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[quote=Anonymous]PP suggesting to let the cat go out on empty stomach is right. A distinct sound to tell them breakfast is on, will bring them back.

Key here is to establish the rules: go out for a little while, come back in time so all of us leave for work on time. With only a short time spent outside, you get a small territory. The longer time they spend outside, the further out they roam. Unless there's another territorial cat in the neighborhood -- which is usually not great.

Our rules:
- cats (I have 2) go out only when we are out as well.
- they never spend more than 1h at a time (see why below).
- if they seem to wander away, they lose the "outside privilege for a few days)
- we make every effort to have a noisy backyard, so that birds don't nest in low bushes. But cats are always grounded in spring, or whenever we find out that the resident birds have younglngs.

Mind you, when they are outside, you will run into trouble. They will end up hunting (when we moved to VA, we've had to keep one of them always indoors just because there are so many birds out raising chicks). They will run into another cat (or worse), who will fight for real. And there are hawks, foxes and other predators out there. That's why it's so important to establish a territory that is small, but close to the house, and to supervise. For us, this means they are outside when we are working in the yard.

One last thought: all the indoor distractions listed in the thread are passive. Cats actually love interaction, and they want some action. Setting aside 15 minutes to actively play with your cat will do wonders to the "let-me-out-let-me-out-let-me-out" behavior. A simple string, or tinsel toy with a handle will do the trick. Make your cat ponce and jump and use all that athleticism to get to the toy, and you will have less yowling to go out. (I used to rely on a feather toy like "DaBird", until we moved here and found ourselves surrounded by real birds. To avoid giving them more ideas, we switched. These days, the kids are old enough to do the playing.[/quote]

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