Can an outside cat become an inside cat?

[camille79]

Following on from zukitia's question below, has anyone had experience of a cat who previously lived out changing to an indoor cat? I ask as I am moving house to a more built-up area and will find it difficult to get a house with a garden. I'm also worried about the busier roads but don't want my moggies to be miserable inside!

[boobesque]

cats are territorial. they will try and gather as much space as they can and try to keep it as their own. stopping the cat from exploring outside the house will annoy the cat, as it wont be able to find out about the local territory. when i moved house my cat explored for a while, then finding that the other cats in the area were much bigger than he, he now stays indoors (the house is his territory. previously he had a large area outside as well as the house). if you prevent the cat from going outside then he/she will probably become miserable.

[drgnrdr]

Yes I have had experience with moving a cat indoors from outdoors, about, mmmm, my guess would be about 20 or so, since I fostered them. Cats do not HAVE to be outside to be happy, like dogs, they are territorial, but they can have territory as your home, as long as you don't live in a 5ft by 5 ft square, your space should be fine, for a few cats, cats can have a small territory as long as food is plentiful, but if it is scarce they will need to expand it, that's what makes a cat roam, besides not being fixed.You need to provide an enriched environment for them. They should all be spayed/neutered hopefully and have more than 1litterbox, placed in different locations.

Check out http://www.catsinternational.org/

Click on "articles" and read about Natural cat behavior, or Fun for cats, this will help you transistion them allot easier if you have some info at hand. Most of mine did cause a rukus at first, and some did fine, but I always paid more attention to the ones who seem to have a harder time with it to make them play and gave them window seats and such, they did just fine after about a week or so to get into a new routine, some very feral cats we tried to get use to inside were a bit harder but they had to get use to humans first, I think they took about a month all total. But they were quite content purring and sitting in the window in the sun, they were never real "pet me, pet me" types, but cats show affection different than dogs, when they rubbed my leg and looked at me and closed their eyes real slow I knew they were happy. If you understand your cats body language you can see if they are happy, by small signs. I also got most of them use to a figure 8 harness and a leash, they went out with me, but I kept them safe. Good luck, please check out the website it will help you, I promise!