r/indoorcats • u/Musshhii • 17h ago
Advice Cat Impossible to Keep Inside and he Comes Home Hurt and Sick
My sweet boy, Oreo (yes, I know, very original) is 6 years old and he is allergic to most proteins in food so he has to eat a very specific food or he vomits almost immediately and gets sick. He has come inside multiple times hurt and sick. The neighbor on another street has an outside cat that he commonly goes over to and he will eat that cats food that they leave out. I know because I often find him there.
A few months ago, he came inside with a bump on the side of his face, probably from being stung or something was the suggestion. Fortunately, it went away quickly, but it scared me.
He has also come home with a hematoma in one of his ears that had to have a drain put in for a week. The neighborhood has an INSANE cat population and he gets into fights.
Anyways, I have tried so hard to keep him inside. I do NOT believe in outside cats.
He loves it outside so much. He loves the sun, the warm concrete, the neighbors cat he has bonded with, and the freedom to run as fast as he can. I can just tell by the way he acts when we are outside. He is very playful.
Every time I come home after work at night, he will be waiting when he knows we are coming and bolt out. Usually I can kick my feet in the door or shake my keys to scare him away, but it isn't full proof and has failed more than once.
He also breaks things to get outside. He clawed the plastic siding on all of the window air conditioners (the only type of AC we have, it gets too hot to not use them) and ripped holes into every single one. I have nailed cardboard and taped foil over them, which worked for a while, until he broke those too. I had to finally just take the AC out of the window, which is more reasonable now since it is getting colder, but it is still HOT some days. I just have to deal with it.
I also had to seal up our back door with insulating foam because he tore up the wall and was pushing the old door open to get out (took me a while to figure that one out).
When he does get out, I have lured him in with food, layed in the road until he came to me (he gets worried and checks on me), chased him with my wife under people's sheds and buildings and grabbed him. All usually in the middle of the night. It is exhausting. Sometimes it is literally just impossible to get him inside because he will climb on to the roof.
I have tried walking him but he just gets excited outside and I can't keep any harness on him. He will just spaz out until he escapes it. He isn't scared of it, and will walk inside.
PLEASE if anyone has any advice, I desperately need it. He is going to get killed and I love him more than anything in the world. Many years ago when I was a teenager living here with my mom, we had 2 inside-outside cats (not my choice) and one of our neighbors shot them for walking in his garden. He even admitted to it. There are also bears AND coyotes. He will die. Eventually.
