outside cat not wanting to be outside

[maaskant]

ok so when my older cat gave birth to kittens we brought her inside (she was an outside cat for almost all her life except for a few weeks in order to get her and her sibling a little more tame because there are children on the property who love to play with the kitties).  she has been inside for about 3 months now taking care of her babies and we were waiting to get her fixed before we let her and her babies outside (yes they are fixed also) but not i am noticing that she doesnt want to go outside.  before she got fixed she would do anything and everything to get back outside including trying to dig through the floor (not exaggerating) now i can leave my bedroom door open for 10 min and she wont even go into the hallway.  what is the best way to get her to go outside again?  i dont want to just dump her and her babies outside and be like best of luck but on the other side they need to go out (in her case back out).  i took them outside for a few min today and they stuck to the patio and walked in the grass for a couple min but when i opened the door to check on them all 3 of them were wanting back in.

[maaskant]

Mama kitty is adjusting to being outside 24 hours a day. I bring the 2 boys in at night so they are protected from the night prediters and put them out in the morning. This also allows Bella to play with them because she hates being outside at all. They have a lot of room to play outside (17 acres or so). I'm trying to get Bella to like going outside from time to time but she just freaks out every time.

[beckybiscuits]

I've noticed that when I've had my female cats fixed (i've got 13 altogether) they do generally become friendlier and more 'homely'...sorry this doesn't help but it may explain why she's had a change of heart on staying outdoors. I keep mine indoors anyway as I live on a busy road, but they do love coming out onto my small roof garden in the sun, females included!

[maaskant]

well the 3 kitties have been outside all day and are doing well.  i put them out this morning and made sure that they have had pleanty of food and water on the patio and kept going on and checking on them.  mama kitty is staying close to her babies and the babies are playing in the grass and going under the house to sleep.  they seem happy to be outside.  i took bella outside for 5 min to see how she would react and as i predicted she hated it.  she spent 3 min scratching at the door to get back in and the other 2 min yelling at me for making her go out to that big bad open space.  i was a little hopefull that she would be a little better than she was with being outside but nope the whole time she hated it.  maybe if i take her outside a little bit each day she will get better but she will always be an inside kitty.  i think i babied her a lil too much when she was younger.

[maaskant]

we have other cats outside that will keep them company.  shadow (mama kitty) was born outside and has been outside up until the day that her babies were born except for a few weeks when i brought them inside to get them tame.  we take care of out outside cats and make sure that they get food and water but shadow wasnt born to be an inside cat and her babies (i hope) have her instincts.  besides i know that if i let shadow out and keep the babies in then she will go nuts atleast for a little bit.  she doesnt like to be away from them for too long even though they are 3 months old and are old enough to be on their own

[AnnieBrooke]

Try finding other homes for them all.  Certainly that is better than putting them all outside and saying good luck.