Acclimating a cat to an RV

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Jackliz

Jackliz

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 4, 2005
Posts
1,287
Location
Hondo, TX
Howdy, Framily.
I am in the process of acclimating (hope that this is the appropriate term) a cat to living in our coach. Oreo(the cat) has been living in this RV park for a while. She had been abandoned by someone who left the park. Oreo is very friendly, knows that a bed is for sleeping and a dashboard is for snoozing. However, she likes to stay outside. Since we are leaving this park shortly, and we like Oreo a lot, I am training(ha ha) her to stay in the coach. I have also shown her the litterbox. She hasn't used it yet. So, I am waiting her out.  :)  I have closed off the bedroom(don't want any accidents on the carpeting in there) and Oreo as been in the coach for 10 hours now. She keeps going to the stairwell and then comes up the stairs and looks at me. She did check out the litter box.

A positive note is that she uses the corrugated cardboard scratching post( I spread some catnip on it) on her own, now.

Jack is not 100% with me in this project, though. He thinks that Oreo will always try to get out of the coach and then run away. He feeds her breakfast every morning, however. He started her on those little cans of wet cat food(hmm) and Oreo will sleep on his chest. She likes to wake him up by purring in his ear. Jack bought her a nifty foldable den/carrier.

Comments, ideas and suggestions would be welcomed.  Oreo's photo attached.

Thanks,
Liz
Waiting

 

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I have had cats get loose on me but once they get used to food and water where you usually put it, it's hard for them to change their hunting habbits and go back to the wild (thus the cat was recovered)

Just now I've a female who was born in the wild but came to live with me at about 7 weeks.  She does like good food, clean water and a warm bed. but she will escape given a chance. (she is now about 2 or 2.5 years)  The only option is to keep the door closed at all times and play catch with her when she does go out (she never learned to play hide and seek it seems,

Time is the only way she's going to learn, you have done well with your training method.  Of course a "Friend" might help a bit. (Alex, our "male" (both cats have been properly "Fixed") is very much a "NO, I"m not going out there, things out there can HURT you" kind of cat (in our neighborhood things out their kill you slowly and painfully if you are a cat, best to stay indoors)
 
Very hard (maybe impossible?) to break an outdoor cat of the outdoor habit, but it can easily adapt to hanging out at your coach and using the litter box when inside. Once accustomed to sleeping and getting fed there, you can be sure it will stay around most of the time and come back if it goes out. Your big problem will be if it is wandering around somewhere when you are ready to leave for another park.

So do you need for Orea to become an indoor-only cat or will in & out do?
 
Liz,

We have a cat that we got from the pound a couple of years ago so we had no background on him.  We kept him inside for a while, a couple of weeks?, then we let him roam the neighborhood.  After a couple of months we headed south for the winter with him in the MH.  After a couple of days of travel with him inside all the time, I put him on a leash and we went for a walk.  Since then he still would like to go out on his own but when he does escape, he is fairly easy to catch and bring home.  I try to take him out at least once a day for a long walk and most time we get a couple of walks a day.

He does prefer to be out on his own but so far he has been good while traveling!  VBG
 
Our cat also walks on a leash and its a good way to satisfy their inate urge to hunt and explore, but some cats just don't seem to be able to handle it.  Seems as though some cats are from New Hampshire - "Live Free or Die!"  :p
 
A big THANK YOU for your replies.

Here is an update on our project. Oreo is really doing much better than we expected. She is using her litter pan. I make sure that she gets a treat for that. Oreo is wearing a red harness under duress.  :D  But she is getting used to it. At first, she acted as though she couldn't move in this harness. But she is walking along and can get up on the bed. I am going to upload some photos of her in this harness. We never realized what a drama queen she is.  ;D 

I hope that Oreo will get used to walking on a leash. At least that way she can go outside.  :) 

Will continue to keep y'all updated.

Thanks again,
Liz

 
Photos of Oreo in her red harness.

 

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We put a harness on our cat from day one and thought it would be neat for her to spend time outside. She does enjoy it but there is a downside.
After being out a few times she will try to get out anytime the door is open. She has been tough to catch a couple of times.
We find that after a month or so of not being out she loses the urge to try to get out, so now we just keep her inside.

We rescued her from a woodpile (her mother was feral) when she was a few weeks old, so her life is better than it would have been even though she doesn't get to go outside.
 
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