Inside vs. outside kitties, which are yours?

My cats are indoor/outdoor. They spend the day outside and go inside late at night, or when it's raining,or it's mealtime and when they are hungry. They rarely go beyond the property limits.
I don't believe in keeping pets cooped up, so I don't ever want to own a bird cage, or an aquarium, or any kind of enclosure. If I go visit a zoo, I come out feeling sad.

Most of my cats are indoors only. They are too friendly with dogs and there are too many dogs in the neighborhood that kill cats. Bob goes in and out but is highly dog savy. Shep was in/out for many years but mostly stays inside now due to her advanced age. She still likes to lay on the patio in the sun once in a while and I only let her out when I can watch her. I take care of a group of ferals that live around the house - some have gotten friendly over the years but won't come inside even though I have invited them in. I live in the country and have very little traffic so that is not an issue for me.

Indoor/outdoor. I've never had a place where I could really do indoor only, even if I wanted to, and this house (rented) is such that in summer, if we don't want to die of the heat, we have all doors wide open whenever possible. There would be no way of keeping them in without restricting their movement to a ridiculous extent. So we don't try. We just make sure they know where home is and how to get in, before their first summer here.

It's not foolproof -- we have lost one -- there aren't usually coyotes, but there were that summer. However, our lot are pretty savvy little beasts. They don't go around the front of the house much, and they stay away from the street when they do. In the back, they go one or two properties in either direction. Mostly they're content with the bushes and railings and fences on their own property.

And when occasionally it's necessary to keep them in temporarily, they're all miserable, so it's not something I feel good about doing.

Like I said, it's not foolproof -- but then, neither is life.

Mine stay indoors all the time except when i brush them.

my cats are indoor/outdoor (well Cedar isnt yet as he is still a little young but he will be)
when we first got Tipsy we considered indoor only - but we have a large property and he just loves it outdoors.
Having said that we do have a lot of native birds around so we have a cat curfew where they all have to be in from dawn to dusk - suits me perfectly as that would of happened anyway.

Originally Posted by kittylover4ever

I would just worry my goofy head off.

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Let me tell you I DO!!!! when it rains - I get frantic - when its getting dark - I get frantic - if its cold - I get frantic - if there is too much wind - I get frantic (ohmy how am I going to be when there are 2 of them out there!!!! )
but Tipsy isnt silly - he knows when its wet or cold and usually takes 2 steps outside and does a quick turn around running back inside as if too say "you gotta be kidding"
The first time we let Tipsy outside I was beside myself!! my husband kept saying calm down calm down he will be fine - but I was like what if he cant find his way back etc etc... well he has always appeared on our doorstep at dinner time they arent silly

Its going to be interesting when I let Cedar out for the first time - I wonder if big brother will protect him or lead him astray

but I know they are happy outdoors - yes there are dangers - but thats something I have to deal with if anything should happen to them (not that anything will!!!!!!!!!). There is no way I could keep them both indoors only now.

Both of mine are indoors.

My two gals are strickly inside cats. They can look out the window which seems to be enough form them.

Jason

I would never let my cat to go outdoors.
With all the dangers out there, he stays inside only.

all my babies do not go outside. i live on a busy street, but i dont think i would let them out anyway

Mine are indoor only. I don't have time (either before or after work) to take them out on a leash.

All my breeding kitties are indoor only, because we don't want any accidents but Elmo is indoor/outdoors.

We used to have indoor/outdoor cats when I was a child, but after several disappeared we switched to indoor-only.

Now, my 3 domestic cats are indoor-only, my husband's cat Oreo is indoor-outdoor (Oreo was raised that way & isn't going to change now!), and our feral kitty Tiger Lily is outdoor-only (she's afraid to come inside).

Sash is strictly indoor only. I worry way too much to even think of letting him out, the thought never even entered my mind. I used to take Sash out on my deck every summer on his leash, he seemed to enjoy that but he's a little too lazy this year and just lays pretty much so I think will skip this year, he seems perfectly happy just eating and sleeping.

I had two cats at my mom and dad's who were inside/outside but we had a very big field behind the house and they were once outside when they were young so it seemed they were happier being outside too.

Lisa & Sash

Indoor, but I would love to make my backyard an enclosure when I buy a house. You really have to be carefull though cause they can escape out of nearly anything. There are a few products online that you can put on top of fences to keep your cats in a others out. Sometimes it kills me when I see how bad they want to go out though!!