The vet nurse said no but my cat disagrees

[2025willbemytime]

He is currently crying at the back door as he wants to go out. We have moved 4.5 hours from the house he's lived in for 12 years. We have lived here for 17 days and in the last three he's started sitting at the door and looking out. If I'm in the garden I can sometimes hear him crying but when I open the door to come back in he runs away, into the house. Today is the first day he's been crying while sat at the door and I'm in the lounge. At the front door he other cat went into the porch while I went outside and would have gone out the front if I'd let her. The vey nurse said about another 4 to 6 weeks before he can go out.

2-3 weeks is usually plenty for a well settled cat.

God, I wouldn’t hesitate. 17 days is more that I’ve ever given mine. By about 15 days.

My cat bolted the day we moved and was back by the evening!

When I got them as rescues, 13 and seven years ago, aged 1 year and four months for the youngest, I kept them in for six weeks. This feels like a different scenario though. There are cats next door, a dog next door and another cat who has taken to sleeping on my car which my cat has seen. He has also seen the chicken who likes to sit on my garden wall. One cat likes to sleep on my porch roof and stare at my dog. I feel there's nothing I can do and they'll all have to sort things out for themselves 🤞

Let him out when he's hungry so he has reason to come back and yes he will just have to find his place in the local pecking order.

That would work for him but not for my girl cat who isn't fussed about food at the moment, and hasn't been for ages on and off.

Take him out with you and let him explore while you’re close by. He just needs to get used to the smells and sounds of the neighbourhood.

I will be with them and I'm putting the younger one on a lead first. She's been out in my arms a couple of times and was happy just looking around but today she tried to go out the front. The back is safer.

I've always heard 2 weeks, or 3 if being cautious

Have you told him that if it was up to you he could go out but the vet nurse says no?

I did tell him the vet said no but not that I would love him too. I know he's going to love exploring.

BTW cats and chickens. I sometimes have a neighbours chicken sat on my wall. The cat saw him the other day and was transfixed. If he kills the chicken am I in trouble? Or will the cat come off worse?

Very unlikely the cat will kill the chicken assuming these are full grown chickens and generally cats will beat a hasty retreat before the chicken can do much damage to them.

Ok, thanks @Littletreefrog it is a fully grown chicken.

My friend who has both said the cats were very interested in the chickens at first but swiftly learned they have a pecky bit on the front and lost interest.

4-6 weeks?

I think we kept ours in about 5 minutes. They ran out the door as soon as we got them from the cattery.

I think it's an urban myth but I heard that buttering their paws helps them return!

Sprinkle his used litter around the garden / property boundaries (they can smell it from miles away so it helps them return if they get lost) and let him go out. That’s what we did with ours and no issues - after 2/3 weeks of being in.

Obviously the other posters have more experience of chickens vs cats but I wouldn’t trust my cats around chickens as they’re very vicious. They tag team to hunt and I think they could take a chicken. Maybe just to be safe then you could supervise your cats around the chicken until you were sure they were ok around it.

In the hypothetical scenario that they did hurt the chicken then you could be in trouble with the neighbour (though not the law). It’s just not a great impression to make on a new neighbour, that’s all.

@Babyboomtasticmy mum says this - probably did it too! I’d be more worried about buttery footprints on the bed/sofa!

We had 2 cats and 4 chickens. The cats were fascinated by the chickens but would run away if the chickens came near them. Both cats were good hunters , but the chickens were too big to tackle

I tried the butter on the paws with my cat years ago. He was totally appalled and ran off at high speed shaking his paws and glaring furiously at me! I think the theory is that they sit outside briefly, happily licking the butter off and getting their bearings. I personally have never tried that again with any other of my cats!

I had cat a go out when we'd moved to a new area and never got him back. It was a long time ago but I still think about him. Totally my fault for not keeping him in longer. Poor little boy.

Push through the crying. You'll blame yourself if you lose him.

4-6 weeks is silly IMO. Two weeks is plenty.

I used to give mine around 3 weeks. When you let him out, go with him, make sure he knows his way around and his way back. We did that with our cats and they soon had their area 'mapped out'. Let him out before he's due a meal and go with! 6 weeks is way too long.

With our little rescue boy we kept him in for three weeks, then started going into the garden with him for short periods, 15 minutes or so at a time. I did what PP said about sprinkling his used litter round to create a boundary. He had a week or so of absolutely mad exploring, then actually wasn't fussed for a couple of months - I think he needed to know he really was "home" before going out much as he had been a stray kitten until he was almost one year old. Now he loves being out but we always keep him in overnight.

Our previous girl we did similar, but it was July and a hot spell, so she just started coming in and out of the garden with us rather than it being a planned exercise.