# Getting a cat to stay



## soloequestrian (19 December 2016)

1.5 years ago I took on a newly neutered male cat, around 2 years old, had been a stray.
Kept him inside for 2 weeks, then let him out.  He stayed another week, appeared to be having a lovely time (slept on the sofa every night), and then vanished.
Today he has been handed in at the vets with bladder stones - he had been being fed in someone's garden for a couple of months.
He is having an op to sort him out and then I will be able to go and get him.
I am really pleased, but also worried that he will do a disappearing act again.  I hope that last time he still had some hormones circulating that drove him to wander and that this time he will settle better, but any ideas about how to encourage him to stay would be great.  I intend to keep him inside for longer this time but he got totally stir crazy as soon as he got his confidence up last time so that resolution may not last!
I paid for his vaccinations last time and am just about to cough up for an operation so he will be the most expensive pet I have ever had in terms of contact time to expense - would be very nice to decrease that ratio!


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## Spottyappy (19 December 2016)

2 weeks, I hate to say, is not long enough to keep a cat from straying, when it moves to a new home.
I'm sure someone more "expert" to me will come on here, but I would advise minimum of 6 weeks,preferably 8, to "reset" their homing device.
Hope he makes a swift recovery, but not swift hes going nuts inside!


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## pixie27 (19 December 2016)

Ditto Spottyappy.

We adopted a stray and with all his vaccs/castration etc. it ended up being about 6/7 weeks before he could go outside. He escaped through the tiniest gap in the window the day after we got him, but just sat in our hedge until he heard me and OH calling for him. 

First day we let him out, we let him out before food time, so he didn't go far and came running when he heard the Dreamies packet. Friend also suggested leaving shoes outside the house so he'd recognise smells (altho Dreamies noise works much more effectively). 

Hope he recovers well  our stray is now the most lovable, affectionate, wonderful cat going.


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## Tyssandi (19 December 2016)

soloequestrian said:



			1.5 years ago I took on a newly neutered male cat, around 2 years old, had been a stray.
Kept him inside for 2 weeks, then let him out.  He stayed another week, appeared to be having a lovely time (slept on the sofa every night), and then vanished.
Today he has been handed in at the vets with bladder stones - he had been being fed in someone's garden for a couple of months.
He is having an op to sort him out and then I will be able to go and get him.
I am really pleased, but also worried that he will do a disappearing act again.  I hope that last time he still had some hormones circulating that drove him to wander and that this time he will settle better, but any ideas about how to encourage him to stay would be great.  I intend to keep him inside for longer this time but he got totally stir crazy as soon as he got his confidence up last time so that resolution may not last!
I paid for his vaccinations last time and am just about to cough up for an operation so he will be the most expensive pet I have ever had in terms of contact time to expense - would be very nice to decrease that ratio!
		
Click to expand...

cats protection is a minimum of 3 weeks  2 weeks is not long enough


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## GirlFriday (25 December 2016)

Difficult. I've lived with cats who had a shorter time in (def not three weeks) on moving with the family they knew and I've also had a stray join existing cats so not be shut in at all. It took a while for that one to get friendly and he wasn't snipped immediately.

Am I right in thinking OP that this one you got from a rescue? Horrible environments as a rule (not becasue of lack of care, just becasue they aren't homes) so that won't have endeared the human race to him...

If he has a flap into the garden would it be possible to set up a (temporary) run for him outside that? I know one set of urban cats who have a very nice aviary kind of set up on a roof to avoid traffic and also an elderly cat who was kept in the garden through encouragement for a while on moving which seemed to work along with buttering the paws!


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## soloequestrian (27 December 2016)

Yes, I've always gone by the cat's attitude and it has worked for all the others - he is the only exception.  He has been cooped up in one room for nearly a week now getting over the trauma of the bladder drainage, catheter etc but he is starting to go a bit stir crazy.  I'm thinking of getting some sort of radio tracker/gps for him when he does eventually get back outside - going to start another thread and see if anyone has recommendations!


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## JillA (27 December 2016)

My ferals had two months in total, and 8 months on still only come in once or twice a day for food, the rest of the time they spend living under hedges, even though they weren't countryside cats. Much depends on the background he was raised in, up to 3 months of age is the critical time for them to adapt to a particular environment


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## soloequestrian (27 December 2016)

I suspect he must have spent at least some of his kittenhood in a house - he is the cuddliest cat ever and the two I have had who were feral/raised in a very odd environment both took months/years to get into on-the-lap type cuddling.  He was very scared for the first week last time I had him, and then suddenly decided I was great and demanded cuddles all the time.  He did that instantly this time.  He was a tom when Cats Protection got him, so I think perhaps once he started spraying he became homeless and started being chased by people.  This is speculation of course!


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