I need some help. My cat is an 8 month old male and is the most un-chilled out cat in the world - he bounds all over the house and has far too much energy to be staying indoors. However, as soon as we put him out, he cries to come back in; then starts trashing the house again.

How can I get him to stay outside, I thought he'd love the freedom of being outdoors, but he seems to hate it - its really stressing us out because he is such a violent cat and blatently needs to be outside, but he just wont go.

Can someone please help?

Hi,

Is he neutered? He sounds like a normal kitten to me, and the kitten stage takes a long time to grow out of lol. Has he got plenty of toys,scratchers etc,in some ways its a good thing he doesn't want to go out. If he is happy indoors that is great. Indoor cats have a longer life and stay safe. I don't have an issue with folk who let their cats go out at all,I just think you have a cat who is happy to stay in and if you provide him with the right toys etc he will probably settle down beautifully.

Izzie

Neutering may calm him if he hasn't been done but he sounds quite normal. My seven month old female kitten behaves the same way - leaping from the top of one thing to another - backs of sofas, windowsills, chests of drawers etc. It's worse than having a two year old in the house . If I take her out on her harness she just sits and looks at me or chews the grass, though she has started to want to explore a little more over the past few days.
I won't be letting Mai Tai out on her own but you could try taking your cat on a harness to get him used to the idea of outside before giving him his freedom out there. If he's not neutered yet though I'd get him done before you let him out on his own.
All the best x

__________________

If cats could talk they would lie to you