Roommates keep letting my indoor pet outside
Housemates and family members intentionally or carelessly let indoor pets outside against explicit rules, often arguing that keeping animals confined is cruel. This leaves pet owners powerless to protect their animals from traffic or predators while away at work, rendering solo containment strategies useless when others actively undo them.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Locking the cat in a single room with food, toys, and a litter box while away
- 2Checking security cameras and confronting family members with video evidence of close calls
- 3Threatening to cut off contact if something happens to the pet
- 4Reminding family that the pet is not immunized or neutered
- 5Using paid resources like doggy daycare
- 6Moving out of the living situation
- 7Accepting the slower progress and managing the situation independently
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I personally don't want him dying under a car or getting mauled by a dog so I try to keep him in the house but it's impossible because as soon as I'm off to work they will "forget" to close the door and the cat is out.”source ↗
“I tried to just lock him with his toys food, litter etc. in one room while I'm at work where he was perfectly fine sleeping but they still would let him out because apparently I'm the cruel one because I don't let it walk around.”source ↗
“I'm out of ideas. Each time it happens they will just laugh it off telling me I'm crazy one because I have a problem with an animal being outside.”source ↗
“The problem is, I live with my 60year old dad, who doesn't lift a finger to help me train and actively breaks habits I've enforced.”source ↗
“He keeps complaining about my puppy not having good recall and nipping and mouthing him.”source ↗
“When we visit my parents he always goes against my wishes with my dog (for example, letting her outside when I’ve asked him not to, not monitoring her, and making it my problem when she rolls in deer shit).”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 16How to get a puppy to settle down indoors without barking
- 3Why does my dog turn into a terror the second someone gets home?
- 4How to stop family from forcing me to rehome my cat
- 8How to stop one dog from constantly harassing the other
- 3How to stop my pets from attacking each other
- 10Puppy suddenly won't use indoor patches and pees in apartment hallways