Cat Owners -- Should I Let Mine Outside?

[thekinglives]

Date: 6/5/2008 2:19:28 PM
Author: HollyS

'Not all cats will be 'street wise' and able to care for themselves out in 'the wild'. I would worry, just as if it were my child outside without me.'

My point earlier is that 'street-smart' cats
can be honed at an earlier age than 1 year.
This is general wisdom in relation to this
issue.

I don't think anyone should consider a cat as
a 'child', given that the nature of the animals
and their fundamental needs are quite divergent.

The wilds of Texas are certainly full of
threatening carnivores, but a younger cat
has a good chance of coping with and evading
the very same. If you're inclined to value
the cat's freedom and accept the risk, it's
not quite a black-and-white issue, despite
peoples' strong feelings about it.

 

[bensbride]

Wrigley (below in bad lighting) only goes out on naughty times of poor judgement on his part...and then he gets the full name yell and mommy running after him. He does the "walk away 3-5 times" thing and then lets me snatch him up. Ruby never even tries to go outside, but she''s afraid of her own shadow. They have no claws and probably no common sense, so its for the best that they stay inside.

 

[Harleigh]

Oh, bb...Wrigley is just precious! I want to eat him up!

 

[Pandora II]

Petsafe is a fantastic system that my parents have used for the last 15 years or so. The same company make Freedom Fence.

Basically it's a wire that you put round your garden - I think my parents put it inside a hose pipe and buried it in the hedge/fence etc. It connects to a box in the house which is plugged into an electric socket.

The cat wears a collar with a little black box about 2 inches by 1 inch underneath. They're quite heavy, but our cats have always been fine with them. We take them off when they're locked in in the evening.

If the cat goes within 2 feet of the fence the box makes a bleeping sound. If they carry on approaching or don't move away they get a mild electric shock.

It works really well, although they will test the system, and one of ours used to sit where you could get the beep but not the shock and try and run the batteries down!

Since we got the system the cats have pretty much never left the garden. A couple of times they have got out, but come back very quickly! My mother gives them a mega stern telling off (verbal) when they do and they look very guilty for an hour or so.

You can get the same system for dogs as well.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 6/5/2008 3:55:42 PM
Author: thekinglives

My point earlier is that 'street-smart' cats
can be honed at an earlier age than 1 year.
This is general wisdom in relation to this
issue.

I don't think anyone should consider a cat as
a 'child', given that the nature of the animals
and their fundamental needs are quite divergent.

The wilds of Texas are certainly full of
threatening carnivores, but a younger cat
has a good chance of coping with and evading
the very same. If you're inclined to value
the cat's freedom and accept the risk, it's
not quite a black-and-white issue, despite
peoples' strong feelings about it.

I would agree with this. Our first two cats were indoor only and lived until they had kidney failure at age 13 or so. I was always too fearful to let them out, yet they longed to go out. It turned out that our youngest child was very allergic to them, yet the cats had been indoors for years, so we could not turn them into outside cats at that point. So we used a lot of allergy meds and my poor daughter just was congested all the time. No good solution to that one. So once the two cats were gone, I had to say, no more indoor cats, ever. (My daughter's allergies are sooo much better now! And you girls who plan on starting a family need to think about this before you get an indoor cat, too.)

So, one day older daughter brings home two precious kitties that were strays. I told her we could not keep them because we couldn't have indoor cats and I didn't want to worry about them being outside. Yet she said they were already living outside with their mother (at a friend's grandmother's home that was now vacant, so no one there to feed them), so what would it hurt for them to live with us? I actually was very tempted to love the kitties since I had always wanted a calico. The other choices were to leave them in the wild or take them to the shelter with no guarantee of their future survival. So I said yes.

It is now around 3 years later, and our two kitties have access to our garage 100% of the time (it opens to the back of our house so we leave it open all the time for them) so when the weather is bad they have shelter. They do sleep in there and eat there, too. We have a big yard and we live in a neighborhood. They learn to stay out of the fenced area of our yard when the dogs are out there. (Oh, and that is the other reason we could not have let them inside. Our old cats were raised as kittens with our old puppy, but these would have come in with 2 year old dogs which would never have worked).

Cats are animals with instincts. They were made to run fast, climb trees to get away from dogs, etc. Sometimes they make mistakes and run in streets and get killed. However, having had both 100% indoor and 100% outdoor cats, I'd never have 100% indoor again (assuming I live in a suburban area) because my cats enjoy their life doing the things their nature was intended to do...explore, hunt, climb, run, jump, etc. If they live a shorter lifespan, at least they will have enjoyed their lives. Would you rather have a life of 100 years confined to your house or 75 free to go where you choose? I know which one I would choose, and our natures are not nearly as outdoor oriented as a cat.

 

[Delster]

Date: 6/6/2008 7:49:35 AM
Author: Pandora II
Petsafe is a fantastic system that my parents have used for the last 15 years or so. The same company make Freedom Fence.

Basically it''s a wire that you put round your garden - I think my parents put it inside a hose pipe and buried it in the hedge/fence etc. It connects to a box in the house which is plugged into an electric socket.

The cat wears a collar with a little black box about 2 inches by 1 inch underneath. They''re quite heavy, but our cats have always been fine with them. We take them off when they''re locked in in the evening.

If the cat goes within 2 feet of the fence the box makes a bleeping sound. If they carry on approaching or don''t move away they get a mild electric shock.

It works really well, although they will test the system, and one of ours used to sit where you could get the beep but not the shock and try and run the batteries down!

Since we got the system the cats have pretty much never left the garden. A couple of times they have got out, but come back very quickly! My mother gives them a mega stern telling off (verbal) when they do and they look very guilty for an hour or so.

You can get the same system for dogs as well.

Pandora I know someone who uses the cat system on a Jack Russell!

 

[Pandora II]

Just wanted to add that nearly all our cats have been 16+ when they died.

We''ve never worried about diseases - we don''t have rabies in the UK and ours are vaccinated yearly against flu and leukemia. It''s mandatory if you need to use kennels when you go on holiday.

Frontline them once a year and no fleas.

The worst that happens is that all of them get stung as kittens because they will try play with bees.

We had one cat who had a problem with his eyes where they moved backwards and forwards like a pendulum (people can have it too), in order to try and catch things he had to move his head in the opposite direction to focus - it was so funny to watch.

Poor cat, the only thing he ever caught were earthworms - and once a frog, which he very carefully brought home for us, undamaged and alive. He was so proud of himself. Frog seemed none the worse for wear and hopped off into the fields.

 

[shigidigi]

Movie Zombie- do you have any photos of your kitty run? I am really intrigued and would love to see how you rigged yours!!

 

[Bev]

I think it would be best to keep your cats indoors, imo. It is the only way you will no for sure that your cat will be safe from cars, coyotes, etc. A friend of ours, however, has a little tent that they put their cat in so she could be outdoors but safe. She absolutely loves it.

 

[movie zombie]

Date: 6/6/2008 2:42:17 PM
Author: shigidigi
Movie Zombie- do you have any photos of your kitty run? I am really intrigued and would love to see how you rigged yours!!

not sure....i''ll check and see.

movie zombie

 

[thekinglives]

Date: 6/6/2008 9:36:14 AM
Author: diamondseeker2006

However, having had both 100% indoor and 100% outdoor cats, I''d never have 100% indoor again (assuming I live in a suburban area) because my cats enjoy their life doing the things their nature was intended to do...explore, hunt, climb, run, jump, etc. If they live a shorter lifespan, at least they will have enjoyed their lives. Would you rather have a life of 100 years confined to your house or 75 free to go where you choose? I know which one I would choose, and our natures are not nearly as outdoor oriented as a cat.

That''s exactly it, DS! I think compromise between
protecting a cat and helping it live more in accordance
with its true nature has to be more fulfilling for the cat.

The petsafe fence sounds to be an excellent compromise,
in that the cats will be able to skirt under bushes, chase
butterflies, worry some unfortunate ants, and climb some
trees. Hope you can find a compromise you like, OP

 

[EricaR]

The answer is the Cheese Chase! Seriously, my kitties go nuts for this and they would much rather play with it than watch the birds outside.

Want an instant new toy? Move it to a new room! They go crazy for it all over again. We put it out a few days at a time, then put it in the closet for about a week. When it comes out again they are thrilled.

Cheese Chase

 

[risingsun]

If you want your cats to live a longer, healthier life, keep them indoors. There are mesh containers and such to safely bring them outdoors, but I would never let our cats outside on their own. My oldest cat is 19 y.o. and has been an indoor cat his whole life.

 

[Cind11]

I worked for a Veterinarian quite a few years ago. I shudder to think of the many BAD things that I saw that had happened to outdoor cats. PLEASE keep your cat(s) indoors. My four will never set a paw outside.

 

[VegasAngel]

Date: 6/8/2008 2:16:53 AM
Author: EricaR
The answer is the Cheese Chase! Seriously, my kitties go nuts for this and they would much rather play with it than watch the birds outside.

Want an instant new toy? Move it to a new room! They go crazy for it all over again. We put it out a few days at a time, then put it in the closet for about a week. When it comes out again they are thrilled.

Cheese Chase

Funny.

My cat loves the Panic Mouse Toy.

 

[Babyblue033]

Date: 6/8/2008 12:16:30 PM
Author: Cind11
I worked for a Veterinarian quite a few years ago. I shudder to think of the many BAD things that I saw that had happened to outdoor cats. PLEASE keep your cat(s) indoors. My four will never set a paw outside.

And I have a friend who''s a director of a local wildlife center, and I saw some TERRIBLE things our loving kitties have done to the local wildlife too.

I want to make sure my cats have the best life they can possibly have, which I''m sure everyone here does too and we all do what we believe to be the best thing. Personally I think there''s nothing "natural" about domesticated cats being out on their own, fending for themselves, defending themselves, in danger of being hit by cars (definitely nothing nature about that), being picked up by weirdos, and hunting wildlife just for fun (often they don''t even kill their prey, and rarely eat them). But that''s just me, living where I live and having experienced what I have.

Now THIS is what I dream of one day when I run my own rescue

This will be the best of both worlds, not to mention it might help slightly with my cat allergies as well

 

[Babyblue033]

Forgot to add, Bensbride can I just tell you how adorable Wrigley is???