Newly adopted 1 year old - two questions

[MrsCornish]

I have rehomed a 1 year old housecat. I get the impression that he's desperate to go outside. He's sneaked out twice by accident, and fortunately we've managed to lure him back in both times. Now whenever we come in/out we have to shut him elsewhere so he can't hover by the door. i've bought a harness and lead but when i try to take him out with this, he just runs under/over things so we both get in knots and he gets scared and i have to carry him back in. I'm very nervous that if i let him out 'loose' he'll get lost/stolen/run over. I feel an extra pressure because the breeder who gave him to us really tried to impress upon us that he 'should' remain a house cat and didn't want to know if he got run over. I know he's not hers anymore but i can't help feeling a tie.

Second question - he pees on the doormat. that i can deal with (taken the mat away, clean area thoroughly, hope to break the habit, buy new mat, repeat to fade..) but a couple of times he's peed on a sofa and on (i think) a shoebox. he's fine about using his enclosed massive litter tray with favourite expensive litter in it most of the time (especially, it seems, when i'm in the middle of scooping out the day's doings - nice!). i just don't want him to pee randomly on an ongoing basis. that would be hard to deal with.

Does he need to be a housecat- cats love to be outside, get him microchipped and get a cat flap !!

i have housecats but let them out with me after a few months so i didn't need to panic if they escaped. they just like to sit out and watch the birds when the weather is nice!

one of them also peed on the doormat - but it was 'built in' to the flooring so it was a big deal for us! i worked out he didn't like the smell of all the feet on the door mat so maybe that's the problem with your shoe box? my cat also did it on a rug - we have hard floors so it was the first bit of soft furnishing our feet went on when we came in the house. he's a very sensitive chap so at the slightest sign of stress he wees on the carpets. we got a feliway plug in diffuser and it really helped him.

he doesn't need to be a housecat, no. i'm terrified about him running off though. naturalbaby what do you mean about letting them out with you? do you just mean if you go out too, they are more likely to hang around than if you let them out on their own?

they crept out really slowly the first few times so i followed them, then when i couldn't take any more i took them back inside! i tried to watch/stay with them as much as possible to see where they went and what they did so i knew where they were likely to hide when they didn't want to come back. they didn't go far at all but one did climb a tree one night! they behave totally differently at night and they get very excited if they get a whiff of the night air. i did lots of practice inside getting them to come for a biscuit treat so they would come running when i shook the packet.

I have a (very soft) housecat, but we got him as a 3 month old and he's never been outside, and doesn't really want to (I can go in the garden with the door open and occasionally he creeps a foot out of the door then panics and runs back in!), so I don't have much advice on how to keep him in. How long have you had him?

I second all the feet on the rug, you're shoes could be picking up 'other cat' smell from outside, and he's staking his territory. Make sure you're using cat friendly cleaner, normal cleaners often contain ammonia which they then wee on again to cover the smell!

I also second feliway, we use the spray when we're traveling with Dcat and it really chills him out, I've heard good things about the diffuser for reducing spraying too.

This is all brilliantly helpful, thank you. the cat is 15 mths old, we've had him 3 weeks. He's very confident and on the two occassions he went out accidentally, he went straight off with no caution or nerves at all. I'm just going to have to get him chipped, get him well trained to come to the sound of a box-rattle, and take my chances I think.

And i will be investing in Feliway if I get any more unwanted peeing. i've put the stained doormat in the front porch and now it's been added to by other animals - smells distinctly foxy to me! YUCK.

As long as neutered he shouldn't go far. I always sent mine out hungry so he would come back.

Tbh he prob already has a good idea of the layout locally from looking out the window, mine seemed to know which house was his instantly.

I've had 4 Persians and one Bengal and we let them all out.

With both of mine, I took them out into the garden - like you do with kids, lol, go out let them play, then come in and feed them. Then gradually started to let them do their own thing, always calling them in to feed them - they both come in when they're called, so I think it worked.

well he got out today, i foolishly trusted the kids to keep the sitting room door shut while i had the back door open [idiotface], and i didn't realise for about 10 minutes. so i ran outside shouting for him and he sprang, like a lion, from about 10feet above my head where he'd been hanging out in the cherry tree. he then slunk slowly around the garden, testing everything out and staying just out of my grasp, until i managed to get my dd to bring the shakey food box out. that got his attention and we tempted him to stay still while i grabbed him. probably unnecessarily, he didn't seem to be wanting to go too far. BUT the vet yesterday said i should keep him in for another couple of months until his male hormones have totally gone away and he's settled down.