I have two cats, Hecate and Nyx. Hecate is about 2 years old. She was abandoned, heavily pregnant, by my old neighbours. Nyx is the only one of her kittens that we kept, she's about 14 months old, and starting to act a bit more like an adult cat. For the record, what I'm about to describe only happens at night after they've been fed. Both our front and back doors are glass, so we can't put cat flaps in. Additionally, I know that statistically, indoor cats live longer, but I refuse to keep my cats locked indoors where they have no form of exercise and can't have space from each other. Oh, and I know cats are nocturnal and want to go out hunting at night, I'm well aware of why she does it.
Because it's so light out at night, Hecate has an annoying habit of staying out until 5am if given the opportunity. There are nights that I've sat up waiting for her and not had any sleep because I was so worried about her. Because of this, I've been keeping her inside after her evening meal since around March this year. Nyx always comes back when she's called, but Hecate ignores me until she's had a good prowl, which can last hours. Regardless, accidents happen, like my flatmate leaving a window open in his room and the door open, or someone coming home and her bolting out before they have a chance to stop her. Despite the fact that I've stuck to this routine most nights for about 5 months, she just doesn't seem to get it.
As soon as she's finished eating, she'll come into the living room, stand at the back door and wail. When she realises I'm not paying her any attention, she puts her paws on my legs or arms (if I'm at my computer) and very gently claws me. If I continue to ignore her, she prowls around the house whining and, when she finds Nyx, smacks her, hisses at her, growls at her until Nyx runs into the same room as me or I tell Hecate off for it. After she's done that, she'll growl at me, scratch doors, claw carpets, generally anything I usually tell her off for, as long as it gets my attention. When she has my attention, she simply runs to the back door and starts the process again.
Some mornings, she doesn't even care about being fed and just sits at the back door wailing until I show her her food bowl. I just don't understand why it's getting worse, despite the fact that I've kept up the same routine for so long, nor why my cat wants to be outside more than she wants to eat. Every other time of day, she's adorable with Nyx. They play in the garden, they clean each other and occasionally sleep curled up together. But every night, for about 3 hours, Hecate just bullies Nyx (and me) to get my attention. I can't even shut her out of the living room with Nyx inside, because both of my cats have learned to open all our doors.
How can I get her to stop this behaviour, or what should I do about it? Just stick with the routine until she stops? Try something else? I don't want to punish her directly, because it's taken me almost a year to gain her trust fully. She still runs away if anyone uses any kind of spray (i.e. body spray, air fresheners), which makes me think something happened with my old neighbours. I don't want her to have any similar fears as a result of being punished (i.e. spraying with water or whatever), and in my experience, cats don't respond well to that kind of thing anyway.
Advice?
In case anyone has any silly comments to leave:
It isn't illegal to let your cat outside in the UK and they are legally viewed as the property of their rightful owner (proven via microchips, registering them at a vet or having some other evidence of ownership), meaning that anyone who unlawfully (shelters can take cats that are believed to be strays, but they must attempt to locate their owners before re-homing them, and the police may remove cats from a property with the appropriate court orders; anyone else who removes your cat without permission is committing an offence) takes that cat can be charged for theft. Cats legally have the right to roam because it is in their nature, and they are quite welcome to do as they please while outside of a person's house. Cat owners cannot be charged for damages done to anyone else's property by their cat/s, including killing other peoples' pets, fouling in gardens, etc.
Thanks for the advice, but it's a sliding glass door in the back, and the front door is thick glass panels... and I'm renting, so I can't fit a cat door without the landlord's permission (highly doubt he'd let me and I couldn't afford to replace the doors). It's also completely ground-floor, so it's not safe to leave a window open all night (also, it'd get cold!). I worry about her being out at night, so I'd prefer to keep her inside. I'll try distracting her with treats, but would appreciate any other advice. Thanks again!
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