Should I keep my cat indoors?

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mareish

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My cat has been attacked by another cat and is very unwell. He has an eye injury and is covered in bites. He's been to the vets for treatment and we're taking him back tomorrow morning for another check up possibly a referral, if he isn't improving. It's really upset me as he looks in a bad way, and very sorry for himself and hasn't eaten anything yet.
Earlier this year has was very ill as he ate something whilst he was outside that caused severe gastroenteritis and he had to go on a drip and be hospitalised.
Obviously I'm keep him indoors whilst he recovers but after having had two very serious problems caused by being outside I'm wondering whether I should try to keep him in the house permanently. He has a cat flap and has always been able to come and go as he please with no problems until earlier this year. He's four years old and he does really enjoy going outside so I don't know if he would be happy if he had to live indoors. I'm just really worried that something else might happen to him. I used to have a house cat but she had always been kept indoors and was quite happy with it as she didn't know any different.
Has anyone successfully managed to keep an outdoor cat indoors and were they happy? I just want to do what's best for him. Any advice is welcome.
 
When we had to give up the farm and move into mum's house in town we had three cats, one only a kitten but two were siamese crosses and used to roaming freely on the farm. I think they were both about 8. We were situated between 2 very busy roads so didn't dare let them out. Amazingly they settled well, lived mostly in our living room with freedom to roam the house, quite a big one, when we were around to keep an eye on them. Lost them both at 13 with mammary tumours. Different from your situation though as they were going into a different property.
 
My outdoor cat was in for nearly 5 weeks after an operation and was hugely relieved to go out - that was an injury post fight too.

Its natural to worry but hopefully he'll steer clear of the neighborhood bullies after this.
 
Some cats adjust well to inside life , and some don't . It can also be challenging for owners and visitors, as everything has to change, including opening and closing windows and doors
Personally I would either cat proof the garden if that is possible, or build a large catio if not possible.
I do totally understand your worry, and hope your cat recovers well.
 
We managed to keep our injured older cat in for 48 hours before he broke out. Some of them adapt really well to being inside, some of them really don’t.
 
Thanks. I think he's going to be in for a while whilst he recovers. I'll see what the vet says tomorrow and have a think about what to do. I'm just really upset that he's been hurt.
 
Thanks. I think he's going to be in for a while whilst he recovers. I'll see what the vet says tomorrow and have a think about what to do. I'm just really upset that he's been hurt.
 
mareish said:
My cat has been attacked by another cat and is very unwell. He has an eye injury and is covered in bites. He's been to the vets for treatment and we're taking him back tomorrow morning for another check up possibly a referral, if he isn't improving. It's really upset me as he looks in a bad way, and very sorry for himself and hasn't eaten anything yet.
Earlier this year has was very ill as he ate something whilst he was outside that caused severe gastroenteritis and he had to go on a drip and be hospitalised.
Obviously I'm keep him indoors whilst he recovers but after having had two very serious problems caused by being outside I'm wondering whether I should try to keep him in the house permanently. He has a cat flap and has always been able to come and go as he please with no problems until earlier this year. He's four years old and he does really enjoy going outside so I don't know if he would be happy if he had to live indoors. I'm just really worried that something else might happen to him. I used to have a house cat but she had always been kept indoors and was quite happy with it as she didn't know any different.
Has anyone successfully managed to keep an outdoor cat indoors and were they happy? I just want to do what's best for him. Any advice is welcome.
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Very individual, if he has always really enjoyed his outdoors activities, I think you’ll struggle. On the bright side, he has quite a few lives left, tho!
One of our ferals (really flighty, put his dish down every day but might not glimpse him for a fortnight) got much bolder and more tame as he aged.
Once he realised about central heating, soft furnishings etc - turned into a total ‘house cat’ - I was forever searching to evict the little blighter, took to hiding very inventively round the place. He just did not want to go back out!
 
My cat has had many a scrape he's only allowed out during the day now and stays in after his tea. Mitigates some of the worry, and 4am mice.
 
If he likes having outdoor access but you are now very understandably worried about him getting hurt would there be scope to build him a catio? (There’s lots of ideas online but would recommend incorporating things to climb, places to perch eg shelves or platforms and maybe some cat friendly plants)

Another alternative would be looking at enclosing your garden if you feel a catio wouldn’t be enough space for him. There’s a few different options for how to do that but sadly none are cheap. (Most utilise either rollers or netting on the top of the fence to stop them climbing over & to keeping other cats out)

If neither are a workable option (& they aren’t for a lot of people) then you could try to limit the hours he’s allowed outside which is what I do with Horrid. I like to keep him in overnight as much as possible (occasionally he goes AWOL or doesn’t show up til gone midnight!) so I know where he is. He’s mostly ok about it bar the odd tantrum! He does still get into plenty of fights though sadly.

Won’t help with what he’s actually getting up to but you can also get trackers for their collars which would at least tell you where he’s going. (They’re not small though so would probably only be workable if he’s a decent size)
 
You might find he self-regulates his routes and hang-out places after being in a fight. Unless the fight happened on ‘his territory’ - front/back garden.

We had a male that in suburbia would fight other males (at night usually) in his territory of small front garden, and not go too far from there. Our male then moved to forested wilderness and there was a particular feral cat that came into ‘his territory’ - which was now much larger than his previous home, and despite the regular scraps would go out again to fight off that other male.
I would wake in the middle of the night to cat fight howls and screams, grab my headlight and be scampering about the forest in my dressing gown looking for them - everytime I found them the intruder feral male would run off scared, especially when I vocalised a ‘bugger off’ tone to him after grabbing my male.. I’d do this for a few night in a row, and the fights lessened then stopped.
As my boy got older he ventured less further from the front door. But yours being 4, he likely has roamin’-itis and is keen to suss out the territory. But some neighbourhood males just like to fight - especially if they are big. This feral was a bigger cat than my male, and that feral had thousands of acres to hunt mice etc. he just loved to fight my boy.

I did keep my boy in some nights when the fights were regular. The fights always happened at night, so was a good evasive tactic - maybe with yours try that when he’s recovered?

My boy didn’t get severely injured though, neither did the other cat from the looks of him, it was more howling threats than actual talon fury I suspect. It’s horrible to see them fight, they really are rampant fighters.

I hope your boy heals swiftly and fully and starts to feel better soon. He likely will avoid that cat now he’s had a bad fight with it…we can but hope.
But yes, I’d be keeping him in for recovery, certainly at night, and likely do supervised outside walks in the garden just so he can get some fresh air. When better recovered kept in at night is best, especially if the fight happened at night. How he fares being an indoor cat full-time depends on his individual personality.

If you catch any other cats on your property, shoosh them off and away to help them get the message they’re not welcome. The feral we had hanging around for a fair while did just abscond never to return after the intense bout of fights when I intervened.

Hopefully being young and healthy will speed up his healing. It’s awful to see them ill and dejected, hopefully he’ll eat soon and be feeling better for it I’m sure.
 
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. My cat has been back to the vets this morning and they're pleased with his progress. He can open his eye It's badly scratched but thankfully they don't think it's perforated. He's had a bit of wet food and some biscuits. I've been able to give him his medications in some Dreamies cream.

He'll be staying in for a while whilst he recovers. He's going back to the vets on Monday to be checked again. Once he's better I think I'm going to try to keep him in at night. He's had a couple of minor scuffles before but not been hurt. They've always been at night and this fight must have been at night as he came in injured first thing in the morning. He normally comes in for his supper so I should be able to shut the door to the room with the cat flap so he can't get out. I'm hoping this should help to keep him safe but still allow him some freedom.
 
mareish said:
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. My cat has been back to the vets this morning and they're pleased with his progress. He can open his eye It's badly scratched but thankfully they don't think it's perforated. He's had a bit of wet food and some biscuits. I've been able to give him his medications in some Dreamies cream.

He'll be staying in for a while whilst he recovers. He's going back to the vets on Monday to be checked again. Once he's better I think I'm going to try to keep him in at night. He's had a couple of minor scuffles before but not been hurt. They've always been at night and this fight must have been at night as he came in injured first thing in the morning. He normally comes in for his supper so I should be able to shut the door to the room with the cat flap so he can't get out. I'm hoping this should help to keep him safe but still allow him some freedom.
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That's a good plan. I never let mine out at night . It's always the worst time for fighting and getting run over. Don't get too upset if your cat objects a lot in the early days . Give it time, and hopefully he will adjust to his new routine
 
Cloball said:
My cat has had many a scrape he's only allowed out during the day now and stays in after his tea. Mitigates some of the worry, and 4am mice.
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This is our rule too! Ours has never been attacked *touch wood but we lost him once for a while and just made it a rule that he was still allowed out during the day but stays in at night. He is fine with that. He's never settle in 24/7 so its some way of a comprimise to try and keep him as safe as possible. It also means if he does get injured or ill outside hopefully we are awake and around to see/deal with it.
 
Exactly ours has always had his worst fights at night and been hit by a car but we got him at 7 and he's always been outside so although he's settled to his routine he's a nightmare in full time. If he gets in a scuffle in the day we're about or will be about in a few hours to sort him out. As an aside we both sleep much better as he used to announce his arrival at 4am with a mouse very vigorously.
 
Bit late to this one but just wanted to add that our last boy, Eddie, LOVED being outside but often got into battles. We also went down the route of keeping him inside overnight and that proved to be a great compromise - we had a microchip cat flap and if he wasn’t in when we went to bed (and we couldn’t find him easily) we just set it so that he could get back in and not out again and he usually rocked up not too late as he got in the routine of it.
 
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