Expert: Ali - 4/28/2009

Question
I have acquired a older cat that has been declawed, however, he is an outside cat at night. He sleeps inside all day, goes outside to go to the bathroom, but wants to stay out all night. He has recently gotten into a fight with another cat and his ear is a bit torn up from it. I know it is not safe for him to be outside, but he keeps us all up at night if we try to keep him in. Please help! Thanks, Linda

Answer
Linda,

If someone is home during the day you can try switching the cat's day around by keeping him awake during the day, playing with him and offering him as much stimulation as you can. This may mean that he's too tired to go outside at night which would be a victory for his overall safety and you won't have to worry about him. Most cats that are declawed have that surgery performed at the same time as their spay/neuter surgery so I'm going to assume that your kitty's been neutered - if not it's something to consider because it'll help keep him closer to home if he's not full of hormones coursing through his body looking for girlfriends late a night. You may find that filling a litter pan with dirt from outside helps reduce the urge for the cat to go outside during the night, you can gradually switch him over to a more acceptable unscented kitty litter over time. You may find that training your kitty to accept a harness and leash then taking him outside while you're able to supervise and keep him safe will satisfy his need to go outside. As a last resort you can ask your vet about medications to help calm your cat, but I normally suggest that you choose the pharmaceutical approach if all else fails and you've tried the methods that are lower risk and least invasive.

You may find that seeking the assistance of a holistic veterinarian (a vet trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies such as homeopathy, acupuncture, Reiki or massage to name a few options) will help to reduce your cat's anxiety levels. It's certainly best to have the ultimate goal that this kitty will live entirely indoors, especially since he's been declawed because this will help ensure that he lives a longer, happier and healthier life. My vet is a fantastic holistic veterinarian who uses homeopathy and conventional medicine in her practice and I've seen some amazing results with the homeopathic remedies both on their own and in combination with conventional treatments. Ultimately it's up to you which discipline you seek out if you decide to try alternative treatments, I'm most familiar with homeopathy though.

I can recommend a homeopathic remedy that might help your new companion settle down at night. Bach's Rescue Remedy is a blend of flower essences designed to calm and reassure, it's perfectly safe and I've used it for years with anxious, fearful, traumatized and abused cats. It's possible that the pacing and meowing at night when you don't let him out is due to anxiety as well as being his way of communicating what he wants to you. You can add 5-7 drops of Rescue Remedy to a fresh bowl of water each morning so that the cat drinks his remedy without even knowing it. In this situation it might be well worth gently rubbing a drop of Rescue Remedy on the relatively hair free area of skin in front of the ears, be careful not to get it into the ears though because it's preserved in a grape alcohol solution so it can sting a bit. This remedy isn't something that you have to worry about overdoses or adverse effects provided of course that you use common sense, a few extra drops per day won't cause any trouble, the whole bottle at once just might simply because the flower essences are preserved in a solution of grape alcohol. A holistic vet may have remedies or treatments to recommend that are specific to your cat's personality and habits, but the Rescue Remedy is a safe remedy you can use without the fear of adverse affects. You can usually purchase Rescue Remedy in health food stores, naturopathic pharmacies, some mainstream pharmacies will carry this remedy in the same aisle as vitamins and nutritional supplements and to my knowledge you can also purchase this remedy online.