Life With Tiger (An Update)
Do you remember Tiger? He’s the stray cat that just appeared one day when I was working outside about a year-and-a-half ago. He was super friendly, so I started feeding him every day. And naturally, he started sticking pretty close to our house all the time, sometimes sleeping underneath or on top of the van at night.
Other times, when the van wasn’t in the carport, I would wake up in the morning and find him sleeping on my worktable in a pile of sawdust.
Every time I would go outside to work, he would appear and beg for belly scratches.
This little guy wormed his way into my heart pretty quickly, so when the weather started getting cold in December of 2024, I bought him a cat house and insulated it so that he could stay warm at night. And I put it by the back doors of my studio so that I could keep an eye on it (and him) as much as possible.
He had been neutered, so I wasn’t sure if he was someone’s lost pet or if someone found him, decided to have a stray cat neutered and then released him again. I checked local lost pet postings online to see if anyone had lost him, and I even posted about him online, but no one called. So after about a year, and as the weather started getting cold again last December, I started letting him come inside when the temperature got really cold. Well, he has now become our cat. He hasn’t made the full transition to being an indoor cat, but I really want him to. I’m just not quite sure how to make that final transition.
He has been quite the handful, though. He’s the biggest cat we’ve ever had, weighing in at 17 pounds. He’s big, heavy, and strong, weighing a full eight pounds more than Felicity, our other cat. And he loves to be the center of attention. If I’m working on a project, he’s in the middle of it.
Felicity has always been this way as well, but she’s a little more easy going.
If I’m working on a project, she’ll hang around as long as I let her, but once I need to shoo her away to finish up a project, she’ll stay away.
Tiger, on the other hand, is not so easy going. He’s always in the middle of my projects, and if I try to shoo him away, he comes right back. Again and again and again. So he’s a bit of a challenge, but he’s just so cute that it’s hard to get upset with him.
When he first started spending nights inside, I pulled out an extra comforter to make a bed for him on my studio countertop so that he could be up high enough that he wouldn’t have to worry about Cooper (our rather large and hyper dog) bothering him. Tiger is not very fond of Cooper at all, and he hisses and swats every time Cooper gets too close.
When he first started coming inside at night, I had just purchased a new cat bed for Felicity. This picture cracks me up. It’s like Tiger is plotting his takeover of Felicity’s new bed.
And now, his takeover of Felicity’s bed has been successful. Sadly, these cute little beds sold out before I could get another one, so now they fight over this one. But with an eight-pound advantage, Tiger wins every time. Don’t worry. Felicity has other beds.
So far, Tiger and Felicity have not gotten along all that great. It was a little stressful for the first few weeks, especially since they both want to be around me once I get into bed at night. Matt and I always get into bed around 10:00pm and then watch a show before going to sleep, and both cats want to be on my lap. Every night, they would fight over who gets to sleep on my legs. This was always Felicity’s nighttime routine, so with another cat added to the mix, I felt bad that Felicity would sometimes be chased away by Tiger.
But just over the last week or two, this has started happening. Felicity still gets her normal place on my legs, and Tiger snuggles up next to my leg, and for the most part, they get along just fine being this close to each other.
I’ve even caught them playing with each other a few times over the last couple of weeks, but it always seems to end with one of them getting upset, hissing and swatting at the other one. I really think they’ll eventually be friends. Felicity definitely wants to be friends with Tiger, but Tiger is the one who’s still a bit aggressive when Felicity gets too close or wants to sniff him a little too long for his comfort.
I’ve been absolutely amazed at how much food Tiger eats. We go through cat food so much faster now! We’ve always had pretty small cats, weighing in anywhere from six pounds to nine pounds, with Felicity being the biggest cat we’ve had until Tiger came along. And Tiger is the first male cat we’ve ever had. So I’ve been a little shocked at how much food a 17-pound male cat eats compared to the small female cats we’ve always had.
But the biggest challenge right now is that I really want Tiger to be an indoor cat for two reasons. First, I want to get rid of his sharp claws. I’m always a little on edge that he’s going to start clawing on the furniture. So far, he’s been great. I’ve never seen him even try to claw on the furniture, and he only uses the scratching post. But it still makes me nervous, especially now that he’s started sleeping on our new-ish recliner in our bedroom at night. So I really want to clip his claws so that they’re short and blunt so that he can’t do any damage, but as long as he still insists on going outside, he needs those claws for defense.
Also, almost every time he’s outside, I see him walking across the back yard with some sort of wildlife in his mouth — a bird, a lizard, a field mouse, etc. I don’t like that at all. He gets plenty of food inside, so there’s no reason for him to keep hunting and killing wildlife. Plus, he’s just safer inside. There’s zero chance of him getting hit by a car if he’s inside. There’s zero chance of him getting attacked by a stray dog if he’s inside.
But he continues to want to go outside during the day. If I don’t let him outside by noon, he sits by the back doors and yells at me until I let him outside. But then around 7:00pm, he’s ready to come back inside and get settled for the evening.
So this is my biggest challenge right now. How do I make this cat, who was probably born in the woods, spent his first year outside, and is used to hunting for his food, want to stay inside? I made him stay inside for three days straight when we had a stretch of bad weather, and I thought maybe he had made that transition to being an indoor cat, but once the weather cleared up, he was ready to go back outside. I was pretty disappointed, but I feel guilty keeping him inside when he clearly wants to be outdoors.
If you have any tips or tricks on helping an outdoor cat make that full transition to being an indoor cat, I’d love to hear them. I really want him to stay inside where I know he’s safe, well fed, and well taken care of, and I really want to cut those sharp claws!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
He’s a big tom cat doing what cats naturally do! I’d let him stay indoor/outdoor at this point. Maybe when he gets older he’ll want to stay in more. I know you worry about him but he is much happier being an outdoor cat with a cushy homelife. If you try to keep him inside I fear he’ll start tearing up furniture and creating havoc. My two big guys (one is 21-22lbs and the other is 18lbs) enjoy sunning on the back porch but are otherwise indoor cats but they only started going out on the porch when they were about 8/9 years old. Tiger is a handsome guy! Good luck!
Agree
I would say let Tiger go outside and enjoy himself during the daytime knowing he will return to come inside at night. However, since you are concerned about his claws scratching things inside the house that’s a tough one. Do you think he would be at risk of being attacked during the daytime if you trim his claws?
My two main concerns are stray dogs and large predator-type birds, both of which we have in the area. One day, before Tiger became an indoor/outdoor cat, a large predator/carrion-type bird (not even sure what it was) stood on top of the roof of my studio, right on the peak at the edge, watching Tiger for a very long time. I thought they only went after dead animals, but that thing was definitely very interested in Tiger. Tiger stayed under the van the whole time. I was out there as well, and I tried to get the bird to leave, but it stood its ground. I think Tiger is too big and heavy to be carried away by a bird like that, but I’m not 100% sure. That bird was huge with very long and sharp talons. It made *me* nervous, and I weigh considerably more than Tiger. 😀 So as long as he’s going outside, I really don’t want to take away any part of his main defense against other animals.
Tiger is a photocopy of our “Freckles” that we adopted when we were stationed in Ohio for Nick’s PhD. She had been abandoned by her family, more likely, she was out when they were moving and she didn’t come home. She took to being an indoor cat sort of. I had her declawed because our other cat “Sunny” had been declawed and was a consummate “house” cat and she minded…which is French for she came when called. I know, but she was a tuxedo cat, and I have learned they are amazing cats. All that to say that even though Freckles got used to being an indoor cat and then an only cat after we had to put Sunny down after 20 years of love with her, cancer, she still tried her darndest to run outside and play in traffic, not the sharpest knife in the drawer if you know what I mean. I had to stay on high alert with Freckles any time we had guests because she could make Houdini look like an amateur when it came to escaping. We lived on a busy street, and I was just sure that somehow, she’d get out and get squashed by a vehicle. When she passed after 15 years of loving with us, we decided since we were retiring and moving to a farm, we’d forgo animals for a while. We’ve tried some barn cats but that always ended tragically with the number of predators we have around here, bobcats, foxes, mountain lion, and hawks. My heart just couldn’t take anymore. Vigilance is the only thing I can recommend and just keep in mind that if you let them out, they might not come back. Indoor cats live much longer than outdoor ones, but I know that you are fighting an uphill battle. Perhaps in a little more time he will come to the realization, if cats can do that, that he is living the good life and chasing something outdoors might lose a lot of the appeal. Remember, they were once wild animals themselves before we domesticated them some 10,000 years ago. Good Luck with Tiger.
Cheers to you, Matt and all the Fur Babies!
Could you make a catio for him outdoors? That way he is safe outside, but he gets his outside time too. It might make the best of both worlds for him.
I love that idea! I’ll have to give that some thought.
And down Kristi goes into the catio rabbit hole! We may not see her now for months, as she designs and executes the ultimate catio and reschedules all other house projects around it. Ha ha!
I love your heart. He’s a beautiful boy and I am so glad that he is able to eat regularly, get lots of pets and is inside at night where he is safe. Also glad to hear that he and Felicity are starting to warm up to each other. Tiger is the alpha kitty and Felicity is adjusting to her new role. They will eventually be friends. Depending on how long he was outside he may never become an indoor kitty until he is older and becomes a little lazier. Hunting is instinctual, he’s won’t stop hunting. He also has a strong instinct for self preservation so will be leary of stray dogs (and I bet you don’t have a lot of them) and I suspect he stays in your huge back yard most of the time and doesn’t get too near the road. Your biggest challenge is his claws, and you are right, you can’t clip them because he goes outside. As long as the uses the scratching post you are fine and if he was going to start clawing furniture he would have done that by now. All this to say he is probly pretty safe outside during the day. IF you really want him in your only option is to not let him out. At that point it will become a battle of wills and who is the most stubborn and most presistant. That battle could go on for a long time and my money will be on Tiger. There is nothing worse than an constantly crying cat. Good luck and thanks for the update.
You can build a large outdoor Catio very easily.
I would just not let him out! The only other thing you could do is to make him a catio enclosure that he could stay in outside, safe from outside dangers, and safe for the creatures he likes to chase. (it’s in their nature to hunt. They don’t always do it for food, more of a playing activity that goes wrong!) A catio would satisfy his need to be outside, and maybe even Felicity would enjoy it eventually! You can even make it so that there is an access directly to/from the house if you want that. I never let my cat out unless he was leashed. I would walk him around, letting him lead the way, and when he laid down, that was time to go inside, unless I wanted to sit in a lounger while he enjoyed a short nap! I know you wouldn’t be able to leash Tiger, just explaining what I did. My cat hated the leash at first, but he got used to it when he realized the “reward” for wearing it was outside access!
Cats are my love language and I’ve always had them in my near 70 yrs. 5 yrs ago we moved to North Idaho and are building our home on a mtn. We were given a precious 7 week old kitten, I did it for our grandson 😉 but she was quickly adored and spoiled by everyone. She spent hours and sometimes overnight in the chicken coop, hunting. During the day, she’d catch a mouse and bring it over to the chickens to marvel at her catch. They’d gather around the mouse to watch it “die”……I’m not kidding. Anyway, one day she didn’t want to go in when I was doing chores and it’s the last time we saw her 😭 we searched the mountain without a trace of her….hawk? We have all kinds of predators so we keep our pets inside or with me in the fenced garden while I’m working in there.
I posted on our local FB page about her missing. A lady told me if I didn’t find our baby she had a kitten that needed a home and that she looked like the one we lost. Gracie was a dilute calico. We accepted the offer and we went to meet and pick her up. She was a dilute tortie! She looks like Felicity ☺️. Check,out “dilute torties of FB”. They are a special breed. We never thought how this little gem could heal our hearts but the Lord knew we needed Liesl and she has captured our hurting hearts and is the center of everything……especially with my husband, our son and grandsons!
I love how you have made Tiger part of your family and that Felicity “tries” to win over Tiger. Thanks for loving on a stray….they need us 😻
I cannot recall the name od the product but there is a plug in diffuser that is calming for cats. Works as a pheromone. Feliway? Something like that.
The one for dogs called adaptil that is amazing. I used it when we fostered and it makes them super chill. Supposedly reminds them of when they were nursing at the “milk bar.”
Love your work and your sharing of your life.
Yes letting a cat outside is full of risks. My neighbors cat does the same, screams until he’s let outside. We live in an area with coyotes, vultures and bald eagles. For thirteen years he has survived and spends most of his days outside. He has a path he travels multiple times a day, Tiger probably does the same and doesn’t venture far.
Catios are a great idea but what if you spend the time and money and he hates it? I’d let him do what comes naturally.
Love your kitties!!!!! I’m going to suggest building a catio that connects to your house through a window. He can be outside safely that way.
I feel a catio building project in your future!! Could that give Tiger the outside time he wants while keeping him (and the wildlife!) safe?
So now you have 2 fabric weights: Large and small!
If you have no other plans for next weekend, just Google “catio plans”. That will take care of the weekend. There are none that I have seen that you are not capable of building with your skills. No trim boards required! Unless your OCD kicks in! Lol
I have 4 cats, siblings, that involves a huge 18 lb orange male. We were afraid he would never grow into his feet and tail. He did. 3 sisters from another father, a tux cat. Their Mom was a solid orange! Vet didn’t believe me when I took her in to be spayed. Vet picked her up and LOOKED! Said she had never seen a solid orange female in her 20 years of practice.
You could get him chipped in case he goes wandering. I doubt he will. Cats who’ve been on their own and now have steady food and a soft bed, usually hang around pretty close.
I think you’ll need to build him a catio!!
Hi Kristi, I totally understand you struggle. In 2021, we adopted a kitten that was born on a farm, and was raised a barn cat. No matter our efforts, there was no keeping her inside. Also impossible to have a collar on her, she would snap it off, and once we got a solid collar and she almost broke her jaw trying to remove it. So we let her be free during the day, but she would always return at night. Until she didn’t. She disappeared one summer day, and we looked everywhere, put up posters, talked to all my neighbors to no avail. That was 3 years ago. While looking for her, we were alerted to a similar cat seen in a forest, and we discovered a stray female cat that was really skin and bones. We looked for her family, like you did, but none could be found. She is our cat now, and wants to go outside and will take every opportunity to escape, but I will never again let one of my cats go outside. Having my heart broken once was enough 💔. It was quite a struggle, especially at first, but she has since stopped yowling for the door, and I like to believe she is becoming a contented house cat. She is also much friendlier.
Good luck with whatever way you decide to go, it is not easy to win a struggle of willpower with a cat, even if we have their best interest at heart. Only you can tell if going outside is necessary for Tiger’s happiness. That’s why we let our Whiskey out, we adopted her to give her a good life, and life wasn’t good for her if she couldn’t go outside. Even in hindsight knowing we would lose her, I’m not sure I would have been able to keep her inside. Some cats are determined. Maybe a catio could help as so many mentioned. Your fur babies are lovely by the way 🥰
Not a cat tenant… (they tend to own the spaces they live at). An all-time favorite cat was Grady – an adopted feral kitten by my nextdoor neighbor. They lived mostly outside and sometimes in. They were described like Tiger, looks, size, loo-ving of human attention. They took on unwanted critters like snakes, mice, rats, and unfortunately some cute critters. This is my ideal cat. Most indoor cats do have less health needs and environment impacts early in life, tend to grow into a lot of needs that are tricky. Partly because they are inside 24/7, a litter box and food don’t cut it. Humans can’t live in a box 24/7 and require sunlight to process vitamin D. This is why I haven’t become a cat person, I wouldn’t be able to manage the crazy or a geriatric cat well. Adapting an animal to human-care tends to grow into exceptional needs often more than a single person can provide (scratch prevention, behavioral management). They can live a more full life outside, even if its an invasive predator of cute critters.
Cats are tough, especially when they have already spent part of their lives outdoors. You have done a great job getting this far, but it may be that’s the best you can do. As for the claws, unless he’s destructive inside, I would leave them alone, but you could try taking the sharpest part off every month to stop any snagging on blankets and things. He’ll need those claws to climb up fences and trees if he’s being chased.
Maybe build an awesome cat tree with plenty of scratching areas😂
That was very kind of you to give him a home, he’s a lucky boy!
If Tiger hasn’t clawed furniture yet, he’s not going to. Also, most dangers to cats his size would be after dark, not during the day. Relax and let him enjoy the outdoors.