How to Convince Your Cat to Stay Indoors

Have you recently decided to adopt a kitty? Perhaps you’ve taken in a stray, or rescued a sweet furball from a shelter. As a pet owner, one decision you’ll need to make is whether or not your feline buddy will be allowed outdoors. We strongly recommend keeping your cat inside. Cats that stay indoors are generally safer and healthier, live longer, and have greatly reduced risks of being lost, injured, or even killed. If you’ve decided to make your feline friend an indoors-only cat, we applaud you! Fluffy, however, may have other ideas, especially if she’s previously been allowed outdoors. Read on for some tips from your Rapid City vet keeping Kitty inside.

A kitty tower is a great investment for someone with a kitty. Fluffy will enjoy playing and climbing on the tower. If you place it in front of a window with a fun view, she’ll also be able to watch the local wildlife.

Make Fluffy’s indoor life fun by getting her lots of toys and rotating them out frequently. In addition to store-bought toys, your furball may enjoy playing with boxes, paper grocery bags, and even crumpled up paper balls.

If you have a screened-in patio, you can make the space into a ‘catio’ by adding a cat tower or kitty condo. Set them up so that Fluffy can watch everything that is going on outside. Purrfection!

Give your furball a taste of the outdoors by adding some cat-friendly plants to your home. Make sure to research your plants first, as many common household plants are toxic to cats.

Does Fluffy try to make a run for it whenever the door opens? There are some tactics you can try to keep her from bolting through the door. Squirting her with water or sounding a bike horn might do the trick. You can even rattle a jar of change loudly. These things will startle your kitty, and she’ll probably become wary of the door.

Do you have any questions about your furball’s care? Does Fluffy need shots or an examination? Please contact us if there is any way we can help. As your local Rapid City vet clinic, we are here to serve all your pet care needs.

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