2009 Omlet cube and run for sale

[rachelk]

Hello All

 

I would love your wisdom please.

 

I have rehomed a cat from a work colleague. She is 18 months old, and was picking on her companion so needed to go to a single cat household. We have had her just over two weeks now, and have kept her inside the whole time. She seems quite happy, lets the kids carry her round, and last night jumped up on my lap of her own accord! She is starting to show an interest in going out the door now, and I am wondering how much longer I should keep her in?

 

The house she came from is about 6 - 7 miles away. She has moved from a house on a very busy main road - although she was only allowed out to the back garden which backed onto other gardens but just a very quiet lane. Our house is on the edge of a village with other gardens around us. My main concern is her trying to get back 'home' again, our next door neighbour has just moved 4 miles away and her cat has turned up back here, and since disappeared.

 

Any ideas how much longer I should keep her in, or shall I start letting her out? How would I go about this - we've put a cat flap in, and I seem to remember shoving my old cat backwards and forwards through it a few times!

 

Thanks!!

[beach chick]

hi rachelk - personally, I would keep her in for another week if you can, just to make sure she really knows where 'home' is and is completely comfortable with you and the family.

then I would make sure she knows the sound of mealtimes - kibbles hitting the bowl, you calling, whatever - and deliberately let her be hungry for a couple of hours. then let her out for half an hour or so, and then call her using your food sign. this should reinforce the home=food=good place thinking.

I'm sure it will still be nerve-wracking, but unless you want her to be an indoors cat you will have to do it sometime!

good luck xx

[Couperwife]

you could go out with her. make sure you can see her and you talk to her.

 

Does she know her name? you could call her over to you after about 5 minutes and then take her back inside

 

a few years ago my mum and dad got a new cat about 3 days before Christmas day, Christmas morning at about 7am when my dad opened the back door she got out and bolted mum and dad were gutted.

a few hours later mum opened the front door to little cat and the "its too cold, I dont know anyone, I wanna come home now"

 

cathy

x

[rachelk]

Thanks for your help!

 

She doesn't seem to come when you call her name, only if it suits her! (We have kept the same name as her previous owner) making sure she is hungry is a good idea. Think I might take her out with me this morning as for once the weather is dry!!

 

Wish me luck ..............

[Seagazer]

You could always put a little collar and lead on her. My parents did that when we moved once and walked the cats around the garden a few times before they let them out on their own.

 

On the whole my cats have always managed when we've moved although one did go back to our old house which wasn't far away, she kept him for me until I could pick him up. I think we always did the old butter on the paws trick, whether this works or is an old wives tale I've no idea.

 

Good luck, it is nerve-wracking having to do it.

[chicken bark]

When I have moved houses with my cats after a week or so I carry them around the garden for a few minutes each day and post them back in through the cat flap. I also only do this when they haven't eaten and have a nice dish of grub waiting for them when they get back in.

 

I have been very lucky and never lost one. My eldest cat has lived in at least 8 houses. I'm never moving again though!

[rachelk]

My YD took her outside on Saturday morning and stood her don next to the chickens. Cue cat tearing back into house and hiding, followed by YD who said ' the chickens hate her, they just ran in their house and all their feathers have flown off!!!!!!!'

(anyone else got visions of bald chooks?)

 

Anyway, have had the back door open all morning and she has been in and out sniffing round the garden. As its a new cat flap she doesn't seem to have the strength to push the door open yet, as its still quite sticky. I have been going out and calling her and she comes back. I was about to go and call her again and she appeared in the kitchen, so came in of her own accord.

 

Am feeling a bit more confident now!!

 

Something to make you smile - My brother was sitting in front the TV last night, and heard an enormous racket. On investigation he found his cat wandering around with a empty tuna fish tin attached to the magnet on her collar! Poor thing!

[Olly]

I've moved several times with cats, and not had a problem. It sounds as if she knows you and is settled, and she obviously knows the way back to the door now.

 

The first time you let her out on her own don't be worried if she is gone for a long time. In my experience they like to have a good long explore and discover the boundaries of their new territory, and it doesn't matter if this takes hours and means they miss a meal.

 

The cat-flap is a sore point with me; Claudette is now in her second winter with me, and she refuses to use the cat-flap although she loves the garden. I had it pegged open in the summer but it's too cold now. I've never had this problem before, I have always been able to train cats by pushing them gently through it a few times. If I did that with Claudette I'd probably need a trip to A&E, as she is not a cat that likes being handled! Hopefully yours will cotton on fast.

 

Re the magnet ... I once found my cat with a teaspoon on his collar!

[Lavenders_Blue]

Something to make you smile - My brother was sitting in front the TV last night, and heard an enormous racket. On investigation he found his cat wandering around with a empty tuna fish tin attached to the magnet on her collar! Poor thing!

 

Those magnetic collars can be quite entertaining, can't they?

When I was small, we used to look after a neighbour's cat when they went on holiday. He had a magnetic collar and on many an occasion we found him wandering around our kitchen with assorted cutlery stuck to his collar!

[CatieB]

Everything Beach Chick said is what we were told by Battersea dogs home when we rehomed our cat apart from the fact they were very insistant that a rehomed cat needs to stay in for 6 weeks!!

 

Re the cat flap, instead of pushing the cat through wait til feed time and put you and the bowl the other side of the flap, holding the flap open, the cat should hopefully come through for food. Then go back the otherside and repeat. Once the cat has gone through a couple of times let the flap down, but not engaged, so it pushes it, then finally repeat with the flap engaged. Hope that makes sense. When hungry the cat seems to get it quite quickly.

[rachelk]

Its all becoming clear - she didn't have a cat flap at her old house, which is why she is just looking at it in a slightly gormless way. Will have to do some prolonged teaching!

[Space Chick]

When we rehomed our cat he'd never used a cat flap before, but he soon got the hang of it when we bribed him with food

[beach chick]

I seem to remember propping the cat flap open at first, and then having food/treats either side of it, and then letting the flap down and 'assisting' the cat through it doesnt take them long to work it out!