Turning house cat into apartment cat

andariel

I'm looking for some advice, I have a beautiful and ever so cuddly cat who is 13 years old who has been a house cat for the last 10 years.

Our situation has changed since first getting him, myself my brother and father all lived in this house together but we have since flown the nest, and my father is rarely at home. This makes me really sad because my cat is like a little old man now, all he wants is to cuddle and eat.

I think it is highly unfair for my cat to be left outside for days when no one is around to come feed him (he gets food from the neighbors and is never without, but it's more that he is lonely) I try to visit him as much as possible but with work, and living on the other side of Dublin this can be hard.

I am looking into moving out into an apartment and bringing him with me, and I was wondering if anyone else has ever done this with a cat that is so used to a house/garden etc. I'm not sure how he would react to a new environment but I know in the long run he would be much happier to have company every night than being somewhere familiar with no one around.

Now my question is, what kind of things would I need for him to be comfortable? The apartment may not have a garden or a balcony so he would have to be an apartment cat, so it may be hard to get him to used a litter tray but I just need all the advice I can get at the moment, because I really would love to take him with me.

Thank you for reading!

Nody

You need to make sure you got scratching poles and tree to climb up so he can look out. If you can get something like this where he can flop in the sun it's great (note it don't have to be that tall but something allowing him to sleep in the sun that's soft and "his"). Beyond that it's all about cuddles, reinforcement of positive (there will potentially be accidents etc.) and making sure he got a good time.

miezekatze

I think my cat used to be an outdoors cat before we adopted her (she's a rescue cat and we don't really know anything about her past), but we live in an apartment. It's never really been an issue. She tries to escape sometimes so we have to be careful when we leave and come home, and she loves sniffing out of the window. She does seem happy though and I don't think she misses the outdoors too much. Just make sure he has enough toys and you spend enough time with him.. and plenty of scratching posts, we have one in almost every room.

andariel

Thank you so much for your replies, I feel a lot better about bringing him with me now!

I will definitely get him a good scratching post that he can sleep on, and even though it will take a bit of adjusting I think overall he will be much happier with me there. Thanks again! : )

Pumpkinseeds

You can get window/balcony nets from places like zooplus.ie, that way you can open the balcony door for him and not have to worry about him escaping that way.

A litter tray, toys, maybe a plug in Feliway diffuser to relax him. Oh, and chicken, lots and lots of cooked chicken and spoiling:D I think he's probably going to be a lot happier indoors snug, warm and safe in the long term, especially as the weather is getting colder and wetter. It won't be long before people are letting off bangers and fireworks too:mad:

mitosis

Most apartments don't allow animals. You need to make sure your's does before you bring one in.