Adopting an outdoor cat as an indoor cat

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Hi. My partner's mum has cancer and has a cat who will likely outlive her. She's worried about what's going to happen to the cat when she dies. We are considering adopting her - we love cats and have had 6 between us in the past although none were indoor cats - but if she's to live with us she will need to be indoor only due to a busy road. I'm not sure that this is the best thing for her as although she is about 12 she's a very active cat and is almost always out, even now in autumn she's out for a good part of the day and much of the night.

If it wasn't for the road we'd have her like a shot but I'm wondering whether we should try to rehome her somewhere where she can still be an outside cat. Although I know it's quite difficult to rehome cats at the moment.

Anyone here with any experience of "converting" an active outdoor cat to an indoor one? How did it go?

Rehome. It's not fair to the cat.

It really never works. Don't do it. If you can't mitigate the risk of the busy road have the cat rehomed in a suitable place.

I'm really sorry to say I don't think the cat will be happy 😔. She's used to an environment that can't be replicated indoors. My cats spend a long time outside and they become destructive if they have to be kept in

No don't do it. Very unfair to the cat. We live on a busy road but restrict access to the front so she only goes out the back. Is that an option?

Is the cat used to roads?

She lives on a very quiet cul de sac at the moment and I don't know how much road sense she has.

With regard to the situation here, if she went out the back she would be fine as our garden backs partly onto woodland and partly another back garden, which belongs to a house on a very quiet no through road. However I don't think we could stop her going out the front which is a through road to the next village and there is a speeding problem. There are people on our road who do have cats but I do know that one or two have been run over in the last couple of years. I just wouldn't want to risk it.

I think we could possibly make a fenced in catio type thing for her, but it wouldn't be the same as being properly out, she is quite a prolific mouser apparently.

I would say to her that you will make sure her cat is well looked after. It may be that you need to have it as an inside cat until you can find a suitable home. Often rescues will do home to home rescues so it stays with you until a home is found and then transfers there directly. Less stressful than being in a cage at a rescue.

You can't take a 12 year old outdoor cat and make it live inside, it's not fair. I know 18 and 20 year old cats who still love going outside.

Your only options are to take it and accept the risks of the road or to find it a new home elsewhere.

Thanks all, I think we will have to rehome her when the time comes. Which will be a pain in itself as she is a long way off including a ferry journey but we may be able to get a neighbour over there to feed her until a rescue can take her.

I didn't realise there was a big journey involved. I would have a chat to the local rescues now. They may have people who could be on stand by to Foster. Or provide other help.

I keep warning mine if there is ever a cat in dire need they may need to budge up and share their beds!

Can you cat proof your garden? Securacat or similar.

I don't have animals so I appreciate that this is going to sound very blunt but: that cat would be far happier meeting it's end (probably before it's time but it doesn't know that) on the way out to / back from an adventure rather than being shut in just to tick a few more years off.

I recently took a cat from a farm that had been living outside for 2 years after her owner died and had settled on the farm for a couple of weeks before I took her - the farmer didn‘t let her inside their house and were glad when I offered to take her.
Bonnie is 15 years old and very glad to be an indoors cat now. She will require various vet visits but so far, her health appears to be better than you‘d assume by looking at her. She doesn‘t try to get outside at all

P.S. The farmer who gave me Bonnie knew her previous owner and thus Bonnie as well.

I think it depends on the cat. To my knowledge, my cat was outdoors and left pretty much to her own devices before I got her. Once I'd adopted her she was allowed outdoors during the day but on a nighttime curfew, as I'm too much of a worrier (and she was too much of a ratter!)

When I moved house she became an indoor cat. I worried she'd stress and hate it and I'd have to let her out despite being closer to a busy road. But she was fine. In fact she was much happier. The occasional episodes of cystitis she used to get got stopped all together (In hindsight I now put them down to being caused due to stress of neighbouring cats bullying her).

I've since had the garden cat proofed, which she enjoys in nice weather, but is as much for my benefit as hers as I missed pottering in the garden with her. If I'd not had it done she'd have known no difference and would have been happy just indoors I think!

I think it depends a lot on the cat. People saying it's cruel to be indoors have never seen a cat die slowly and agonisingly from being hit by a car. I have and it's traumatic and horrific.

TempCat is now indoors in a flat after growing up in a very rural location with fields, woods & a barn to play in. He was always very cuddly and spent lots of time inside with his people too I was really concerned he'd hate being inside full time but he's taken to it surprisingly well, albeit he's quite needy for my attention. He does meow loudly to go out the flat door and play in the hallway which I do most days, but so far he's a happy, affectionate and healthy cat who has adapted well. It helps I work from home 3 days a week to give him lots of attention.

A catio is better than nothing - if I could have a cat proofed garden or catio for him I'd do it like a shot and it might influence my next choice of property (when/if I move and when/if we all accept he's no longer temporary, which is another story altogether!).

But indoors could work - you just need to provide lots of stimulation, cat toys, scratching posts & trees and ways to let them get some exercise.

It absolutely works. I stopped letting my cats outdoors many years ago (the view in Australia has become far more that cats should be kept indoors, for their safety and that of native animals). My current pair were rescues picked up from the street, and have lived indoors for years. Give the cat attention and enrichment and they're fine, they will more than likely adjust. Cats sleep about 16 hours a day anyway, and since the cat in question is getting old, I would think being in a nice cosy bed and safe house will be very welcome.

I brought two cats over from the UK to the US 21 years ago. They were about ten at the time and used to being outdoor cats. They had to be indoor cats here because we backed onto some woods where there were critters like coyotes and fishercats, and the road past the front of the driveway was very fast with no pavements. We also have rabies in the wild animal population here. I think it was probably helpful that they had to be in a cattery in the UK for six weeks before they could come over. One died at 15 (probably from long-term effects of an event that happened a few years previously in the UK) and the other at 20. They seemed to adapt very well to being indoor cats.

Our current cats have always been indoor cats and are now 15 and in good health and happy. On the odd occasion when the door has been open and they've got out, they don't know what to do so they freeze and we just bring them in again.

I forgot to mention that the other good reason for keeping our cats as indoor cats, even after we moved back into town from the previous house, is that there are a lot of deer ticks here, which carry Lyme disease and outdoor cats do carry them into the house. I have once had Lyme from a deer tick but luckily got the diagnostic rash and got it treated immediately, but the 30 day dose of doxycycline was pretty unpleasant (though not as unpleasant as untreated Lyme!)

My parents cat has adapted quite happily to being an indoor cat, for the last few months. While their new house is built. Im really surprised, as he's very highly strung and likes to go out. I'd give it a go, and see how she gets on.

We have an indoor cat and when we got our second one (rescue) we were told that he’d been an inside cat but it became fairly clear he wasn’t; he tries to escape at every open door and paces the windows literally crying to go outside. Based on this experience I wouldn’t do it as it was horrible for this cat.

My cat loved the outdoors, and when we had to keep him in for a few days after an op, he was miserable and just kept thumping the cat flap and crying.

When he had to be put to sleep, the vet came out and did it while the cat was lying on his favorite sunny spot in the garden.

It will go against all her natural instincts, it's better putting the cat to sleep than keeping it in a prison. She will be extremely bored and frustrated, cats need a lot of exercise and stimulation. She would rather hunt in the wild than eat in captivity.

Putting a healthy cat to sleep? Is that actually legal in the UK?