Aero needs some advice re the cats please.................

[Aero]

Well, as some of you will know, we adopted Ronnie and Charlie a few weeks ago from Blossom2 and her dh and dd who are off to live in Paris! They're gorgeous and have settled in beautifully and as far as we can tell are pretty happy. Problem is that they want to go outside - Ronnie in particular sits at the door mieowing loudly. I have taken him out in the garden twice now along with me for a few minutes, but am worried about letting him out alone. I realize this is what cats do, but wondered how you let go for the first time. They did go outside in their previous home, but as yet we have no cat-flap. Please, any of you cat owners, if you have any advice, I'd be really grateful. I feel bad about keeping them in, just don't want them to run off!!

Hi Aero. If you want them to be able to go out, you're just going to have to bite the bullet and let them go - hopefully they'll have a great time and then find their way back to your back door. When we moved to this house we kept our cats in for a week or so, then let them out. One came back, no problem. The other got a bit lost but miaowed from the top of a neighbour's shed so we were able to go and fetch him...

IIRC usual advice is to keep them in for 2 weeks before letting them out. Thereafter, they are unlikely to run off because they know very well where their food is coming from. Having said that, our cat sometimes used to turn up at our old house after we moved (about 2 miles away)! I think unless you want to continue confining them to the house then you just have to take the plunge. We got a cat flap, one of those electromagnetic ones. Unfortunately they have to wear a key on a collar for these but it means you don't get hordes of other cats in. However, it costs a fortune if they are adventurous (like our moggie was) and they keep coming home minus collar and key.

Aero - when I've moved with my own cat, I haven't kept him in for long - but obviously he knew me as I'd had him for years.

I'm not sure how it works with a cat you have adopted.

Usual advice is to let them out for a short whil when they are hungry and after a little while call them in for food - rattle the tin, shake the packet etc. My own cat will turn up from miles away if I rattle a tin of tuna.
I know the weather is colder, but could you leave a window or door open for them for a little while, so they know how to get back in?

other advice sometimes given is the first time you let them out make sure they are hungry (theory being they'll come back 'cos they want feeding...! Another 'trick' is to get them used to a particular sound when you want to feed them (shake the biscuit box for example). We could stand on the back step and shake the biscuit box and she'd appear from several gardens away!

blackduck - great minds

Agree with Gingernut. Make sure you don't feed the cat before you let him out (more likely to return when hungry) and perhaps go outside with him the first time - OK, he'll probably wander off, but I think it helps if you are there with him, somehow.
HTH

Thanks everyone - I'm just going to have to do it aren't I? I'll probably leave a window open to begin with and keep my fingers crossed they come back. No food in the morning then and hopefully they'll find their way back for breakfast.

I have heard that putting butter on their paws is supposed to bring them back. Never tried it and don't know if it works. I suspect you just have to hope that all the butter has come off by the time they come back indoors!

I went out with our cat for the first time to make sure that she knew where the door was!! lol!! I also buttered her paws and kept her in for about 3 weeks. It's amazing how they get used to their new places though.
Have you thought of microchipping just in case anything should happen?

Don't think I coud afford micro-chipping Poppyseed, but both have collar tags with our phone number on.
Wonder how buttering their paws is meant to help - is it to do with creating some sort of trail do you think Freckle? (must arrange a meet-up by the way!)

I think that's the idea, that they can follow the trail left by the butter back to the house. Knowing my cats though, they'd lick it all off before going very far! A meet-up would be lovely.

Shall we start a new thread - There is a Kent coastal one going somewhere - not sure I can travel too far though!?

I thought you were supposed to butter their paws inside the house (can be a bit messy though). The idea is that they lick the butter off and that action (i.e. washing their paws) makes them feel at home in the new place.

What about a cat flap?Also I put a bowl of biscuits outside and that usually brings them backHTH

I have heard that when you butter the paws just before they go out they will then leave a trail of washed paws hence smell.

Also if you sprinkle some of the cat litter after they have had a wee, around the garden it will make your garden smell like them IYSWIM

Have you found out whether they cat mice or birds because if they do then they may eat them instead of coming home for breakfast? That is what our 2 cats do.

I agree with getting them to come for food by shaking food we have some cat crunchie things in a plastic drink bottle and we shake it when we want them to come in or even to get them downstairs.

Definitely let them out when they're hungry - this was the advice of the cat's protection league when we adopted our cats. It helped that it was freezing cold and snowy when we first let them out though. We were told to always bring them in at night too, partly because this is when a lot of accidents & injuries happen.

As you say they have settled in well and seem happy I am absolutely sure they will come home again for their breakfast/tea. Cats are incredibly good at finding their way home I have witnessed some amazing examples like a cat brought from London to Bristol that escaped wthin an hour of arrival. We had given up hope but 5 days later he was waiting outside the front door for breakfast. Apparently they go round and round in circles until they pick up their own trail.
Good luck

Sorry soup dragon I think my post was a bit misleading

yes I agree they will come back for food and that you should send them out hungry as they know that their food comes from you

I just was saying that our cats go and catch their own rather than come home sometimes other times they catch and eat the mice and then come in for tea.

We've moved lots of times and never lost a cat yet. The butter-on-paws is an old wive's tale and dairy isn't good for cats health. Relying on hunger and a signal (dh whistles our cats up!!) I'm sure will be sufficient to bring them back. Good luck.

I hadn't read your post when I wrote mine, KangaMummy . Our cats used to go one better and go next door to be fed - stuff the effort of catching their own!!

lol @ SD cats

Thanks everybody - as usual can rely on Mners for good advice. Probably won't try the butter thing though!! I'm going to bite the bullet and hope for the best. Think rattling some food in a plastic container is a good idea! Apparantly Carlie is the hunter of the two and had been known to bring in mice or birds from time to time. Think will give the cat-flap a miss for that reason. Hopefully they can learn to use a small window. Fingers crossed then.

Update..............well, I took the plunge today and let Ronnie out and left a window open for his return and for Charlie to go if she wanted to. He disappeared into the next garden and I panicked inside, but hoped for the best. He went out on an empty stomach. He hadn't returned by the time I was needing to leave the house, so I went out anyway and kept my fingers crossed he'd find his way home.
When I got back shortly after lunchtime, I was very relieved to see him sauntering down the stairs with Charlie in tow!! I have a feeling she did go out too as I couldn't find her in any of her usual hiding places before I went out. So in a nutshell.....They did it......and I'm soooooo pleased. They're clearly used to going out and I'm delighted I can let them continue doing something they obviously enjoy....yeeeeeey! Thanks for all your tips!

yessssssss for Ronnie and Charlie and for you too.

That is brill news