New Member...Need question answered

I have a 10 year old female cat, and she is indoor/outdoors. I am getting a kitten in June, as I lost my beloved Siamese*BUTU* in March. He was hit by a car, and once you let your kitty outside, they are relentless and will drive you crazy meowing to go out. This is what happened the night I let my baby outside, and I never saw him again. I have a beautiful picture I took of him one sunny day next to his ashes on my mantle. I cannot express how much I miss him. I believed he died in the early morning hours on March 23rd. I will never know what truly happened or what the situation was that led him to his death. I can still hear his distinct bell in the distance running across the grass below the rockery as he jumps up to greet me. My life will never be the same without him and I still grieve for him and my heart just aches. Coco misses him too :-(
My question is: I want this new kitten to be indoors ONLY, even though ALL my cats have been indoor/outdoor, and yes I have lost 3, including BUTU and my other beautiful Siamese PootyBoo had Hepatitis and I had to put him to sleep :-( He is also on my mantle across from BUTU.
Since Coco is Indoor/outdoor, how will this affect my new baby as he gets older and sees Coco outside and wants to follow her out and play. This unfortunately is what happened with BUTU. What if he escapes and runs away? He will have a collar and will be micro chipped with a tag with his name & my number. I live in a Condo Complex, and I am not on the road, but it is several hundred yards away in 2 directions. I can't tell you how I worried about BUTU when he went out and disappeared for hours. I think God took him this way because IF he was not hit by a car, I'd STILL be looking for him to come home, and that would put me over the edge for certain. At least I was able to bring him home.
BUTU was only 2 years and 4 months old and had such a free spirit. He was sweet, gentle, loving and when he looked at me, his eyes were filled with LOVE for me.
So, tell me what to do, and HOW to handle this situation. I am starting to become a bit stressed about how I will handle this. I cannot......WILL NOT go through the emotional trauma of losing another cat. I truly think I would have to be hospitalized. I LOVE my kitties SO much.....TOO much I think sometimes.
Thanks for reading this~L.P.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I too had a beautiful persian boy killed on the road outside my house. Although it was 15 1/2 year ago I still miss him. He used to go across the road to a neighbour because he didn't like the new dog we got after my husband's dog died.
My old 15 y/o cat, who lives next door with my mother, is an indoor/outdoor cat & stays on our side of the road.
Blossom my 8 1/2 month old kitten stayes indoors. She watches the dogs play outside & can open the door if the latch isn't caught. A couple of months ago my husband carried her outside in his arms & she escaped a few times after that. She hasn't gotten outside since even though she can still open the door she sits at the door until I come back in.
If you're worried, I would put him in another room when you let your other cat outside. He would get so used to being inside, the big wide world would frighten him.
I forgot, welcome to the forum, I'm sure you'll enjoy your visits & get lots of usefull info & contribute to it as well.

Kalikat.....Thanks for your reply. I am so sorry about your kitty too. The ache in our hearts never go away when we lose our beloved kitties. I will NEVER get over losing my Baby.
I could put him in another room when I let Coco out as you suggested. I am really torn between indoor only cats and indoor/outdoor cats. I know there are so many dangers out there, and cats like small children don't *understand* danger. To a degree, I think it's cruel to keep them locked up inside, but on the otherhand, they will live longer and be healthier. I read: A fat cat is better than a flat cat.
I also live in a small condo....you know not very much space to run around in. It's almost 900 sq ft.....but Coco is ok with it as she's older and more sedate. I am concerned about this new BABY (that's his name, BTW) not having enough space to play. But then BUTU was ok with it and managed to scratch my leather couch & chair A-LOT when he got really wound up and was jumping around. But...I don't even care. I just would give anything to have him back.
Take care~L.P.

L.P. before I discovered cat forums, I borrowed books from the library about looking after kittens/cats. Although I've nearly had a cat for most of my life, I had never had to raise one so young, & she was terribly wild when she started running around. She used to attack our legs & feet, anything that moved. Not quite so bad now. She creates her own fun by climbing on every possible surface in the whole house & she has our youngest dog to play with. When she got too naughty I used to give her time out in her crate or bathroom.
Anyway, back to the library book, it had diagrams of cat walks attached to the walls. Diagonal ramps up the walls to platforms around the walls.
Blossom has a cat tree that she loves to attack & sleep on. The reason I want her to stay inside, as well as for safety sake, is her nose is 1/2 pink & ears are quite lite, so I don't want her to get sun cancer.
Do you have a balcony outside your condo that you could enclose completely so that he can have some outside time in the sun.
One problem that I've struck is Blossom's access to grass. As she has semi-long hair & doesn't like being brushed I'm concerned about fur balls. I tried growing grass seeds, when they started to grow I let Blossom have a nibble on it. She liked it so much she got to it when I wasn't looking & it died. I've caught her a couple of times nibbling on a vase of flowers or house plant, then I pick some grass from outside for her to eat. I have occassionally put liquid paraphin on her meals also, though she hasn't coughed up any furballs like my 15 y/o cat Coco does.

You must look up the threads/stickys on how to introduce a kitten to the resident cat.

Fred was an indoor/outdoor cat for years. We move around a lot, and as long as we lived somewhere that seemed safe for him and the others to be outside, they went out. When it wasn't, they stayed in. All 4 of mine are strictly indoors now, and probably always will be unless I win the lottery and can afford a nice enclosure. The last place we lived seemed safe, but Fred and Georgia would not stay off the gas tank on the neighbor's truck, and Georgia was killed I guess trying to get off while the truck was moving. No more outside for my kits. It took some doing and whining with Fred, but all the ones I have now have always been inside. Fred was very unhappy about becoming a strictly indoor cat, but he was so old, and I was so afraid he would get hurt outside. I would sit on the porch with him and let him sun he belly and chase the occasional butterfly, but I made him come in with me.

Hola y bienvenido a TCS, ...Catulina

y Milky

te saludan!!........

(Translate: Hi and Welcome to TCS, Catulina and Milky say hello to you!!!... )

See you on the forums!

Welcome to the forum

Hi there

we're so happy to get the chance to welcome you and your lovely fur-family to TCS. I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay with us - we're one great big family and you'll find loads of friends here. If I can help at all while you're finding your way around TCS just click on my username and send me a Personal Message - I'll do what I can to answer your questions

We have two indoor only kitties and three indoor/outdoor girls. They all cope just fine. The only difficulty for us is the "kitty-wrangling" - making sure the indoor kitties are secure before we let the others in or out. But apart from that it's no problem.

Hi welcome to TCS!

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