Rehomed cat - how long do we keep him in for?

[MeAndMySpoon]

We just adopted a lovely 3 year old tom (neutered) and he's currently up in our bedroom with litter tray in the en suite. He's staying there a couple more days to get used to the smell of the new house and then we'll let him into the rest of the house. I'm bringing the older boy up for frequent visits (younger boy is blissfully unaware of his presence for the moment).

The home check person said we must keep him indoors for 'as long as we can stand it' but she said, certainly at least 8 weeks. Really that long?! It's true that he was (mostly) a flat cat before (he came from a good home but they didn't want to keep him with two very young children, in a flat, any more) and I'm obviously a bit worried that he won't be used to going outside, so when the time comes we'll let him out when he's hungry and for short periods at a time.

So how long would experienced rehomers keep this cat indoors? It's going to be a real strain with windows and doors to the outside staying shut, not to mention two children who will want to be in and out of the garden when the weather's nice.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I kept ours in for 4 weeks. He'd looked out of the windows a lot and seemed to know the area pretty well.

[thecatneuterer]

We say three weeks minimum. Four is better. Eight seems a bit excessive.

[Whatevertheweather]

We kept ours in for 5 weeks when we bought them home from the rescue. They were 9 months old. No problems after day one when one of them went into next doors garden and couldn't work our how to get back!

[RandomMess]

3 weeks as an absolute minimum and the longer the better. I wonder if they suggested 8 weeks because you may not be that far from their original home and he may disappear trying to find it????

We managed 4 months but we had wanted to keep them as indoor cats but one of them was most insistant at trying to escape so we caved in!

[aJumpedUpPantryBoy]

We aim for six weeks with a new cat.

Mind you, DH accidentally let TinyCat out after a week, she ran round the house and climbed back in through a window. This made us fairly confident she wasn't going to run a way so she gained her freedom.

[MeAndMySpoon]

We must be about 8-10 miles from his original home, and although I think his owners let him out a few times towards the end, he wasn't an outdoor cat there.

A month seems more manageable. Particularly with this horrible wet weather, because the boys won't be wanting to go outdoors...