We just adopted a 3 year old cat. He is lovely- affectionate and playful but very jumpy. His previous owner gave him to her MIL for a year or so and she kept him as an outdoor cat but when the owner took him back he refused to go outside and when she did put him out he would cry at the door so he has been an indoor cat. She had to give him up as her baby was allergic hence why we have him. We've now had him 2.5 weeks.
We live in an upper maisonette so we have an internal flight of stairs and a cat flap at the bottom so he can come and go. We have blocked this off so he can get used to the flat and he has settled in really well. For a few nights last week he had discovered the cat flap and was sitting in the middle of the stairs miaowing at it. We're not going to properly let him out for another couple of weeks but we have a harness so today I hooked him up to carry him outside and show him the garden and maybe let him walk around if he was brave enough
He totally FREAKED out, before i had even got to the bottom of the stairs and opened the front door. He leapt out of my arms and tried to run up the stairs (cue hysterical jumping all over the place as he was attached to harness and couldnt get anywhere). When i let him go and came and found him he had attached his lead and managed to get out of his harness and collar, so thank god he didn't go out! He does seem to be quite a wimpy lad but has improved. For example for the first week he disappeared under the bed at any sign of noise but now he is happy to sit under his cat post thing which is in the lounge.
How do I make him go outside?! Ive owned cats for over 20 years and never had this issue. I don't want to keep a litter tray inside and he needs to go out and burn off some energy but the poor thing was terrified.
Any suggestions?!