know a lot of people like to live without litter trays but many cats just aren't happy going outside (for whatever reason) and you may find if you remove the tray when they're still using it you'll start finding accidents in the house. Young cats and kittens are particularly likely to feel unsafe toileting outside so are more likely to continue to use the tray for a while. It's not a case of training them to stop, they'll stop if and when they feel safe outside.
Cats who are happy in their outdoor environment may stop using the tray completely and at that point it's up to you if you want to remove it or not, but if the cat starts having accidents inside then you'll need to reinstate it.
I hope that helps

[Kay]

love that video

I think the secret to using a harness is not to attempt to walk the cat on it at first - start by putting it on in the house and letting the cat get used to it - next step attach the lead and let cat trail it around the house - then go outside but stay still yourself, holding the lead, and let cat walk around - start with lead fairly short but gradually increase length

only when cat is used to this routine should you start to follow the cat - never attempt to make the cat go where you want him to - slowly slowly is the way forward

having said this, I totally failed with using a harness on a Siamese, as although all the above went well, she would keep weaving in and out of bushes, and the lead was forever getting tangled up - but had I had a much more open garden I think it would have been OK

[Mollysmummy]

Omg poor Simon! Did make me laugh though!

I hadn't even thought about foxes and birds...hmm you definitely have a point! He's a brave boy but still small and a bit silly so I think I'm going to talk to my husband tonight about closing the catflap at night. Our older girl won't like it but I'm sure she will get used to it, even if we just do it for a couple of months. It also means our little one can come upstairs at night.

[sarie]

The bit where he drags him over the top of the other cat has me creased every time

I hope you and your husband can come up with a good solution for the catflap that doesn't annoying your older girl too much. At least it won't be for too long though, kittens grow so quickly! My little one is eating like a horse already yet he's so tiny!
Having them upstairs at night is really lovely too so that'll be a nice bonus

I think we need more pics.. there aren't enough kitten pics here

[bobbys girl]

When I tried him with a harness Bobby would just sit there. I didn't want to pull or drag hime bacause of the wound. So I bought one of those retractable dog leads. I sat him in the drive and walked over to the seat thinking he might come to me. Nope we just sat there staring at each other. Dismal failure!

rsz_029(2).jpg

I am not amused!

(244.75 KiB) Not downloaded yet

I think that says it all.

Love the video!

[Mollysmummy]

He's beautiful!! How old is he? My 2 tuxedos from when I was a child got that reddish tint to their black fur as they aged, or is it just the sunlight!

[bobbys girl]

Bob is 18mths old now. The photo was taken in June. I think it must be the sunshine, because he is a lovely shiny black now.

[Mollysmummy]

Aww, same age as our older cat she's currently playing with the dining room rug while Kevin looks on! He's learnt loads from her. I worry a bit because she's quite an odd little thing but he only seems to be picking up her good habits!

She doesn't seem to know how to play or be very interested in toys, she's really got to be in the mood and then will only play with a wand type toy. She hates my husband but has grown to like me; she hates being picked up or stroked with 2 hands, closed doors, fish and poultry cat food to mention a few!!

[Mollysmummy]

Well Kevin's been 'snipped', he coped very well with it and doesn't seem to be bothering much with his wound which is good.

We've agreed to wait until the weather is a bit better before we start letting him out; it's pretty miserable and icy still here. Our big girl has got used to asking to be let out in the day/evening so he can have the run of the house, and we keep him in the living room at night and let her come and go as she wants so we're not woken up by her trying to get out. To be fair she's on our bed sleeping from about midnight-5am.

But hopefully in the next 2 months we should be letting him out, he's getting a big boy!

[bobbys girl]

Aw, bless him. A photo would be nice!

[Mollysmummy]

I've got loads of adorable pics of both Kevin and Molly but I have trouble uploading them, they're always too big!

They're both completely black, but Kevin has brown pads and had brown tabby stripes when he was tiny. Molly has a deformed tail from birth, the last inch or so is permanently bent and won't straighten past about 90 degrees. It doesn't cause her pain though and gives her character I think!