Hi to all,

I'm hoping that someone can please give me some advice about where to go from here.

I rehomed a Maine Coon boy approx 15mths ago, and he is now 21 months old. He came from a breeder and had lived happily as an indoor cat. We were living in a flat when he came to us and he seemed perfectly happy indoors until we moved in July.

We are now in a house with a garden, and he spends a LOT of time whining at the back patio doors to go out. If the front door opens and he sees the opportunity to go he is off like a flash.

I'm torn about what to do for the best, and seem to keep going around in circles with this.

I have signed a contract to say that he will be kept indoors but can I really keep him indoors for the next X years knowing that he wants to go out?

I have tried him on a lead in the garden but he's still not happy and wants to leave the garden and explore. I'd be happy to get a run for him but think it likely that he'd still whine to be out of there too.

Do I get him micro-chipped and let him out knowing full well that he has no fear of cars and has little street sense. We're quite close to a busy road, and then there's a very busy A-road a field across from that. He's not very good with anaesthetic so if he were to receive an injury it could be quite bad.

Does anybody have any thoughts/suggestions/opinions? Anything would be appreciated, I'm at my wits end

my ragdoll holly is an indoor cat but as we have a mixbred smokey and he gos out she always want to so we did take her in the back garden on a lead but theres no way she can jump our wall now so so if we go out we let her come with us and bring her in when we come in as she has got out of the frount door a few times and it really scared me hope this helps

My two are allowed out for supervised garden visits at the moment and we are about to build a large cat enclosure for them so they can come and go as they please and still feel the sun on their fur (or more likely the rain lol - this is England after all) and get some fresh air.

Has he been neutered?
Also I think they only microchip cats under anaesthetic as it's a bit of a big needle... My little boy got chipped today while he was being neutered. Then again my dog just had the chip put in while awake so I don't know what they'd do in your situation.

Could you cat proof the garden, or maybe have a run built that he could access from a cat flap.

Thanks for your responses.

Yes, he's been neutered so it's not that.

We don't have a cat flap and it's a rented property so no chance of putting one in either. Ditto the garden - it's not secure and would be difficult to catproof due to the layout.

I let him out in the garden with me earlier and he shot off under the fence to terrorise the cats in next doors garden. That has pretty much made my mind up for me - he'll have to have some sort of enclosure or stick it out in the house.

I would suggest that you either build him an enclosure to have outdoor time or cat proof the garden and let him play out there.

You could also try distracting him if you really don't want him to go out.

Everytime he cries at the door offer him a tasty treat to come to you and start playing a game with him, get him a chasing a ball or piece of string etc.

Hopefully he will forget that he wanted to go out and if you do it enough times it can break the habit.

It dosn't work with all cats however.

Maybe it's worth having a chat with his breeder?

Find out if he has showed this behavour before and what was done to combat, she may even be happy for him to have outdoor access as long as it is supervised.

I know I wouldn't mind kittens I breed to go outdoors I will just not allow them to free roam as it is far too dangerous.

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From a breeders perspective i would not like it if someone let one of mine out to free roam its really not worth the risks,cat proof fencing is easy to errect,almost invisable and works well.
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If you are in rented property you may not be allowed to do this. Therefore for some it is not an 'easy' solution.

You have to do what you are comfortable with. Risk assess your environment. What are the dangers? Dogs? Road? Railway Track?

How would you cope if the cat got lost/did not come back?

Maine Coons are farm cats in their ancestry.

The breeder that he came from didn't breed him and wasn't very helpful after we'd rehomed him tbh

I don't want to let him out but don't like seeing him so unhappy. I've tried distraction but he's really quite determined.

The freestanding cat proof fencing looks great but I don't have >£600 to spare.

Will have to look at a cat run for the bottom of the garden and hope it's a good compromise.