What To Do???

I have a dilemma of sorts. As I believe you all know, Jedi is strictly an indoor kitty. Now, he seems to have been OK with this for the most part, although he does gaze longingly out the windows/glass doors ALOT!

He's been happy though and he gets lots of love and attention. Here is where the dilemma comes in...for the past 4 or 5 days, there has been a female Tuxedo cat hanging around out back of our apartment. She will sit at the glass doors (we usually keep the blinds open so Jedi can gaze) and paw at the door, walk back and forth in front of Jedi, roll around out there, etc.

She is a cutie and wears a flea collar and looks fed and clean, so I don't believe that she is a stray. But Jedi seems to be developing a Catitude about wanting to go outside now.

I absolutely will NOT let him out to play with her. But I have considered letting her IN to play with him! What does everyone think about this?

Here are my concerns and please tell me if I am being foolish, over protective, plain stupid or whatever.

1) I am concerned first that even though they are SO playful through the door, that they may fight once she gets inside! I don't want to witness that nor do I EVER want to see Jedi get hurt.

2) I am not totally convinced that this kitty does not carry fleas, or worse. I am scared to let her in for fear of Jedi "catching" something!

3) If I DO let her in...will she ever leave? I do so desperately want Jedi to have a playmate, but I would rather it be another kitty that we get for ourselves...so there would be no separation. We will be moving out of here in April and I don't want him to become so attached to a kitty playmate and then never see her again.

What should I do?????

Carla - many people here support indoor-only kitty policies. I'm not sure where I shake out on this in theory- but I live in a very rural area, so I don't have to worry about cars, just fleas, ticks and worms. In practice, our indoor kitties are indoor kitties. They watch the outdoor cats and birds through the window - and they jump at the window, their teeth chatter - they "hunt" but get caught up short by the window, poor fellas.

But I don't want them out - and the trouble we're having with Munchkin's worms are exactly the reason why.

It sounds like your visitor is cared for by someone - but you don't know if she is spayed, or if she has had her shots, etc. etc. You can take a pic and paste some "posters" around - asking the owner to contact you. Then you can find out. If she's had her shots and has no fleas or ticks, you can consider, if her owners are OK with it, letting her in to play - and if she doesn't want to leave, either her owners can get her, or if she's allowed for a "sleepover," they'll know where she is. But I wouldn't do it without knowing anything about her. Whether or not you decide to let Jedi out is up to you. I'm sure you know all the arguments against it - including all the problems I just listed about letting her in.

If I were you I'd consider getting that second kitty now - Jedi might forget about the outside pal.

Is he neutered?

Laurie

Yes Jedi is neutered. And there is no decision about letting him out. Absolutely, no way, will he go out.

I do appreciate the ideas about trying to find out more about the cat if I do seriously consider letting her in to play. If I could alleviate my concerns, I would love to let her come in and play with Jedi.

The only concern I would have then is him missing her when we move. But I do plan on getting another cat when we move...so I guess he might be OK with that too.

Or I could just close the blinds! =)

Stick a note on the collar of the kitty and then just sit back and see if the note is removed. Just because kitty has a collar does not always mean that kitty has a home. I have had cats dropped off near my place with collars on but no owner ever claims them.

Not a good idea to introduce the two strange kitties to play together. They may be making all sorts of goo goo eyes at each other, but it may all change when they come together for the first time. And if this kitty is a female and in heat, it won't matter that Jedi is neutered at all- she will entice him with body language and you could have a real mess on your hands.

Personally, I would buy Jedi a big planter of cat grass and catnip to play in first. But that is just me.

Also i will move this to the Behavior Forum for more input for you.

Well, when I read your post...my first thought was...i would let her in to play...what the heck. But then...after reading your concerns...I got to thinking....you have no idea if this cat carried some kind of disease...FIV, etc...plus the owners of the cat may not like it if you take it inside, etc....so...although my first instinct was bring her in...(and may have been what I foolishly would have done...) I think Laurie is right....have her checked out first...see if you can find out who owns her, and if you can, then find out if she is disease free, has had her shots, etc...and ask them if maybe the cats could get together once in awhile. I think if the owners say this is okay, it would be okay to just bring her in, and watch very carefully for signs of aggression...if they bump noses, smell each other, and seem okay...then it is a success!! But if you see one or both of them puffing up their fur, growling (a cat growl ) or acting like all is not well, then you can just scoop her up and put her back outside! That's my advice, but I'm no expert!!

All my cats are outdoor cats except for Merlin who is indoor/outdoor at will, but that is because we live in such a rural area, on an acreage and little traffic. If I lived in town, I would not have a cat outdoors.

Keep us posted on what happens!!!

I just read Hissy's response...it wasn't there when I posted, so I would go with what she says about maybe not introducing them...she is so much more knowledgeable about this kind of thing than I am!

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I have decided not to pursue the issue with this cat. I was pretty sure she belonged to someone who had just moved in a couple weeks ago...since she just started showing up, but I saw them outside and the cat does not belong to them.

Hissy...how true that a collar does not mean the cat has a current family. I didn't even think of that! She could have just been abandoned and still wearing her old collar!


I will either find other things for Jedi to occupy his time with or I will break down and get another kitty-kit sooner than we planned. I would feel MUCH better knowing who he is in contact with!

If your visiting cat is homeless maybe you could consider adopting her. Jedi seems to like her!!