I hate my cat. I did not sign up for this

[Ragcatdoll]

3 year old male ragdoll. Bought from reputable breeder as a kitten. Researched the breed before buying. Consensus was I was signing up for a “living breathing teddy bear who will follow you everywhere”.

Reality is an unfriendly bored cat whose only aim in life is to leave his home. He has a 3 storey house to explore. Cat trees. Multiple toys. His 3 year old sister from same litter to play with. Attention all day from my grown up DS who works from home and my DH.

Did I mention I spent 4k professionally cat proofing my garden which he has access to 24/7 via a cat flap? Still not happy.Sits by front door screaming day and night to go out. Tries everything to get out the front including leaping from 2nd floor window which he did on Saturday. I’ve had enough.

Hes spent all day crying at the front door to go outside even though he has a secure back garden!!

I can’t cope with him anymore. Didn’t sign up for this. Not sure what else I can do except let him go outside the front where we have a road, a quiet road, but a road none the less. All I see on social media are ragdolls who lay around the house sleeping all day quite content.

His sister is lovely, loves her back garden & is a content little thing. He on the other hand is making the whole family miserable,

You need to let him out girl

Mine is a ragdoll mix

She let herself out of an open window one night and has been going out ever since

Should've seen her cheeky face after her first night 😄

She goes out from about 8 till 2 - i peovide breakfast and then feed her at 2 once she's back in

Get yourself a good tracker, a neck collar that says 'don't feed me' and don't feed him through the day, you'll be fine

We're looking for another cat at the moment and s/he will also be a house and back garden cat. I'm not risking the cat being shot by some arsehole with a catapult.

I also have no intention of taking the cat proofing down and allowing the neighbours cats to crap in the back garden! We had to buy a cat repellant for the front garden so they aren't having the back as well!

I’ve just read that you don’t hate him really. Why say it then?

i dont have any helpful reflections beyond thinking its so weird that the uk is the only country i’ve lived where this post would elicit these responses (not saying it’s incorrect or correct, just that the uk seems to be the only one where letting cats roam seems universally accepted)

but please op can i see a pic of your cat?

If he's that miserable about being cooped up and you're miserable with him being miserable, the only option is to let him out and take the risk.

Otherwise, would he tolerate a harness and be led out the front? Once he's seen it out there he might lose interest that it's not as exciting as he thought?!

I lived on a relatively busy road and only used to let the cat out in the back garden. I know the cat could have figured out how to get round, but she never did, though she did bolt out the front door a couple of times, which was, frankly, terrifying.

Now we live on a quiet road, though there are some idiots that still try and get up to as fast a speed as they can in 100 yards. The risk is still there, but at the end of the day, I need to live my life too and the thought of putting up with a screaming cat while I have to worry about opening doors and windows does sound miserable.

You don't keep children locked up because bad things could happen. Let the cat out and live a happy cat life and know that you have done the right thing by the cat you love. If you love your cat, you must hate that he's miserable.

I think you need to let him out. He really wants to and keeping him trapped in, momatter how much you have made an effort to provide the correct environment for him, is clearly not workin.

Oohhh I knew you’d be talking about a Ragdoll before I even opened your thread. They are hard work! My Mum has one, adopted from Battersea (red flag in hindsight as how many pedigree Ragdolls do you find in a shelter?!) and he is absolutely impossible to please at times.

Ragdolls aren’t known for being streetwise, so he also has 24/7 access to the entire house and a large, catproofed garden that he tries to escape constantly because he fancies it, and then can’t figure out how to get back Ragdolls are also not renowned for their intelligence either…dumb as rocks.

My DP has done about 50 repair jobs to my Mum’s bloody fence because DCat (and his mates!) regularly damage it. It’s like fucking Prison Break. Anyone would think he lived in a birdcage the way he carries on despite all his protests, he still isn’t allowed out of the front door because it’s a busy road and he would just lie down in front of a bus. If he somehow dodged the buses, someone would probably steal him.

He also goes off brands of food as soon as we find one he likes and dare to buy more than one box of it at a time. We’re down to two safe brands now. I say ‘we’ as if he’s our bloody cat but we don’t even live there; that cat is a whole-family team effort! We all adore him even though he’s a complete arse.

I don’t really have any answers for you OP, just solidarity as I am also beholden to a feline terrorist that isn’t even mine

Did you tell him when he was a kitten what the rules were? Did he sign up for them? No? Well, you are being very unreasonable to hate him for being what he is. He's a cat, not a teddy bear.

Let him out?! My ragdoll goes out, doesn't venture far, but he loves exploring the bushes and neighbouring gardens. I know it's a risk letting them out but I don't think it's fair to never let them explore the outdoors, it would be like having a dog and not walking them.

Some cats are like that I'm afraid they just won't stay in. My persian Smoky would have perished inside he made it quite clear there was no way he'd stay in so out he went.
He fought foxes and killed seagulls and once bullied my ex husband into a corner to show him who was the alpha male.
He lived to a good age. But yes the anguish is real, we do worry about them all the time.
We used to call Smoky the small eared psycho.

@Ragcatdoll I feel it’s the cat that’s had enough !
Let him out where he is ment to be !

Although OP, I’d probably ask MN to move this to The Litter Tray as you’ll just get 1000 people saying to ‘just let him out’ in Chat without considering that Ragdolls are generally not built for outdoor survival like most cats are!

No, it's not. Domesticated cats are not wild animals. Right to roam is outdated and obselete thinking in a world where pet owners live on busy roadways, not down on the farm. Plus neighbours don't appreciate cats shitting in their flower beds.

Love your dogs face 🤣

You bought a cat because of its teddy bear tendencies and are confounded because it is more like, well, a cat.

Bit late for should haves but a better option if you wanted an indoor cat you would have been to adopt one that required it for genuine reasons, not because a dodgy breeder or Instagram idiot said it was acceptable.

You may find he just wants to see what's outside and it isn't a regular requirement once he's tried it.

Yes there is actually. My cat is an indoor cat. Hate me all you want. He's a rescue, I saved his life, but unfortunately it was too late for his eyes. He's completely blind, therefore has to be an indoor cat. He's living his best life and spoiled rotten.

Let the poor boy out for god's sake!!!!! I have a ragdoll he roams the fields all day and is a very happy sweet boy

I have a rescue with severe nystagmus, crossed eyes and a bad case of pica. She isn’t allowed unsupervised outdoor access either because 1) the vet isn’t sure how well she can actually see and 2) she would absolutely eat something that would kill her if allowed to roam. She is content with indoor life and garden time when there is a human to make sure she is safe!

Yes I have a house cat! He's completely blind. And we live on a busy road, he would be dead within seconds. Instead he's living his best life INDOORS and spoiled rotten.

I think some cats just want to be outdoors. We’ve got 3 who are indoors and none of them have ever shown the slightest bit of interest in getting out. Neighbours have one who sits on a window ledge happily watching life go by, and another who only goes home to eat. They are different just like people and this one is clearly of the outside variety!

Similar story here, my latest rescue has had a procedure which means he struggles to jump high - he’d be a sitting duck for predators! All these outside people obviously think we should let our pets out to be killed.

There's a difference between keeping a sick or disabled cat inside for their safety, and forcing an otherwise healthy cat to live a confined life because of your own anxieties, though.

Do not let him out!. The argument of "cats need to be outside", is the same for all pets. If he wants to go out, keep him safe and walk him with a harness. Don't be an idiot and let him out to kill wildlife and potentially do the same to himself.

be responsible.

FGS rehome it, to someone who will understand its need to roam outside house and back garden.