Cat won't go out.

[Athaliah]

We have a 6 month old cat. She was neutered in December, I have then allowed her access to the cat flap and have even put her out myself.

She won’t use the cat flap. We have another cat, so she’s seen it in use. When I put her out, she just sits at the window crying.

I’m hoping that it’s just the cold damp weather that she’s rejecting.

Does anyone have any experience of this? I don’t really want an indoor only cat. She doesn’t have to spend lots of time outside, but I’d rather she did go out.

Any advice would be welcome!

Neither of ours spends more than a couple of minutes outdoors at the moment - why would they? I wouldn't be keen to sit out in the garden at the moment either!

I’ll wait for a mild sunny day (so May?) and scoot her out!

Give her time, it takes them ages to settle.

I was thinking about taking a walk on the beach today then thought twice about it, it's cold and grey out!

My cat is weird about going out. Sometimes he loves it and will be out all the time. Other times he won’t want to go out for weeks on end and will seem very nervous about it. Maybe there’s another cat bullying him that hangs about.
As for your cat - is he quite insecure in general and does he want to be near you a lot? Some cats are just naturally very highly strung and nervous

She’s not nervous and she loves watching the birds and leaves in the garden from the window.

I expect she might be a little bit more curious in the summer when I can leave the door ajar for her and she can take it in her own time.

Mine's not too keen on going out at the moment either. It's the weather. We have to force ourselves to go out in the wind and rain so I can understand why the cats don't really want to either.

We have 3 and two will stroll out for ages apart from at the minute as it’s cold. The other will only go out if the door is left open. If we shut it she’s wanting straight back in!

Be thankful that she wants to stay close to home. We got 2 kittens in December 2016 and we let them out in about April/May. The girl is a homebird and never ventured far but the boy, our beautiful George, was a wanderer even after he'd been neutured.

He went a wandering and was hit by a car on NYE, we didn't find him until next morning despite going out looking for him. We'd tried to get him in early to avoid the fireworks but it was already too late by then. We're all heartbroken, he was only a year old and we miss him so much.

Please be glad she doesn't want to go far from home. I wish we had made him stay in but he loved playing out and keeping him in would have been cruel. Just let her do her own thing.

Having the same problem with my rescue cat.
Want her to experience an outdoor lifestyle but she has no interest in venturing outside.
Hope it's the weather putting her off.

Mine gonout in short bursts of up to 20 minutes and that suits me fine.

My current cat wouldn’t push through the cat flap at first so I used to hold it open with string for her for a month or so. Would that help?

In summer our cat will happily sit in the garden all day (she tends not to roam, particularly) but just now she will be desperate to go out, feel the temperature, then change her mind. Most days she nips out to do her business, then is straight back in. She is currently so close to the radiator she is practically sizzling.

wanda, so sorry to hear about George.

Have you taught her how to use the flap?

Thank you for your kind thoughts Judy.

My cats are out all day in summer, winter....forget it and I'd better have a litter tray inside or else the shoes get it.

Mine took AAAAAAAGES to learn how to use the cat flap (took a lot of perseverance on my part) and has now stopped going outside much. I had a thread about him stopping going outside and seems to generally be the winter weather.