Teaching a cat to go out and come back?

[Weegiemum]

We have a 14 week old gorgeous black boy kitten, called Severus.

He's had his vacs, been de-fleaed and wormed (was literally born in a barn as a farm cat!), is microchipped, has got used to a collar.

I've had cats before but never a "new" kitten.

He's desperate to go out. Especially as his Best Friend In The World, our house-bunny, Speedy, gets out every day.

He got out one day after Speedy by mistake and made a beeline for our back fence (backs on to a steep strip of woodland, and though the fence is 6' high in our garden it's a 12-13' drop on the other side (decking built out over drop). Dd2 caught him.

He stares out the window all day (when he's not eating, sleeping or tearing madly about).

I'd love to let him out. But how can we teach him to come back? Is there a good age to let him out?

I was advised not to let our kittens out until they were 6 months. I did take them out a bit before that but for short supervised sessions. We tacked a bit of trellis over bits of the fence they could get under. Letting him out just before you feed him is a good idea then you can call him back for food.

He can't go anywhere until he's been castrated. 14 weeks is old enough to want to party.

Can you see if he's dropped?

My neighbour takes hers out on a lead

When I had a kitten I waited till dinner time to let them out. Fed a few biscuits first and kept chicken in my hand. Then just stood around screaming 'diiiiiinnnnnneeerrrr' and shoving bits of chicken at them. Worked a treat.

Oh sorry, didn't noticed he'd not been neutered! My advice was for neutered kittens

Luckily, the weather is lousy at the moment but there tends to be a bit of a sunny spell in February - and the birds are starting up their Spring thing already. Once he's neutered, I'd go out with him first time so that, if nothing else, your smell is outside the house and he can carry a picture of you against the back of the house in his mind's eye. I think that helps.

Other than that, and the letting him out for the first time hungry and in bad weather, you've just got to grit your teeth and let him get on with it, I fear. Give him a lot of indoor play in the interim to help take his mind off things.

Thankyou all. He's booked in at 21 weeks for his operation, had to be when dh was around to take/drop off as I'm not able to drive.

Happy to keep him in until them, we want to be responsible owners. That's why we got the chipping etc done.

Most of the time he's happy enough in the house - especially with his bunny-buddy. But on bright days when Speedy gets out (he sits at the back door waiting when it gets to 9am or so!), poor kitty looks pretty wistful!!

Now that's quite hopeful - his sitting by the back door at 9 am or so. It suggests that he's thinking 'routine' already. It's a good idea to keep them in at night (predators and cars etc) but they're usually quite happy to come in and stay in at night if they know they'll get out - say- after breakfast.

It's the Rabbit that's ready at 9am! But cat is starting to wait with him! (House-bunny gets out into fully bunny proof garden every morning and afternoon when I'm home!!

If the cat is starting to wait with him, that's good. He'll be picking up the routine even if he won't understand why he's not allowed out yet. (It also means, if he's friends with Speedy, that he'll possibly be more likely to hang around the first few times he goes out because he'll take his steer from the bunny.) It's hopeful anyway.

But nothing will help you with that heart stopping moment when he first goes over the fence and disappears. We've all been there and it doesn't get easier.

My children think I'm really mean as I've not let our two out yet. They're ready for it, but I'm not, even though they're almost seven months old.

Last time I let them out before dinner, then tapped their feeding bowls after five minutes and lengthened that time for a few days. It worked well even when they were older, if they were in hearing distance.

It's normal for them to be desperate to get out don't worry! :)

Almostfifty has a good tactic. Always let them out when hungry! Same if you move house as well.