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 always been indoor cats. We thought they would love to spend time with us outside admiring nature.

Not!

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 environment?

— 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 quickly. Cats are very much creatures of habit and many are very comfortable 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 some 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 security by draping sheets over most of the catio. As they start to feel more comfortable, 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-580 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 2 to 11 years old and weigh around 9 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 most predators. You also should keep them indoors around dawn and dusk, which is when hawks are most likely to be out hunting.

The Animal Life column runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com.