To keep my outdoor cat inside due to weather

[MumOfOneAllAlone]

Just wondering

I kept her in this morning because it was raining and then it started snowing so I kept her in all day

She's only a year old and started going out during the summer of this year so we've never dealt with this before

She looks so sad just wandering about the house. I played with her quite a bit but I need a break, between entertaining her and dd all day, I'm exhausted!

Should I continue to keep her in this week? Do you keep your cats in for the whole of winter? Tia x

Ps, here she is, the cutie 🥰

Remember OP she is wearing a fur coat so the cold is no big deal!

Cats are great survivors and always please themselves - so you can be sure that if she's at all uncomfortable she will come home ASAP!

She will come back if she’s cold

I just came on to say that is one cute cat - and looking pretty smug too

One of my cats, sadly no longer alive, used to love snow.

He'd pull it towards him with his paws until he'd made a good pile and then leap on top of it.

Used to keep him busy for ages.

Cats are smart they'll come indoors when they've had enough of the outside world and are feeling a bit chilly.

YABU. You need to leave the door ajar so that she can have free access all day to decide to whether to go in... out... in... out 😂

Mine too. She'll go out the back door and come in the front door ten minutes later in inclement weather.

Mine has a magnetic cat flap, cheaper than the microchip ones but won't let in every cat in the neighbourhood. It's also a 'large cat small dog' flap as my cat has arthritis so won't 'squeeze' through a small space. I fitted the flap myself using the template in the box and a hacksaw.....

When we had that super hot summer a year or two back I was freaked out by all the dire warnings from the RSPCA about cats and the risk to them of the high temperature. My front garden is always hot, I have to get drought resistant Mediterranean plants to survive. So I kept patting my three cats with cold water and put damp towels down for them. They all got really irritated by these actions and all three went out.
My old boy lay in the direct sun on his back in the front yard for ages. I measured the temperature at 36 degrees. He did go into the shade for the rest of the day but it was still about 32 degrees.
Cats do not care to be dictated to. And I decided to try to stop wasting so much of my life worrying about them. It hasn't worked.

My cat went out last night...she came back within the hour looking most displeased with the cold weather. It's even colder tonight so will see if she attempts it!

@Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit - cats were originally from the desert so they like a bit of heat! Not so keen on wet or cold.

After decades of being a cat slave I have learned that as long as the Cat Lord has food, water, treats, a comfy place to sleep and to come and go exactly as they please then my life as their servant is much easier. Current old guy is snoring on his heated pad (which is under his favourite faux fur blanket) having been out to briefly patrol his boundary and have a pee! He spends most of the summer outside and most of the winter inside.....

I only let my cats out during daylight hours
Edit- so if something bad happens I'm awake/around to help as fast as possible

@MumOfOneAllAlone Train her with a set of jangly keys and every time she comes, give her a Dreamie (or similar). Make up a set with old keys or something that makes more noise than shaking a Dreamies packet. The sound carries further and if she ever goes missing, you can more easily jangle the keys all round the neighbourhood. This works really well for my two cats.

I once saw a video where they hung a bell on a long cord by the back door and the cats quickly learned to ring the bell to gain entry…but I haven’t tried that yet myself 😀

Ours are in or out I actually have no idea. We have a large catio that connects to an outhouse connected to the house so some are probably in the catio, some in the outhouse and I can see one sat on a Cushion In my livingroom.

Cat flaps are pretty easy to install unless you’ve got to go though a glass panel or are doing a wall flap.

🤭🤭 currently I should LILY like a banshee and she eventually comes, depending on how hungry she is

I've seen something like that 😄, I have seen her try to lift a full bag of dreamies to bring them to me, so I can imagine with a bit of time and effort...

Same, I do like to have her in at night

🤭🤭 hopefully she won't, it's so cold, but mine surprised me and didn't mind it so

She was an indoor cat until this summer! It just wasn't working, we couldn't keep the windows closed and she just climbed out of them, so that was that

🤭 between my cat and my dd, i am definitely seen as the snack lady and the preventer of fun

Oh thank you, yeah she'd just eaten a big portion of dreamies and was happy when I took the photo 🤭