letting cat out for the first time in a new home

Sara784

We got a cat about a month ago from my friend (she's moving away, and her mum and dad go away a lot now so not fair on the cat being left alone), she's about 11 years old, and has settled in brilliantly. We have let her out today for the first time, for about 10 mins while we stayed outside with her, the garden is fenced and i dont think she's very adventurous she sniffed around and after a while sprayed on some plants then she came in and we gave her some treats.....is it safe to say she knows thats her territory now and we can carry on letting her out while we're there? (sorry if this sounds daft, i havent had a cat for years, and my bf has always had outdoor cats so doesnt worry about them but i do )

LEJC

Thats exactly rhe thing to do...and just the same as our cat....your cat will become more adventrous and soon be over the fence...

925dancer

She sprayed? Is she not spayed?

Aside from that, I'm the paranoid sort and I would do supervised visits for a week or so and then I would leave the door open while I was at home for a bit before fully letting her have free reign. Obviously it's a little chilly to be leaving doors open but I would want her to feel as comfortable and safe as possible that she can come and go as she wants and isn't having the door shut on her indefinitely.

bacardi66

Im sure she will be fine from now.

I moved home after 12 years with my two cats, kept them in for about a month and then let them out for the first time into the back garden, I did it when I knew they were hungry hoping that would stop them running off. One stayed in the garden and then rushed back inside but the other one jumped over the wall, shot up the alleyway and found his way into the front garden where he had a lovely time jumping from garden to garden and running up the road whilst I got increasingly worried as I couldn't get anywhere near him!

I had a docs appointment so had to leave him where he was, when I got home over an hour later expecting the worst there he was sitting in our back garden looking very pleased with himself! So he had obviously worked out which his back garden was and how to get there. After that I got a cat flap fitted and left them to it. I read that apparently cats have some kind of intuitive inbuilt compass system which takes about 4 weeks to reset to their new location - not sure if that's true or not! Good luck!

Sara784

Thanks everyone she"s been sitting by the back door whenever we go into the kitchen now haha, we've created a monster!