Has anyone let a previous house cat start going outside? End of my tether with weeing in the house.

[NorwichMom]

And if so how did it go?

because I am at the end of my tether with my cat. He’s 7yo and has always been a house cat, he’s a pedigree Birman. For the last two years he’s been pissing in the house fairly regularly. On the sofas, on the beds, on the wool duvets.

he’s been to the vet. There is nothing medically wrong with him. Vet says it’s stress weeing. I have no idea why as he is the most laid back cat ever. There’s no reason for him to be stressed. He has three litter trays around the house which he’s used fine for the first 5 years of his life. We had no problems with him for 5 years and nothing has changed. He will still use the litter trays but will also wee elsewhere.

we now have to keep bedroom doors shut but occasionally we forget. Tin foil on the sofas. He hadn’t weed in DD’s old room so was allowed in there and last week I realised he must have been weeing on her duvet for weeks (she moved out a year ago). Duvet is wrecked. Thankfully not the mattress.

we had a catio built for him two years ago which he has free access to via a catflap and he enjoys but that hasn’t helped. We use the cystease capsules and the feliway plug ins. But he still wees.

so for the last two days I’ve let him outside, I’ve just opened the door to the catio and he’s been trotting round the garden looking quite happy. Dh is panicking and says he will be run over or stolen. But ultimately he’s a cat, he doesn’t know he’s a pedigree so he has no more risk of being run over than any other cat. If someone stole him I genuinely think they’d be releasing him within days because he’d piss all over their sofas and beds.

the alternative is to ask the vet about stronger meds like Prozac but I’m not sure about drugging the cat up if it’s being inside which is making him unhappy and he’d just like to be out.

ideally he stays in our large garden, doesn’t wander and stops weeing.

That was our feeling (in retrospect) about our cat also. I was upset I hadn’t tried a catio but my husband rightfully pointed out that he would’ve hated it anyway as he liked to run, jump and go visiting.

We’ve tried different litter. He does have toys and we do play with him. They have two big cat trees but I can ask Dh about attaching shelves to the walls, etc. he does have shelves in the catio

Mine were from the rescue but confirmed house cars and we were told to keep them in. They were 6 when we decided to let them down, it was during lock down so next to no traffic so felt worth the risk.

Both bloody useless at finding their way home, would get stuck next door and they'd have to pass them over the hedge. They quickly decided the garden was good enough and never went any further which is the best of both worlds.

In your situation I would let him roam regardless of consequences, he's not happy.

@Mycatisreal that is exactly how I felt, until my third cat got run over.

A short but happy life - yes great. But my last two of my cats were run over when they only 18 months old. I could not put more cats through that so it was a case of either have no more cats, or have an enclosed garden. So I chose the latter. They can still catch mice and voles so they can practice their hunting skills.

My oldest, who still roams, had a terrible accident outside last year and had to have his leg rebuilt. But I still let him roam because his life would not be worth living otherwise, he is that type of cat.

OP please make sure your pet insurers know your cat is now roaming or they may not pay out when needed.

That’s the awful dilemma isn’t it. My boy also had a terrible accident. I’ve no idea how but the vet said his cruciate ligament was completely torn. They managed to rebuild it then he was on cage rest for months. He really was a broken man. When he went for his last check up I showed the vet a photo of him up on top of our shed again. She cried. It’s such a risk to let them out but I feel he wouldn’t be living his best life indoors.

Sorry, I don’t want to sound like an arse and I genuinely am not being goady but how do the cats know they aren’t meant to go outside?
I mean, they’re animals with instincts. It’s only humans that impede their access to outside. If it wasn’t for our presence they’d be living outside with all the other animals.

The cat doesn't know it's not supposed to go outside. It has been bred to have traits that benefit an indoor cat, which also means it loses the survivability for the outside. It doesn't then know to avoid other cats, or people, or cars, or dogs, or how to get home.

I have ragdolls. They are the poster child for an indoor cat, , it will just stand there while you pick it up and walk off with it and just hang in your arms. They have zero reflexes, zero survival instincts, they just stand there while dogs bark and run past them, they would just stand in the road and watch a car hit them. They're great in a family home. They're non reactive, they don't fight much, don't panic around kids or dogs. Aren't high energy. Aren't particularly talkative. Friendly. Easy to handle. But they do sometimes, particularly boys, want to roam. There's interesting smells out there and that tree looks fun to climb. They don't know that they don't know how to survive because they don't know that dangerous things exist.

Like with children, it's your responsibility to not let them do the fun thing that could kill them.

Can you think of anything that changed around the time he started this? E.g. was that the time your DD went away? Did a new neighbour with dogs, or an aggressive cat, move in? Were there any lifestyle changes? Did you redecorate, change the central heating, re-carpet the house?

Thank you for the explanation @MumtotornadoesI’ve only ever had streetwise moggies.

No. I’ve racked my brain for a long time trying to think of something and really can’t. There were no changes to our household. It started before dd moved out. No new neighbours or cats.

currently sat at a 24 hr launderette washing a duvet!

I did. I did not get mine until she was 2 and then she stayed indoors until she was 6 when my partner died.
I moved house a year later and just left the door open because I have a dog.
She would wander out and stay in the garden. Finding a sunny spot away from my dog - she likes herd.
I had one night I could not find her over the past 5 years. But it has all been ok. However she had to be put to sleep on Monday when she was 14 and her kidneys had failed.
Did the vet do bloods for kidneys? Both of my Sacred Birmans had kidney problems.
I won’t have another cat now.

Yes he had blood tests which were fine. I’d never have another cat again after this.