2 Palo Alto cats having trouble adjusting to new catio

DEAR JOAN We just added a catio to our patio for our two adult ragdoll cats that have inevitably been indoor cats We thought they would love to spend time with us outside admiring nature Not Related Articles Keeping your pets safe happy during Fourth of July Ducks thrive in Sunnyvale pool their welcome is wearing thin Founder of new East Bay dog treat company explains hot trends in pet food industry Mountain View cat freaked out by bully cat next door Jaws turns It changed pop heritage and our perception of sharks They are very traumatised and try to tear it apart to escape while crying the entire time We have added more fun things to the catio toys and a scratch pad and we have been keeping the door to the catio open so it doesn t feel so much like a cage What other things can we do to help them learn to love their new surroundings Christine Buss Palo Alto DEAR CHRISTINE The great outdoors can be a big and frightening place especially for cats who have only seen it from the safety of the great indoors Because this is their first experience of being on the outside they might be overwhelmed by it all not recognizing that they are in a protective enclosure In your excitement to provide your cats with a treat you might have moved too speedily Cats are very much creatures of habit and various are very calm inside the protective and solid walls of their home You might need to start over with short visits to the catio and by joining your cats inside the enclosure playing with them and having certain cuddle time Slowly increase the amount of time they re in the catio and decrease your amount of time inside You might also want to enhance the feeling of safeguard by draping sheets over greater part of the catio As they start to feel more assured start peeling back the sheets to expose more of the outdoor view You re doing all the right things now so just keep at it DEAR JOAN I wonder if you know whether domestic cats who love sleeping outdoors are in danger from the numerous hawks I see circling around I- between High Street and Keller Avenue where the Oakland Zoo is located We have three white Persians who may be easy to spot because their white fur is very bright Our cats range between to years old and weigh around pounds Robert Zolly Oakland DEAR ROBERT Hawks will and do prey on cats and small dogs but attacks are infrequent With any predators size matters Kittens and unhealthy cats are more likely to be preyed upon by hawks than larger healthy adult cats Hawks feed on rats and mice squirrels and other birds but if they are hungry or seeking food for their offspring a small cat or dog might be taken The bigger threat to outdoor cats is coyotes which also hunt smaller animals but go after cats more often than birds of prey do The best way to protect your cats is to keep them indoors and I highly recommend that or using a catio But if you insist on letting your cats snooze outside you should join them whenever they re outside The presence of a human is a deterrent to majority predators You also should keep them indoors around dawn and dusk which is when hawks are bulk likely to be out hunting The Animal Life column runs on Mondays Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris gmail com