Kittens who are kept indoors usually show no desire to venture outside as cats. With knowledge, patience, and time, we can change most cats who roam outdoors into happy indoor pets. These tips will help

Provide a safe, outside enclosure, such as a screened porch.

Provide window shelves to permit cats to monitor the outdoors from the safety of the indoors.

Play with your cat each day. Paper bags and cardboard boxes are sources of unending delight when you are away.

Plant kitty grass (available from pet supply stores) in indoor pots so your cat can graze.

Because indoor cats may slip out an open door, it’s important to keep in mind the other essentials of responsible pet ownership:

Spay or neuter your kitten as early as eight weeks of age;

Provide routine veterinary care, including annual check-ups and vaccinations;

Put an identification tag on your cat’s collar– it’s her ticket home if she slips out; and

Support local cat control and protection plans;

Support legislation requiring cat owners to register their cats and prevent them from roaming;

Do not feed unowned or free-ranging cats without making a commitment to giving or finding them a permanent indoor home; and

Take cats for whom you cannot care to your local animal shelter to give them the best possible chance of adoption into loving, lifelong homes.

More for the Birds

Support efforts in your community to protect wildlife and their habitats. All wild animals have three basic needs: food, water and plants that provide escape cover and nesting sites. If you feed birds in your yard, locate feeders away from windows and brushy vegetation that permits neighborhood cats to hide. Keep your feeders clean and well stocked. Where possible, establish a brush pile for wildlife away from feeders. Avoid using pesticides.

Cats cannot be blamed for killing wildlife. It is the responsibility of cat owners to ensure that their cats are safely indoors. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), American Humane Association (AHA), and other groups are working with American Bird Conservancy (ABC) on “Cats Indoors! The Campaign for Safer Birds and Cats.” Through this campaign, we will educate and encourage cat owners to protect cats, birds and other wildlife by keeping cats indoors.