My 1 year old male Bobbin (neutered) is a nightmare!! He barely spends any time indoors, even when he does it's because he is made to stay in, even then its only for about 4 hours. If we keep him in too long he goes crazy and scratches the door, starts howling etc We took him in as a stray around 8 months ago and he was terrified of the door being shut but gradually got used to it. Recently though he is not wanting to come in and he will only eat if we leave the door open for him to go back out. We dont have a cat flap yet as we have double glazed french doors and would need the whole glass replacing and we are saving for it at the moment, which is hard as we have had a lot of payout for Boobins health since taking him in. I dont want him staying out as its dangerous for him but I also dont want him to be frightened to come in. We have tried leaving him to his own devices to see if he got sick of staying out and hope he would realise no one is going to harm him if he stays in. We have also tried keeping him in but he seems to be frightened of us if we do that.

Can anyone suggest what to do? Im at a loss!!

have you tried spaying some cat nip when hes in before he gets mad and starts attacking the doors?* all i can think of is this and try to play with him and keep his mind of going outside.* Increase the time slowly and hopefully he will stay in.

Yep, tried everything. He used to love cat nip, now he isnt so interested. When he wants to be out he wont play with anyone, he isnt interested in anything but being out! Also tried using the Feliway defuser and spray but that doesnt seem to work either.

maybe its a learnt behaviour.... so if he wants out he does that and gets his own way, has he always had this prob.

If he was a stray it could just take a long time for him to really get used to being indoors..he may just never fully accept it.

Good point i never thought of that

sorry but sounds like he is still wild
I would let him go but leave food for him

Thanks everyone for your replies!

The thing is, he was more or less fine a few months ago and was coming in, wanting to come in, staying in etc but now he seems back to square one. Id agree that he is just wild and maybe take him a while to get used to stuff but when he was good a few months ago it confuses me! We do leave food out for him too but we are worried other cats get to it instead of him. We worry about his heath more than anything.

Do you have a shed that you could put a catflap in, and a bed inside and some food?

It may be a case of going back to basics and starting again - building up that trust as perhaps someone or something inadvertently spooked him on one occasion whilst he was coming in/in and eating.

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Kaz

For kittens, joy is for the asking and smiles are for the giving

Maybe bring the outside inside? With plants or a jungle gym type thing to keep him occupied? My mate had a huge cage type thing coming out the window - could shut and open the window when wanted - their cat would then get to be outside, safely and get to sniff, scratch etc. Have a look around and see if any businesses do this as maybe it would be cheaper than getting the door replaced? Just an idea
xxx Joey

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