A neighbourhood stray has adopted us. This cat has been around for several years and was looked after by another family, who have several pets and were happy to take on one more. However, when they got a new, bouncy dog earlier this year, this stray cat decided to look for a quieter household and has 'chosen' us. We have no other pets. The other family is aware and happy for us to take on chief management of the cat's welfare. We feed her, flea her and worm her and will take her to the vets if required - so I guess she is our cat!
We started with a cat flap to our detached garage to provide her a sheltered place to sleep. She is suspicious of the cat flap but will go through it if it is propped open - not ideal, but so far it hasn't attracted any other visitors! During the very cold weather recently, though, we thought it would be safer to let her sleep indoors, which has been fine for some nights; but on others, she wakes us at 2am wanting out. We had a litter tray for her and she showed she knew how to use it, so I don’t think it’s purely for toilet needs; she’s just awake and ready to prowl. We tried reducing the time during the day that she is indoors in the hope that that might make her sleep through the night, but it wasn’t reliable. There is no easy place to install a cat flap in our house and we aren't sure she would use it if there was, given her suspicion of the garage one.
With the 2am wake ups, we are considering having her sleep in the garage again. But my question is, is it safe for her to spend the majority of the day indoors (she sleeps most of the day) in the warm, and then have a chilly night? We don’t want to affect her health and we have done what we can to make it cosy in the garage but it is definitely still chilly.
Or any other suggestions on how to get a cat to sleep through the night? Thank you in advance to more experienced cat owners!