Help with letting cats outside at our new home

[DeLoveTots]

I moved house to a new area a month ago and my two outdoor cats have been inside. The cat flap is being installed this week but I am feeling really anxious about letting them out.. This is because there are so many cats here! I've seen about 5 different cats in our new garden, all looking very happy and at home. I'm really worried about what will happen when I let my two out, I don't want them to get into fights. Is there anything I can do to help this? I have started putting their litter in the beds and pots around the garden to get their scent around. Thank you!

I'd keep them in for another 2 weeks personally. I am planning a move next year and have 6 semi ferals and one ex stray who will be coming with me and I'm dreading the first week of them being indoors at the new place. But they won't be let outside for 6-8 weeks.

My plan when they are let outside for the first time is to do it just before food time, and give them their favourite food outside the back door, and let them explore for a bit then get them back inside with some treats, and to make the stints longer and longer until they get used to the new area.

Some useful tips here

www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_litter_tray/5429433-letting-cats-outside-for-the-first-time-after-moving-house?reply=147914167

Keep in for at least a month
Then when they do go out be with them for a few week

I would just go for it but would start gradually and on a day I was home all day. Let them out before feeding time for a few hours and then call them in and just work up from there. I always make sure my cats are in overnight and the cat flap locked.

Your cats will make your garden their own very quickly.

We’ve moved a lot and have a lot of cats (because we now live rurally and neighbours know I won’t turn down a rescue feral kitten that needs saving. One of our cats can’t bear to be shut inside so we move and let them out as soon as removers leave. Not the recommended advice at all but they’ve always been fine.

Cats are creatures of habit so if other cats have your garden in their patch (in urban areas, lots of cats can time-share the same area), sthey will likely resist losing part of their patch. You could help your cats out by super soaking the visiting cats. We always offer super soakers to our new neighbours when we move and say if you stop they establishing a habit of coming into your garden then they’ll stay away. Half give them back for the kids to play with but some neighbours keep hold of them. if you get issues with other cats coming through your cat flap (one of our old cats would go in everyone else’s cat flaps!) then you can get microchip activated cat flaps.

In your circumstances, if your cats have used a cat flap before, then I would just leave it unlocked and they can go out when they feel ready. They’ll be cautious and stay close to it if they feel uncertain.

Whatever you do, don’t put butter on their paws (old tradition) - ask me how I know…🐾

I don’t think you can stop cats, let’s say, negotiating their place in a new cat community. There will be some stand offs while they sort it out.

I moved about 3 weeks ago and am having trouble getting my cat to go out at all. He is normally quite an outdoor cat, would rather hang on all day than use a litter box and would never drink indoor water. He now seems to be relishing indoor life and is reluctant to go out at all but I think the bad weather is swaying his opinion!
I’ve been out with him a couple of times in the new garden and he is being very nervy and wanting to run indoors at the slightest thing.

Thanks all, really helpful advice! I have been letting them out a little bit this week, but only when I'm with them so I think I'll continue doing this for a bit longer before I let them have full access to the cat flap!

Oh no.. go on tell us..

Not a move, but with both our adopted cats we kept them in for a month then started doing short spells, accompanied, into the garden. Lots of praise and snacks on return. With our girl it was July so easy just to have the back door open.

Our girl established her territory immediately, and until we had to have her pts last year we rarely ever saw another cat pass through. She toileted pretty much exclusively up at the back of the garden which might have helped.

We adopted a little boy cat shortly after we said goodbye to her, and he likes hanging out with next door’s cats (although their girl cat just hisses at him, but he keeps trying to make friends!). He prefers to use the litter tray so no scent marked patch, and we have plenty of cat passers through.

I did the litter round the flower beds thing too, but we have been lucky that neither cat has particularly roamed beyond our immediate neighbours and always within shouting distance. Our girl really enjoyed next door’s garden furniture (the other next door) and would often be found lying sunbathing on a blanket with our neighbour on sunny days, to the point that she would put the blanket out in the morning for her even if she was going off to work.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses sorry to hear you lost your little girl cat, she sounds absolutely gorgeous.

My little bot cat is the same - desperate to be friends (with his sister) and just gets hissed at and sometimes punched!

I would let them out - supervised, and individually at the start (easier to keep an eye on) - for short periods of time so that they get very used to the garden before going further. Do it when they're hungry, and feed indoors immediately once them come in. And introduce them to the cat flap even if they already know what one is - it's part of getting to know the garden.

She was the best. Here she is on “her” blanket next door! We discovered she had intestinal lymphoma last year aged ten, and let her go shortly after - my littlest love, and my biggest heartbreak. And just so he doesn’t feel left out, here’s the orange menace she sent me to stop me being sad.