Do your cats go outside?

p.s. - If you want to give your cats a taste of the outdoors, the leash idea is a good one. If they don't warm up to that, then simply opening a window (as long as there is a good, sturdy screen that won't give way if the cat pushes/falls against it - or, better yet, windows that open on the top rather than the bottome) and letting the cat feel the breeze and smell the fresh outdoor scents should be stimulating enough.

If you own your own home, you can also build an enclosure for the cats.

Except for the few barn cats, I only had one cat (my first) that was an indoor/outdoor cat and after getting in a fight with a neighborhood tom cat, he only went outside with supervision.

All of my other cats (mixed breed or pedigree) are strickly 100% indoor cats (except in carriers going to a show). I feel its too many dangers outside now to be letting them out unsupervised.

When we build our gazebo or screened in porch, the cats and dogs will be allowed in there - that is the closest the cats will be to "outside"

I want Blossom to be an inside only cat especially since her bad reaction to her annual vaccination. From now on she can't have the feline leukemia vac. My oh has taken her out several times to get some sun. She loves to roll around on the back steps & go onto the grass next to them & eat it. The more she's been out, the more she expects to go out so I have to keep a close eye on her so she doesn't go out.

my 2 girls are indoors. i lost my 5 yr old girl mia on the road outside my house & vowed never to let that happen again. i feel very guilty at times, especially when we have nice weather. i'm hoping one day i can afford to move somewhere either safe or where i can enclose the garden, as atm i live in an upper floor flat. they are happy though - if i thought they weren't i'd let them out. they are more important than my fears!!!

All our cats have been indoor cats since we had a bad scare with our first one, just a couple months after we got married. All have lived quite long lives, 15 years or so, except one who died of a stroke.

In our town, it's illegal to let any animal you own leave your own property, except on a leash. Our Animal Control officers pick up stray cats all the time. Most are feral, but some are perfectly good pets, just allowed outside, contrary to law. They also pick up road killed animals, and we keep a list and description. It's really sad having to tell someone that we have their pet, but it's dead. It happened just this morning, while I was visiting my feline friends.

But before someone made a decision one way or another, I'd suggest they read through the "Crossing the Bridge" section of this forum.

I really want Butzie to be an indoor only cat, but she was two when we got her from the shelter and was obviously used to being both indoor and outdoor (that is how she got in the shelter in the first place). We don't live on a busy street and have about an acre of land that is quite, um, woody. She mostly stays on our property. I have never seen her on the street.

I still worry. Our RIP Brownie was really outdoor only (he showed up on our deck.) I don't think that he was feral, but he certainly didn't like to be inside. He did sleep inside sometimes. When he didn't show up anymore I knew he was dead. I thought it might be a coyote, but then I realized that he was about 13 and an outdoor only cat and might just have died.

I am slowly trying to keep Butzie in longer and longer each day and we are making progress. I hope that when rainy season comes this winter - and it better come as we are in a drought - that I can finish the task.

Our feral family is outside only because when they are in the house they freak out when we close the door. They receive regular healthcare and they are perfectly healthy. They stay on our porch all day and we always know where they are. They don't leave our property.

Sunny is an indoor cat only. He was a feral kitten without a mother when we found him. He was very sickly when we found him. Our feral mama and her babies wanted nothing to do with little Sunny so he was very alone. He became very attached to DBF and me - I don't know if he knows he's a cat There are too many ferals next door and I don't want him to catch anything from them. I think it's far too dangerous for him to go outside and he really doesn't want to be out there.

Originally Posted by Miso

Hello! I have my very first kitten (hence my very first post). Miso is a mix from the SPCA and she is around 4 months. She's had her first vaccines and a flea treatment, and will be spayed in a few months. I have taken her out on a harness (she really doesn't mind wearing it) but she now meows at the door and the screen because she wan
ts to me let out. I am happy to take her out once or even twice a day, but do you think she will get used to the idea that she can *only* go out with me, and that her whining gets her nowhere? I have tried to discourage the meowing with a squirt bottle and firm no's, then I distract her with toys, and it seems to work ok.

I'd like to hear more from people who walk their cats!

Thanks!

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I would not let the cat out at all, harness or not until she is spayed! Why would the SPCA adopt her out without being spayed? That can be done at 2lbs or 8 weeks. They should know better, that is very irresponsible of them. Why do you have to wait a couple more months when she can get pregnant now?

To answer the topic question though, only one of my cats is allowed outside, when she wants, unsupervised. The MAJORITY of the time she stays on the balcony, but sometimes she jumps down to go hunt me a mole or a beetle in the woods out back. She will destroy the apartment if she cannot get outside. My one other cat sits on the balcony and usually hears a bird chirp and freaks out and wants to come back in. The other 2 do not go outside, one is too big of a baby and the other is way to trusting of strangers and will go up to anyone and everything.

Kiddles was supose to be an indoor cat only because I have a pet cockatiel and I didn't want her to think that she was going to be food and also because I know how dangerous the outside world can be but my uncle had to ruined everything by letting her go into the outside world. I am trying to slowly keep her indoors because I hate fleas too but its been hard because we are currently 10 people in the house 3 being kids its makes it hard for the door to be kept shut especially when she waits at the door where you can't see her but she can see you. I don't like her to be outdoor/indoor I want to make an enclosure for her but that takes time and I don't have that at the moment hopefully soon I will be able to do that.

One of my kitties is allowed outside. Delilah is our oldest cat, and I let her out before I knew better. I've tried making her an indoor only cat, but after about 2 days of not being allowed out she goes completely nuts - going after the other cats, growling and hissing at me, and she will literally try to fight her way out the door. She doesn't go far, but I do worry about her a lot.

On the flip side, Blue is my little door darter. In the summer she is forever trying to get out when my kids stand there in the doorway too long. I watch Delilah running full tilt through the yard and chasing bugs, and I feel bad for Blue that she doesn't get to have that freedom too. However, the dangers outweigh that I think. I'd like to convert our deck into a screen porch sometime soon so the kitties could all come out there with me sometimes. I hope in the next few years we can move to a new house where we could build a large enclosure for the kitties so they can all enjoy the outdoors safely.

Regarding pedigrees vs. moggies, 3 of my cats are purebreds and 4 are moggies. I don't think that really factors in to my decision to keep them inside, because it really boils down to safety. Sprout the Sphynx is a special case of course - the outdoors would be especially dangerous for him with no coat to protect his skin. I do think also that he would probably be more likely to be stolen than my moggie kitties, or my Ragdolls for that matter.

My baby was a feral queen. Before I officially allowed her into my home, she came in/out whenever she liked. I never thought of keeping her strictly indoor only until one night, she came back home with some blood spots on her fur. She was completely frightened and shaken. I had no idea what had happened. All of my family cats were indoor only, I've never seen any of my family cats acting like that before. My roommate picked her up & checked her all over but didn't see anything other than blood stains. We figured she might have been in a fight, we decided to locked her in overnight to see how she'd be doing. The following day, she did not even leave when I opened the door. I suppose the incident the night before scared her or something.

I talked about this incident with one of a volunteer lady at the adoption center at local petsmarts few days after that. She said that my cat may "hit a kitten". My cat wasn't fixed at this time yet, I decided to bring her to a vet for that. She's been strictly indoor only ever since. I've been thinking of leash-train her so she could walk outside with me but she still freaks out everytime I try to put her on a leash

My current neighborhood is full of ferals. I figured it may not be so safe for my baby to walk around even on a leash. Sucks for her but I'd have to keep her indoor only until we move to a new location. I'll try her on leash-training again once we relocate

Too many masters are killed by various means. Dogs, cars, people and other beasts that live in the wild around here. I've seen many a fox and such here so ALL my masters are inside only. Tigger used to be a outside cat about 16 years ago, just before he adopted DW as a primary slave. He still wants to go outside

my cat used to be an inside cat but now she is with my mum she is a outside cat.

my other cat sleeps inside at night but likes to be outside during the day unless its bad weather and she will stay inside.

We've tossed around the idea of taking our kitties outside. We were mainly waiting until they were a bit more grown up and calmer ( they are about 7 mo ) before taking them out on a leash together. Leash only, though. Living in the city is dangerous territory for kittens.

Forgot to post about Nico he is an indoor cat only and will hopefully stay like that. His previous owners let him in and out but he was suppose to be an indoor cat only that is why I took him back.

Indoors only for my cats unless in a harness. Here it's illegal to let an animal outdoors without a leash.

Too many dangers outside-- I see way too many "outdoor" cats dead on the side of the road with birds eating them. The owners are probably saying "but Fluffy always comes home"

My cat, Kara, was abandoned by whoever owned her and was outside only for at least a month. When I took her in she went to the door maybe twice but just got over it and is very happy as an indoor cat.

If I let my cat out and something happened to them it would be MY fault. It's like saying "I made the decision to expose my pet to diseases and dangers for absolutely no good reason". I couldn't live with that, but that's just me.

I live in a busy area and would never think of allowing them outside.

I really am surprised, i never realised there were so many indoor cats. I guess my place is pretty safe. We have good size garden surrounded on 3 sides but 20ft walls and one buy the house, then the rope walk at the back. Neither of them go further than that and i don't think Max ever goes even that far. They don't have access to busy roads because we don't let them out the front, that would be far too dangerous and stupid. My cats would hate being indoor cats they are too used to being outdoor and i feel it would be unkind to keep them in all the time, from what you have said i expect alot of you probably think the opposite but i guess its a matter of opinion and i know my cats and you know yours.

Originally Posted by mrblanche

In our town, it's illegal to let any animal you own leave your own property, except on a leash. Our Animal Control officers pick up stray cats all the time. Most are feral, but some are perfectly good pets, just allowed outside, contrary to law.

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There is a leash law for cats and dogs here. My cats were able to go out on leashes years ago. We had a back apartment in a nice residential neighborhood, with a patio. Since then they've been inside-only cats. Our current apartment has a backyard and patio, but there are too many people with dogs who violate the leash law. So it's not worth the risk.

If we are able to buy a house in a few years and have a fenced backyard, I would think about taking them out on leashes/harnesses again.

Wesley goes out side but Sox does not. We had Wesley first and we let him out. He is pretty big and has his claws, so we feel he's okay. Sox is a very small cat so we feel better having her inside. She has been out with us a couple of times but she did not stray (she had never been out before so I think she was scared) but we do not let her go out any more.