Oh gosh, I'm the expert here! LOL. I got my bengal when he was six years old and the owner allowed him to roam free. When I got him, he had just been in a bad cat fight and the owner gave him to me. I decided to conserve the rest of his nine lives and make him an indoor cat. Ha ha ha! He yowled 24/7. We could not sleep at night. My husband decided to build a large 12'x12' enclosure on our deck, which we did. We figured that would stop the yowling. Nope! Raiden loved the enclosure but wanted to go wandering outside. He was at the front and back doors constantly. So, I bought a harness and leash. My husband said he would never take to it, but he took to it immediately and out the door we went. I was working at the time, so he got an afternoon walk when I got home. On the weekend, he got two. Now I'm retired and he gets two walks a day. But he yowls until he goes outside. Once our eyes open in the morning, he starts. It takes me at least 30 minutes to wake up, get dressed, eat, get the bird feeders out. He yowls the entire time. Once we return, he settles down, but by 1 p.m., he is howling again. I take him out around two, so an hour of this, every single day.
Once a cat smells the outside world, it is never the same for them. You will never train him to accept going outside on your terms. It will be his terms or nothing. Thus a cat is either an indoor cat or indoor/outdoor cat. Your kitty will probably still love an enclosure, especially if it is on grass (our enclosure is on our deck and elevated). If it is large enough, it may be okay as long as he has 24/7 access to it. Ours has a roof over it, so I put a cat tree out there (except for winter) and he will hop up in the sleeper. When the temps are really warm, he tends to want to stay in the house, but even on our hot afternoon walks, he will just find a spot in the shade in the yard and lay down, so I carry a large towel with me, so I can sit down. Raiden prefers the cool grass, but I'd rather have the towel.
In the end .... we do what is best for our cats. I sacrifice my time for an hour in the morning and hour in the afternoon, seven days a week, rain, shine, hot, cold, snow, ice. Raiden dictates our travels and how long we actually stay out there. He is now 10 years old and I'm sure we have thousands of more walks in our future. They can be a great time to bond and spend quality time together.
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