Keeping cat in overnight? Thoughts please!

[Ivebeeninlockdowntoolong]

Our cat recently had injuries that required a hip operation and pins to repair his broken leg. The vet has stipulated caged rest / supervised exercise for at least the next 5 weeks.

We're now coming towards the end of the 5 weeks and our lovely boy is doing really, really well (and when you see him moving around you would not know he had been injured). So we're hoping the vet will give us the green light to let him have the run of the house with minimal supervision. We have a lead so we can take him outside into our garden.

Before the injuries, he could let himself in and out as he pleased via the catflap (the vet thinks he injured himself climbing a tree, got stuck, then broke his leg and twisted his hip out of alignment). Where we live is a cul-de-sac and there's a park opposite a house - ie he is fairly safe from any main road traffic.

Obviously when we feel he's ready to have the cat flat opened again, we will intend to lock it after he's in for his 5pm meal. Our thinking is, if he comes to any harm it will be during daylight so if he's not back at his usual time, we can seek him out whilst it's still light. But he will be frustrated as he is so active during the night. However at this stage I'm wondering if I will ever feel confident to let him out at all at night ever again. Is this reasonable or not?

Mines in at night. Always has been. And our previous ones. Much less fighting and hunting, less risk on the road. We only feed her (once per day) once she’s home and she comes when I call her. She sleeps at least of the night but also spends a lot of it running around the house like a ping pong ball, leaving big clumps of fur everywhere and sometimes scratching random things. Can’t lock her in the kitchen as DH thinks it’s cruel!

@SciFiScream

Why are we all saying catfew? Surely the cat equivalent of curfew is a purrfew? Ba-doom-tish!

I stand corrected.

Your version is purrfect

We keep both of ours in overnight - close the catflap between 6 - 7pm in the evening and open it up again 6-7am depending on when we get up. We have one roamer and one homebird, but they both seem happy enough with this routine (and so are we - I am a bit anxious and would find it really worrying if they were out on the roads at night)

I've had cats all my life, they are always in at night . I would just try it and see if he adapts .

We also have the Sureflap catflap with a "purrfew". It's getting into winter where we are so right now it locks them in between 7.30pm-5.30am, but in summer when it's lighter they stay out later.

They also have GPS trackers and I have been known to hunt them down if they're not in by curfew time (My neighbours probably think I'm a bit nuts).

I think because we've done this since they were first allowed out, they seem to know the routine and will generally sleep through the night. I can only assume your cat will adjust to it eventually, it might just take some time.

I keep mine in overnight to give wildlife a chance. If one gets out she will stay out all night. Its a bit of a pain in hot weather having to keep the doors closed but mostly works OK
I feed dry food all day and give a small amount of wet in the evening. The wet food is the draw to get them in then I keep them in

I think in overnight is the bare minimum really. They live cushy lives and staying in overnight is the price they pay.

You can buy interactive toys they only get access to overnight

They also have GPS trackers and I have been known to hunt them down if they're not in by curfew time

And how do you attach GPS trackers I wonder? I will research online.

Lots of good comments here and glad it's not just me that is concerned about wanting to keep him in overnight (even though I suspect he will hate it and hate us

@violetbunny which GPS tracker do you use? All the ones I've seen were quite bulky for our cat who is, despite being 7 years old is close to kitten size.

I think there was a thread on trackers a couple of days ago - we use Pawtrack (here on our very small silver tabby!)

[quote OhRene]@violetbunny which GPS tracker do you use? All the ones I've seen were quite bulky for our cat who is, despite being 7 years old is close to kitten size.[/quote]

I'm not in the UK so the choices are more limited where I am, but I am using Tail It which is a Norwegian company (the device works anywhere though).

I had similar concerns to you as one of our cats is quite petite. I first trialled Pawtrack but the tracker is integrated into a collar; it was fine on her brother but too big for her and the battery life was very poor. I also had concerns about how easily the collar could come off for safety reasons if needed.

The Tail It device clips onto their existing collar, which means I can use a collar with a decent safety release and which is light reflective. Battery will last a couple of days, although I usually charge them overnight. It's not too big fo her and while the app interface isn't ass,ice, it seems quite reliable in locating them. If the tracker comes off, you can get it to ring and light up to help you locate it. Keep in mind though that all GPS trackers require a line of sight to the sky, so if cat is under a house for example it will only show the last location a signal is picked up. Still, it's better than nothing!

*isn't as nice. Not "ass ice" ! Haha!