How long would you have to keep a cat indoors until it is reasonably certain that it would come back if let out, and not disappear forever into the wilderness?

I have no idea when it comes to kittens. When we adopted my grandmother’s seven-year-old cat, we kept him inside for about ten days. We then showed him around the garden using a leash. We did this every day for about three days. One night, at midnight, he wanted to go outside (this was about two weeks after we originally got him). My mum let him out. He returned at ten o’ clock the next night.

I’d say two weeks is a good time period to keep it indoors. And then slowly introduce it to the outside world. :-) I hope this helps.

3 weeks, 4 days, 9hrs 28mins & 16secs…roughly speaking.

The old wives tale says that you should put butter on their paws. Once they lick their paws in your house they’re home.

I trained my cat to come to a specific call when it is dinner-time. His name is Schrodinger, usually just ”‘Dinger”, but when it’s dinner-time, I call “SCHRO-DING-ERRR!” all sing-song-y. Every time he was fed as a kitten, that call went out before I put food down in front of him.

Eventually we moved somewhere that we are technically not “supposed” to have an animal, but allowing Dinger to spend most of his time outside, we get away with it. When I don’t know where he is, I can stand at the front door and cry “SCHRO-DING-ERR!” and he comes bounding home looking for a piece of fish or something.

Besides, as soon as the kitty knows you feed it, you’ll have a hard time getting rid of him. ^_^

I keep mine indoors ‘round the clock. He’s gotten out a few times and come back in okay shape—usually not for hours—but I never let him out purposely. I worry too much about his natural enemies: dogs and cars. He’s fine with being an indoor cat. Sleeps most of the time anyway.

It depends on the cat. If it is an unneutered male it will roam no matter what you do. If it is fixed it will probably come back. I have heard that if you butter their paws they lick it off and get the scent of where they are fixed in their heads.

@Judi, I’m betting that old wife either didn’t own a cat or she had one with high cholesterol. ;-)

I don’t know, it looks like @marinelife knew that same old wife. Sometimes there is something to wives tales and sometimes there isn’t. I’m not making a judgment but I had lots of cats growing up and we did this and none ever wandered to far from the butter dish.

Is the cat a male or female? Males are much more prone to striking out to find new territory from time to time.

I’ve always taken them out for supervised explorations of the yard. When we had our own property, they were unleashed but I’d hover and gradually allow them more distance. Now we’re in a complex so I used a harness and lead. We found Thor when he was 4 months and he was my first male cat – he wasn’t allowed out at all until he had all his shots and got neutered. He is now almost 2 and has only been allowed out untethered and unsupervised for 2 weeks, and I would have waited another 6 months to a year, but he figured out how to get out of the harness. He is still very impulsive, so my main concern is that he’ll chase after a bird or squirrel and run into the road.

Yes, I agree with @hearkat
I have always kept my cats in at a new house for the first few weeks and then allowed some exploration under supervision. I JUST moved from my home of 7 years on 5 acres to a small house on the edge of town and my 2 cats have adjusted really well in one month today!
My male is leashed because he is a wanderer and needs supervised outings but my female Siamese has learned her allowed area and sticks right to the back hillside that borders a cemetery.

She is a country cat at heart and has no desire to leave her little patch of countryside behind the house. She comes when I call and I also shake a can of treats that is sure to bring her running. In the last 10 days or so she has totally acclimated and I am now leaving her out unsupervised for 30— 45 minutes before calling her. My male will not respond to being called at all and will just stare into space and completely ignore me.

It all depends on the cat and their temperament.
A very shy cat or rather dumb cat like my male are the most likely to get lost compared to my super smart and savvy female.