# Should I let my cat outside? Please help!



## DenProject (Aug 11, 2011)

Hi all. We have a 9 month old cat. We want to let her outside in the summer but dont know if we should. She has escaped a couple of times and its been difficult trying to catch her. This is our first ever cat.

This has been bugging me because iv read on other forums that cats generally will come back in after a short amount of time if being let out for the first time. She just wanted to get away and ran away from us as we tried to catch her. At no time did she look like she wanted to head back to the door she left the house from.

She is a very loving cat and we give her so much attention and she loves our company. We have a decent sized garden which is why we want her to go out as we feel this is the perfect setting for her. Our back garden backs on to other back gardens so there is no roads but at the front of our house is a busy road.

How could we approach letting her out? Does what iv described sound like she wont want to come back? Should we wait til shes older? Is there a way we could encourage her to stay out the back and not wander out the front?

If we kept her as a house cat, she will see us outside in the summer. Will this upset her? Also, will she have as good a life if she stays inside?

Please could you give us some answers or tips? Maybe you have had a similar experience and could tell us how you went about this problem.

Thank you!


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

Only let her out if she has been spayed otherwise she will come back pregnant and that's not good. Other than that it's very difficult to keep cats in the garden unless you cat proof it or build a run. A tip is to only let her out when she is hungry. I have 3 cats 2 of whom are solely inside cats with access to a run - they are perfectly happy as they are.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

As your cat has had a taste of freedom and experienced the outdoors I believe it will be hard now for her to be a contented indoors-only cat. But even if she hadn't experienced the outdoors she still might not have been content as an indoors only cat. Some cats just aren't. 

When I lived in a busy part of the city in a large flat I had 4 indoors only cats. 3 of them were perfectly contented but the 4th (Flufftail) was forever trying to escape, and did so a couple of times, out onto a horrendously busy road. He also used to sit by the front door and cry for hours at a time.

When I moved to a quiet rural area when the cats were a year old all 4 cats had access to the outdoors. Flufftail took to it immediately just like a duck to water, and spent most of his time outdoors often coming home only twice a day to eat. It would have been cruel to keep him in, and fortunately I no longer had to. 

As your house fronts onto a busy road IMO the only safe way to let her out is by catproofing your garden with special overhang fencing. As your garden is a decent size then it should give her enough places to explore. Though thats not to say she won't try to escape by trying to climb over the fence 

If she sees you in the garden in the summer I think she is likely to get upset if she can't be out there with you. 

I am not keen on cat runs myself, as I don't feel there is usually enough stimulus for a cat in a run, even when there are fancy outdoor activity climbing frames. But I guess it would be better than nothing for the time being, and perhaps aim to catproof the garden when she is a little bit older (say 1 year to 18 mths).


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## The Minkey (Feb 6, 2012)

I'm fortunate to live on a fairly quiet road. I've recently let my ex-indoor adult cat out, followed by the kitten when he got to 5 months old. I had strong reservations about letting him out so young, but the morning I woke to find I'd left the bedroom window open and there was a happy looking kitten looking up at me, who resisted arrest when I went down to get him in, was the day I figured it might be time to let him find his outdoor feet. He'd been crying and scrabbling persistently at the french windows for a couple of weeks before this happened and it had increased in intensity to the point he appeared to be demented in his desire to go out i.e. if he wasn't sleeping or eating he was scrabbling at the glass. 

Unfortunately, with cats there are no guarantees, letting them out is always a risk and the outdoor cat owner has to accept there is more chance of 'something happening'.. I strongly feel this needs to be offset against the desire of the cat to go outside where they are exhibiting 'let me out' behaviours. I too would worry about that busy road out the front and unless you can catproof your back garden, you'll have to accept there's no way you can prevent her exploring out front. She may decide it's scary and content herself with the back gardens, but it's anyone's guess what she'll do. Having said that, there's a large cat belonging to one of the grocery shops on my local high street who seems quite happy sitting out on the pavement, completely unphased by all the people, buggies, cars, buses, lorries etc passing just a few feet from him. 

If you do decide to let her out, my biggest tip, apart from spaying, chipping and wearing a snap release collar with identification, would be to train her to come when you whistle. I did this with both mine by whistling them to come for their food and for treats. The first few times I whistled outside for the kitten, he distrusted my intentions thinking he was going to be whisked back inside and wouldn't come near me, but as he's become more relaxed about the balance between indoors and freedom, he comes running. This is really useful for my peace of mind and also for getting them in for trips to vet etc.


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## anotheruser (Aug 17, 2011)

chillminx said:


> As your cat has had a taste of freedom and experienced the outdoors I believe it will be hard now for her to be a contented indoors-only cat.


Not necessarily. My cat was an outdoor cat but she has adjusted to being inside for nearly a year now. However she does take interest whenever I open the door.

Only *you* can decide what to do.

It may just be the cat doesn't appear to want to come back because outside is exciting, what with all the new smells and sounds. However I am sure they will. I would suggest it's only a very small number of cats who get lost of don't come back compared with those that do return.

You could also try holding kitty while outside to give them a bit of a sample. Try setting them on grass and see what they do.


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## Ian B (Jul 19, 2011)

My adoptee Bosley has all but gone full circle, from being a outside cat at his last home to now barely setting foot outside here and is more than happy to watch the world go by from any convenient windowsill. The flap is open 24/7 so it's his choice to stay indoors, the only time he ventures out for more than a few seconds is late at night and even then it's only for a short while, a couple of minutes at most.

Ian


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## RabbitMonster (Mar 20, 2012)

I'm confused about what to do with Molly. I asked this question in another thread, but nobody answered >.<

Molly is 9 months old and is clearly interested in going outside. She sits on windowsills constantly, and we have to keep all the upstairs windows closed as she likes to sit on the outside ledge.

The problem is there's a very busy main road to the rear, and the rest of the estate out to the front. There are at least 2 neighbourhood cats which know not to go near the road, so I'm hoping they'll take Molly under their wing and take care of her.

There's also a new puppy next door who is incredibly boisterous, and there only a minimal amount of fencing separating our two gardens, with a high fence around the other 3 sides. 

My worry is that if I put Molly out the back, she'll get scared of the dog, who is still bigger than her, and she might run out into the road. Would I be better going out the front with her and showing her the fields just behind the estates and then trust she'll come home at mealtimes?

As a footnote, she is due to be spayed in the next two weeks, and will only be let out after this.


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## jo-pop (May 27, 2011)

If you have concerns then dont do it. Just my opinion.


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## RabbitMonster (Mar 20, 2012)

I don't have much of a choice though, we live in a rented house and are not technically supposed to have pets here.


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## Kyria (Oct 29, 2011)

Hi there, my cat is just over a year and he is an outside cat, always has been, from a young baby his ex-owner left him all day outside, so when he came to live with us last summer we just carried on letting him live as an outside cat. I guess im lucky that we dont have any busy roads apart from top of my hill, but I dont think my cat would ever cross this road, he tends to always stay around the garden areas. My cat is hardly ever in our house he is outside all day sleeping and playing in the garden and just comes in doors to eat, which for us is such a shame as he really is a loving friendly cat and me and my children miss his company when he goes out, but he just loves being outside playing and sleeping in the garden. After living with us for a while now he knows my whistle and 9 out of 10 times will always come home when I whistle for him. Also the only way I can get him in doors at night time is to not feed him so around 10 oclock I will whistle and he will come back and be safe in doors all night (we gets lots of big foxes as I live by woods). If I feed him early evening and he goes out I cant get him back in doors and I lie awake all night worrying about him.


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## littleblackcat (Dec 26, 2011)

hey i was the exact same as you with my two cats and they both had escaped a few times and hated coming back. but suprisingly the 1st night mine escaped they came home at tea time. what i do with mine is let them out in the day when im at home that way i feel confident about lettin them out cause im here if they need me though they never do. as soon as its dark though both my cats are inside. you will find you cats will come back and once they go outside they will love it. mine have started going toilet outside so im saving money on litter now also. my two never go far from home and know when its feeding time so are home and waiting for food. when i 2st got mine i never wanted to let them out but sometimes cats will get out and i thought it would be easier to let them out and get to know their suroundings so if they got out accidently then they would know where to come. definately make sure though that you cat is spade or neutered and also micro chipped and has a reflective quick release collar on both mine have all of those and it puts my mind at ease.


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## Kyria (Oct 29, 2011)

Yeh my cat is neutered, Microchipped and has snap free collar on..Since it has been warm and sunny he sleeps in garden all day, only comes in for food and than out he pops again...


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

littleblackcat said:


> hey i was the exact same as you with my two cats and they both had escaped a few times and hated coming back. but suprisingly the 1st night mine escaped they came home at tea time. what i do with mine is let them out in the day when im at home that way i feel confident about lettin them out cause im here if they need me though they never do. as soon as its dark though both my cats are inside. you will find you cats will come back and once they go outside they will love it. mine have started going toilet outside so im saving money on litter now also. my two never go far from home and know when its feeding time so are home and waiting for food. when i 2st got mine i never wanted to let them out but sometimes cats will get out and i thought it would be easier to let them out and get to know their suroundings so if they got out accidently then they would know where to come. definately make sure though that you cat is spade or neutered and also micro chipped and has a reflective quick release collar on both mine have all of those and it puts my mind at ease.


The OP said she lives on a busy road, and if it were my cats, I would 
worry continually if I let them out. Reflective collars would not do much to save them if they were to run in front of a car.


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## Kyria (Oct 29, 2011)

I agree, to be honest if I lived infront of a main road, I wouldnt have a cat, or if I had one it would be an indoor cat, so many cats get killed on main road, even quiet roads we had a cat killed recently here, such a shame he fell asleep under the car and the person didnt realise the cat was under it and drove off, so sad :sad:


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