Help! cat follows me wherever I go!!

[cybil2403]

I have an 11 year old cat. For some reason, she likes to follow me to wherever I'm going! She's like a dog except not wearing a lead!!
I'm afraid she will get so far and not be able to find her way home! I'm aware cats follow their scent but she's not very good on main roads (always lived in quiet cul-de-sacs)
She will follow me so far then wait for me to return. I know some think this is funny, but I find it blooming annoying!!
Please help!!

[B00]

lol, I used to have a cat which did exactly the same!

She'd follow me walking all the way down the road, then wait in a bush for me to return then follow me home. The only drawback (apart from me being terrified she'd venture across the busy road) was that if I got a lift home, I still had to go back down the road to collect the ruddy cat!

Quite how you combat this i've no idea- sorry.

[willowbee]

hi, we have 3 cats and have had others. As our got older like yours they tend to get clingy and do not like being left alone. There's nothing you can do except like you say 'hope she can find her way home'. At age 11 im sure she can venture far and still find her way home, ours always did. Just give her a big cuddle when you get home to reassure her. we built ours an outdoor pen to curb their following and then gently reintroduce them to the outdoors lol. Sorry i cant be more of help to you.

Willow.x

[originalang]

Hiya cybil, sorry I havent got an answer for you but just wondered if perhaps your cat maybe makes her way home until she thinks you're due home then goes back to her waiting place. I know its not the same but our dog used to wander the back garden and lie in her kennel while we were out but neighbours told us that she always lay by the gate when she thought we were due home. I think I'm trying to say try not to worry too much, it sounds like she only ventures as far as she feels comfortable with.

BOO I'm sorry I had to laugh at the thought of you having to back for your cat when you got a lift home. We all do mad things, us animal lovers!

[cybil2403]

Thanks for your replys!

I've got 2 other cats and don't have a problem with them!

The other day I went out and came home a different way, after a few hours she still wasn't home, so I went out looking for her (much to the amusement of my other half!!!) and she was still waiting for me where she'd stopped following me!!!!!!

[wolf63]

Can't help you with cats but..

We used to have a Bull-mastiff/GSD and he was the softest lump ever. But sometimes he used to scale the fence and to and play at the primary school at break or lunch times (this was about 1980ish).

He never came home again, he sat at the top of the road barking until we went to collect him. I am not at all sure why he did this - maybe he was related to Boo's cat.

If he was muddy after his excursion he used to go straight up to the bathroom and sit in the bath - he knew the routine. I think that he was a man in a dog suit.

[ching chong]

keep water pistol with you and squirt it when it fallows you.

Hope this helps

[pussnboots]

My old cat now nearly 19 follows me everywhere but only in the house, he waits outside the bathroom, bedroom, sits on my puter, sits on my newspaper when I am trying to read it, sits on my lap all the time, when I go out he doesn't follow me but just waits in the window. When I come back in the car he comes out and walks to meet me, he is my shadow but I love him dearly.

[Jenga]

We had a cat that used to follow us all the way to the bus stop. He lived to a ripe old age and always found his way home. I only had to look for him once when he had a falling out with a dog and ran up a tree.

[hollie1586]

isn't there a cat flap you can buy that has a timer on it? so wehn you go out you can set it to unlock like 5 mins after you have left the house?

[Whoever]

We too had a cat like that, but he would only follow us so far, probably within the bounds of his normal roaming territory and then stop in his tracks. We used to dodge behind hedges and bushes and hide to see what he would do then. He'd sit for a few moments rather uncertainly looking around and then turn round and retrace his footsteps. Don't know what you do about it. Normally cats like to keep their own territories. Guess you can only hope that she'll stick to her current routine. Have you tried "Shooing her back?"

[cybil2403]

I've tried "shooing" her and ignoring with no luck!

I've have started locking the catflap before I go out, but feel guilty if I'm out for quite a while, I'm really soft when it comes to my cats (: