Do You Let Your Cat Out?

[Felines are superior]

I have to let my cats out because I adopted them from the streets, and they're used to being outside. I live in a building, and they can wander out of the yard. Wish I had a home so I could put a cats proof fence around it.

Do you let your cat out? And do you have a fence around your yard?

 

[weebeasties]

Never.

 

[mama africa]

I live in a house with a small garden, surrounded by bigger gardens.
From the moment Missy was spayed and chipped (at 6 1/2 months), she became a semi outdoor cat; she is allowed to go outside when I'm at home and when I'm not at home, she remains inside. She always stays indoors overnight.
As a kitten she was very inquisitive; she explored the neighbouring gardens and the highest trees (!). When she grew older (from 1 1/2 years), she lost her interest in exploring the neighbouring gardens and started defending her property. She gets along with 3 male neighbouring cats, but strangers are chased out of the garden.
I never had to convince her to come inside... When I call her name, she shows up and she always answers my call by meowing. I guess that keeping her inside for about 6 months (before spaying) helped her to consider the house as a safe place and as the place to be.

 

[Purr-fect]

They are allowed out, but kept on a lead and I am nearby. We have foxes, coyotes, and neighbours dogs get free occassionally .

I have intervened with a fox encounter twice, racoons several times, neighbours dogs twice and a cat just about to attack arnold.

Its very time consuming for me.....but I love them and it makes them very happy.

 

[midnightsun]

Not my current cat, since I live in an apartment right now. My old cat was outdoors most of the time, although only in my back garden and my neighbours' back gardens, not in the streets. If I lived in a house I'd let my new cat out as well, I live in a country where it's generally safe to let cats outside.

 

[orange&white]

I have a fenced backyard, but that fence certainly doesn't keep cats in or out. My cats are 2 ferals and a senior domestic.

The feral I adopted in February at 4 months old seems to have zero desire to ever set foot back outside, so that's good. She's indoor.

My senior loves to dash out the patio door, and I let him because he just wants to roll around on the patio or sit in the grass in the sunshine for a few minutes. He comes back in shortly, or will come back inside if I call him. He's 99% indoor.

The slightly older feral I TNR'd in April is indoor/outdoor. Her adoption papers from the shelter put her at "barn cat" status. They assessed her as too wild to be socialized while she was there for weeks (having and nursing kittens). She's actually spending more and more nights and part of the day inside the house and sticks around the patio and backyard while she's out. She's also coming when called most of the time. I let her come and go as she pleases, hoping someday she'll decide to be more indoor than outdoor.

 

[jcat]

We live too close to a busy street, and the backyard fence isn't cat-proof. Mowgli has to make do with the back balcony, which is secured with cat net.

 

[Kitty Mommy]

We have a chicken coop that is attached to the side of our house with a cat door. In the warm months our cats can go out when they like and still be protected.

 

[abyeb]

No, I don’t let Charlie out. There are just too many dangers in my neighborhood, many free-roaming cats, very aggressive dogs, a few dangerous street crossings, as well as a large population of hawks. I also live about a quarter mile from an arboretum, where I’ve seen foxes before.

 

[maggiedemi]

Demi was indoor/outdoor until he was about 7 months old. But he was starting to cross the street to the bigger woods where I know there are tons of coyotes and probably even bears. Plus he could get hit by a car. And one day I saw a coyote in the backyard. So I just can't take the chance of losing him, he's my baby.

 

[thefiresidecat]

mine are allowed out under close supervision in summer. I try to garden with them but end up watching them more than gardening and trying to prevent them from fence jumping. one time drommie got into the neighbors yard and got lost under the patio. it was pretty pathetic getting lost one house away. lol. we just bought a large house with a large yard in a more rural area without hoa (yay) and we have plans of building a large cat enclosure for them that they can access whenever.

 

[Merlin77]

Yep, we have barn cats who are raised outdoors. 90% of the time they are outside. There aren't roads, cars or cat-hating strangers around, and we've never seen a tick on them, some we've never even seen fleas on! They sleep in an old chicken coop with heated blankets and a heated water bowl, and we feed dry food while we are away, but they normally catch their own prey, even in the winter. They love to climb trees, and run through the woods, and chase sparrows.

I do worry about them sometimes, but I know that they'd never live a full life indoors. That's just the way they are. Maybe some cats can, but that isn't our case. Snake stopped purring when we kept her in for just a week, and Willy is too wild for the indoors--he needs space to run and climb and hunt and roam.

When they are outside, running through the grass, it's like a fairytale, a story, a fantasy. When they are inside, the lore and excitement comes to a halt and we are faced with a choice:

Do we want to tame tigers, lions, cheetahs, leopards and lynxes?

Would we rather watch and marvel at a cat darting through moor-grass after a mouse, or watch it meow sorrowfully for food?

Do we want a couple years of joy and adventure, exhilaration, bumps and bruises, but memories worth all the money in the world, or twenty years of... comfort? Peace? Love? Tranquility?

There is no right answer. Nothing's black and white.

I personally can't stomach the thought of keeping a cat in when it wants out.

Maybe, just maybe, I am biased because I've read Warriors, and after 70+ books of cats fighting noble battles, hunting prey for their kin and Clanmates and running free and wild, my mind pictures cats as creatures who need the feel of wind in their fur and dirt under their paws. Not as cozy fire-place curler-uppers.

 

[sabian]

I only let Manny out supervised and with a harness on. I don't always use the leash. He's a shy cat and gets spooked easily. He runs to the basement door when he gets spooked which I just pull to and don't latch. He knows it will come open with a nudge. I stop using the leash because when he took off running a couple of times he wound up doing a flip and I'm afraid he will get hurt. I make him wear the harness so he knows that he has to have it on when he goes out. My hopes are that he'll get over freaking out and I can then start using the leash as well. I don't think he's gone more than 30ft away from the door and he mostly eats grass and just checks things out. Probably the longest he's been out is 30 mins.

I used to have indoor / outdoor cats and believed in letting them do as they please. I kind of feel like Merlin77 in that they are cats and should be able to have that outside experience. I just feel like there is to much danger to let them come and go as they please. I was lucky with my last 2 cats that nothing happened and they lived long happy lives at 15 and 16 yrs old. I did worry about them a lot though at times. I'm hoping to find a happy medium of indoor / outdoor but on a more supervised level. I did enjoy being outside with my cats working in the yard or on cars and such. Great company. I'm also thinking of maybe building a sun room or an enclosure in the future.

 

[Kat0121]

Never.

 

[thefiresidecat]

Merlin77 cats are not wild cats. they are domesticated. they will never be as comfortable as if they were indoor cats nor will their lives be as long. yes they will howl the first week or two. maybe even three. but they get used to the change eventually. it's better for you them and the environment for them to be indoors. tell me they're at least neutered?

 

[vyger]

I tried to get some of mine to go out today for a little while, including the giant fluff-ball feral. One went out for about 30 seconds and came back before I could even close the door. The feral went out for about an hour and then was back in also. However it is currently 18 below zero so I can understand that a little.

 

[inkxpencil]

Both of my cats are strictly indoor cats. There are way to many dangers outside.

My cat Charlie was originally an outdoor cat, we found him stuck in a tree when he was a kitten and rescued him. He adapted to being an indoor cat quickly!

 

[midnightsun]

Merlin77 cats are not wild cats. they are domesticated. they will never be as comfortable as if they were indoor cats nor will their lives be as long. yes they will howl the first week or two. maybe even three. but they get used to the change eventually. it's better for you them and the environment for them to be indoors. tell me they're at least neutered?

How long they live depends on where they live. Not everyone lives in a place where it's dangerous for outdoor cats. I'm also always surprised at people saying "sure they'll complain for a while but they'll get used to it". Responsible cat owners should care about their cats' happiness as well as their safety (unless you live in a place that's truly dangerous for outdoor cats, which I don't think Merlin77 does).

 

[Dacatchair]

One aspect of this debate is cats impact on the environment, and the belief that cats are not indigenous and do not belong in the natural ecosystem.

The problem with that is like most things it has some grey areas and is not black and white.

Cats have been a part of the European ecosystem as long as agricultural has been in practice, and for thousands of years they coexisted with wild life quite nicely. And anywhere there is rats, whether they are indigenous or not, cats may be an essential component to maintaining a balance. We have rats here, and the rats eat whole nests of baby birds and probably other things we would rather they didn’t and as 90 percent of what a cat catches is rodents, in this area I think the cats probably do more to save the lives of birds than they catch.

And there is things people can do to help protect birds from prowling cats, like ensuring areas likely to attract feeding, bathing, drinking birds are raised and open and have no cover for a cat to sneak up.

I think it is more a question of how many cats is a good number to maintain a healthy balance, but like it or not, if your ecosystem has rats, outdoor cats are probably an essential part of the equation.

 

[kashmir64]

It depends on where you live so you can judge the dangers. At my house, the average life span of an outdoor cat is around a month. So no, mine don't go out. But I live on 40 acres in the mountains. Every predator you can imagine is up here. We even have a bald eagle in winter that has developed a taste for 'fluffy'. I won't even go outside of the porch light at night. Last time I did, I ran face-to-face with a bear.
Backing away, backing away..