Indoor cat parents?

Does anyone have an indoor/restricted access kitty?

How do you find it? what if any modifications have you made to home or garden or life!  to keep the little lions happy and safe.

Bear has been indoor since rescue age 1.5  and was given his own catproofed garden and climbup lookout post. These days our lives and homes have changed and he has access to gardens and driveway on his lead, a 15 foot long ribbon. Hes fabulous on it. Very reasonable. I know being a wise one he knows his mum is trying to keep him safe. 

However there are the cynics,oh yes, the fire putter outers who have to be negative and think Im a kook or ridiculously overprotective and to be honest being a sensitive soul, it gets me down. 9.9/10 its a dog owner.

So how do you cope? Bear in mind I live in the UK and unless you are a breeder or have a pedigree generally thought of as mad as a box of frogs for keeping kitty from wandering into possible danger.

So Im calling out for some solidarity here lol

The indoor/outdoor views are different depending on where you live.  Here in the US I believe it's more common for people to keep cats indoors for their entire lives.  There are outdoor cats, barn cats, ferals, etc of course.  But it seems more common for people to be ok with keeping them in or to restrict their outdoor time to something such as a screened patio or cat enclosure.  Walking cats is becoming more common too.

I personally keep my girls indoors with no outdoor access.  We live on a busy street and our last neighborhood was not cat friendly.  They have a tall cat tree, plenty of toys and attention.  We have a bird feeder hanging from the eve of the house in front of the window the cat tree sits in front of.  It's been great entertainment.  We used to have a fish tank as well.  Our backyard is large so we would never enclose more than a portion of it.  But at this time; it's not something we are going to do.  Maybe down the road; but not now.  Neither of them have interest in going outside and I kind of like it that way.  

I have had indoor/outdoor cats in the past.  It always made me nervous and one of our cats would sometimes be gone for a few days at a time!  That always had me really worried and upset!  Even now my mother's cats spend some time outdoors.  They are getting older and don't go far.  But for one in particular; it has helped solve her litter box avoidance issues (something she had prior to being adopted at age 2).   

My girl, Angel is an indoor only cat. Not because I made her this way; she just doesn't crave the outdoor world like some cats do. She has snuck out twice, at night before. But only went to the neighbor's yard and I went back inside to get treats and the next minute I knew she was on the patio crying her little heart out to be let back in.

She's not made to be an outdoor cat, she's too delicate. The only reason she snuck out because she was a follower of Tiger. He liked to go outside and bask in the sun. But I was always with him. And Miagi liked to go out at night. Keep in mind I live with my parents and their cats were always indoor/outdoor and Miagi & Tiger weren't always happy to be inside but they never went out for days on end just an hour or two.

Some cats are happier indoors, but some are not. I believe in keeping your cats indoors for their safety and if they must go outside they need to be supervised. It's harder to keep a cat inside that was once feral so they crave the outdoor world. I am just glad Angel doesn't crave the outside world she is much safer that way. It's our jobs to protect them.

I'm in Florida, USA.

Samantha has always been an indoor cat. She did escape once or twice but I found her brought her back inside.

She does have a screened in patio so she can smell all the smells in the area. Sometimes she also find lizards to bring me.

I pat her on the head and tell her what a great hunter she is, then of course, she demands a treat for being my protector

I did make the mistake of having her de-clawed since she was going to be an indoor puttycat.

A stray went through the back of my condo and they got into a fight. I thing Samantha broke through

the screen to protect her area the other cat beat her up. She became terrified and hid in the bushes.

I could not find her for about three days....poor Samantha.

I finally found her roaming around the outside of my building and she was so happy to see me

She's been fine since then....I hope also happy to be with me

I'm in Germany, where the trend is more and more towards indoor-only cats. Twenty years ago there were far fewer cars and houses, so most people seemed to have indoor/outdoor cats, and the majority of shelters insisted cats be let out. That's no longer true. Nowadays people are encouraged to adopt a pair of cats and keep them indoors, if possible with a secured balcony.

I took our last cat for walks every day using a harness and lead, and he had almost constant access to a secured balcony. Our current cat is indoor-only with access to the same balcony. He spends a lot of time out there in good weather, especially at night, but barely pokes his nose out the balcony doors when it's too hot or too cold. :lol3:

Thank you all for the insight into how you all manage to keep your kits safe and happy. You are all doing a great job and is nice to know Im not alone on this one.

Id be happy with him indoor indoor but he lkes a little nosey outside though he doesnt stay out long and its short distance. Yes its our job to protect them Totally agree and its a big and loaded subject for me, I mean we dont see people throwing their dogs out the door as they leave for work to mind themselves all day.

I do think that things will change one day and we will see more and more cats kept off the street. Heres one sign of change I spotted in pets a t home store:

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/p...lars/hot-pink-kitty-skull-hoodie-cat-harness#

Erm not for my Bear and I couldnt get it on him anyway without risk to life and limb lol. Still Im liking it for the promotion of cat walking( which  means they will be indoor)  

I have that exact harness/hoodie for my cat Hannah! :lol3:

Wow amazing! I decided to show the pink one not black. She wears it well. She looks fab. Bear is a boy and would rather a tux like james bond lol. No he just wouldnt wear one not a chance. He would throw himself on the floor if I could get it on him. Is Hannah cooperative? Is it  easy to put on? Thanks for sharing.

Hannah came to us as indoor-only cat at the age of 10.  She's only ever been out on a harness and she loves it.  We had another cat who just refused to move when it was on   so  you never know, they're all different.

Hannahs such a pretty girl so glad she found such a great cat parent.. Yes they are all different. Bear is way too much of a  ruffian to wear things. I tried a harness when he was s till young and it was a disaster. I knew he felt vulnerable, unsafe with it on. Back then he was v young and just left a home where he had been slung out all the time. He wears a collar and light lead as described and accepts it no trouble but not a harness.

How do you feel about other peoples thoughts folks? I mean I think its normal having had an indoor for so long I couldnt go backward. I have defended myself a few times about why hes kepy like this and it ranges from thinking Im silly to thinking Im crazy. Anyone else found others being negative/ sarcastic How have you coped?

Our situation is a little different--Hannah is indoor only but our other three cats are indoor-outdoor and have been for 7 years. My cat before that, who lived to be almost 18, was also indoor-outdoor, and I think most of the people I know have indoor-outdoor cats, including my vets. I never even knew so many people had indoor-only cats until I joined TCS.

Having said that, my husband and I are talking about building a catio so they'll be enclosed most or all of the time. I don't know how they'll take to it but I think we're going to try. They'll be safer and I won't have to worry about them, OR have to deal with the hunting--they bring in all kinds of critters, dead and alive, especially during the spring.

There have been people who roll their eyes about Hannah's catio and plans for a second one for the younger cats (and you should seen the looks on their faces when I said I was learning how to brush the cats' teeth!) but it doesn't matter to me what other people think. We all have to just do what we think is right for our lives and our kitties, right?

My 3 kitties are indoor only 2 of them have absolutely no interest in going outside at all. We could literally leave the door wide open and they'd just sit in the doorway.

The other one is more curious and has actually snuck out once. Thankfully he didn't go far. He was out there for at least 5 hours, but by the time we realized he'd gotten out, we turned on our porch light and he was sitting outside our back door begging to be let in.

All of our cats wear collars with tags and we plan to get them all microchipped on their next vet visit.

We have a very large cat tree for them to climb and play on. They have each other's company and they have about 1000 toys to play with lol. In no way are they lacking in things to keep them happy and active lol. Its also incredibly cute to see them chase each other around and wrestle/play with each other .

As for the reason that we keep them indoor only (other than the fact that 2 of them have no interest in the outdoors), we live on the side of a very busy street (cars flying by at 50-60 miles per hour) and its sad but indoor-outdoor cats do not last long in our area because they get hit by cars or worse. We also live in a very rural area where there are coyotes and the occasional bobcat, or mountain lion/cougar. So we don't want our cats to be eaten by the larger preditors in the area.


Some pictures of my kitties:

This is Tesla (the one who got outside once):



This is Kiwi:


And this is Zazzie:



This is the cat tree we have for them (they practically live on it)

There have been people who roll their eyes about Hannah's catio and plans for a second one for the younger cats (and you should seen the looks on their faces when I said I was learning how to brush the cats' teeth!)

but it doesn't matter to me what other people think. We all have to just do what we think is right for our lives and our kitties, right?

Click to expand...

Why would they think thats odd? People brush their dogs teeth right?

Yes you re so right. WE have to do whats right for us and our kitties.

Raina21 said:

This is Kiwi:

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• raina21
• Jun 24, 2016

And this is Zazzie:

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• raina21
• Jun 24, 2016

This is the cat tree we have for them (they practically live on it)

20160416_125332.jpg

• raina21
• Jun 16, 2016

Click to expand...

Such gorgeous kitties and that is one hec of a cat tree, amazing, love it. Thanks for sharing Its great they all have each other too.