Preventing indoor cat from straying outdoors

Question
Hi,

This is a bit of a long question but its a BIG worry to me so I want to make sure I give all the facts.

I own an 8 year old, neutered male Devon Rex cat, he was a rescue cat as not up to show standards - he has a deformed lower jaw and bent back legs, poor love.

When we adopted him he was a year old and had been kept as an indoor cat and as we live near a busy road we have been happy to keep him as an indoor cat - he has never been outdoors and seems quite happy, though he constantly seeks a sunny spot to lie in probably as he has so little fur.

I keep him indoors as I'm pretty sure he couldn't defend himself in a scrap with any of the neighbours big cats, also with his funny legs he can't jump down from high places - though he tried to get up there and I often have to recuse him when he's managed to get up on a piece of furniture and can't get down.

It can be a bit of an ordeal always making sure doors are closed and that he doesn't dash out when we open an outer door but as we live in England most of the time we can keep doors tightly shut, but I have noticed a few times that if he's in the hall and the outer door opens he occasionally tries to make a sudden mad dash through it so far we've always stopped him successfully.

However we are in the process of relocating to Cyprus where its hot all year round and we will be living in an open plan house where we'll want to keep the doors and windows wide open and it will also be near a busy road.

We couldn't think of not taking our cat and even though transporting him worries me - what to do when we get there worries me even more. We won't be able to keep him shut in like we do here, yet I'm worried sick he'll be off like a shot if we leave the doors open as he'll be in a strange place and even more likely to dash off than here at home as he'll be disorientated and confused.

Can you suggest anything?

The only idea I have had is one I am not sure would either work or be humane so maybe you could advise - I have seen ultrasonic cat deterrents - mainly to keep neighbours cats from straying onto your property - would it be cruel to set one of these up outside the doors so if he did go outdoors he can only go a short distance before the ultrasonic deters him?

It seems cruel to do that to my own cat but surely far better than letting him get killed?

Any advise or suggestions you can give will be very welcome  

Answer
You're right to worry!  Thanks for taking such care.

One, I would strongly suggest microchipping him if that's available in Cyprus.  In case you're not familiar with this - the microchip is about the size of a grain of rice.  It's inserted with a needle at an ordinary vet visit, without anesthesia, into the skin between the shoulder.  It causes no more discomfort than a vaccination injection.  The microchip is programmed with a number that is read with a scanner.  In many countries, nearly every vet and animal shelter has a universal scanner to read the microchip.  Your name and address are stored by a company in a database.  The person who finds the cat can contact the database company, who will in turn contact you. You do need to pay a yearly or monthly fee to have your information maintained, but it is very inexpensive, as is the implantation of the microchip itself.

As for keeping him in, do you have screen doors?  Forgive me if that seems silly.  I'm not familiar with Cyprus at all.  Most people here in the U.S. have an inner door, and then a door just outside it which is made of screen to allow airflow.  Some cats will tear through the screen to get outside, but you can find steel screens, which are very difficult for cats to tear through.  I think keeping him inside will be no problem if you equip your doorways with these.