my cat murray

Question
I just moved to new neighbourhood and my cat is an outdoor cat - I want to let her out but I am afraid how do i train my cat to the new neighbourhood - i have been keeping her in most of the time especially at night but she wakes me up every night looking to go out - I am so sleep deprived since I moved and I really don't know what to do - PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Answer
Sharon,

This is difficult to answer.  It depends on how far away your previous household was, how she gets along with the other neighborhood outside cats, how busy the traffic is where you live, etc.

If your old neighborhood was not too far from where you are living now, she may tend to want to go back to her old territory. If she is having problems getting along with the neighborhood cats she may tend to wander further and wider. If there is a lot of traffic in the neighborhood, she could have a nasty encounter with a moving vehicle.

So, you will have to use your own judgement on this one.  The bottom line is that if she likes the new neighborhood she will stick around, otherwise she may have some more prolonged absences than you are used to.  Really, it is up to her, and I know of no way of training a cat to stay in a territory we may pick for it.

Best regards... Norm.