I want to take my cat outside but my mom wont let me?

Question

My cat is about 10 years old, he is fat and he shouldn't be he was a small cat when we found him and very overweight, he used to be an out door cat intill we moved, and my mom wont let me take him out since all the cats are free of flees and healthy but I want him to be healthier and all, how can I get her to let me take her out and just go back to putting flee treatment on?

Answer 1

There are many many reasons your mom doesnt want your cat outside besides fleas. Ringworm- a skin rash he can pass on to you, feline leukemia, intestinal parasites, abcesses from cat fights (big pus filled bumps), getting abducted by someone else who takes the cat in and wont let them go, eating something that makes them get an intestinal obstruction, crazy people who poison cats outside with food because they think they are "strays", and not to mention getting hit by a car. Your cat is way better off inside the house where you can at least try to control the potential dangers to his life.

Answer 2

There may be another reason your mom wants the cats inside. In a new area, sometimes you have neighbors who set out cat traps or radiator fluid.

Cats can exercise inside as well as outside. Does he play with anything? Can you get him to run and chase a ball (we actually had a cat who would play "fetch") or a piece of balled up paper? My cat never runs around outside. He's more active inside. So, maybe you can teach your cat to enjoy indoor exercise. I used to have an overweight cat who was allergic to fleas, so he had no choice but to stay inside. It may be dangerous, I don't know, so use your own judgement: we used to tie a string to our ankle and take off running. Now that I'm older, I wonder why we never tripped on it. I guess it was because the string was very coarse and we had carpet, so it kind of dragged behind us instead of us outrunning it and tripping. We also didn't lift our feet very high because we wanted the string to drag as much as possible.

Anyhow, try to find things indoors for your cat to do.

Make sure he only eats the recommended amount of food he needs and no more than that (our cat eats dry food, 1/2 c in the morning and 1/2 c in the evening, plus a handful of tartar control treats). Most packages of cat food will say the recommended amount on them.

Some toy ideas are below:

Answer 3

Get yourself a cat toy, or for really cheap, get yourself a feather duster... keep rolling it around a few times, make it challenging. Do it for about 30 minutes a day that should help with some of the overweight issues.

Secondly portion out food for him so that way he don't gorge himself on food, since he was an outside cat he's probably not very used to having a full stomach and thinks that it can't last, that's just his thought process. So portioniing out his food keeps him from gorging on it later.

Also, if it comes down to it, give him frontline, and then go to the store (heck I'm seeing them at grocery stores) and get a harness and a leash and let him roam around the park.

Answer 4

Darling how old are you? Cats do not belong outside. Cats actually have a shorter lifespan if they are left outside. There are too many dangers in the world for cats to be outside they can be posioned, tortured, hit by cars, attacked by wild animals, killed by dogs, starve to death, thrown, kicked, shot at, and all sorts of horrible things. Your cat is probably not overweight he probably has just reached his mature adult weight. If he is over weight stop free feeding him or switch to a healthier cat food none of that cheapy stuff. Im sorry kid but your moms right cats do need to be outside I dont understand why in the world you want her out there anyways!

Answer 5

There are things you can do for your cat without having to resort to taking her outside. First off, you should switch to light cat food like Science Diet Light and restrict how much food he should eat, perhaps half a cup per day. You can also play with him in various ways. Most cats absolutely love and go nuts over laser pointers. They will chase that red dot all over the place. Just be careful not to get the laser into your cat's eyes. Another thing you can do is just give him little crumpled up pieces of paper to play with and chase after. One thing I love to do is take a bunch of catnip and put it inside a sock and tie the sock up with a string or rope. Then I drag the sock on the floor. The cat will stare at the sock and will put himself into position to spring at it and will eventually dash at it. You can pull it away when he springs. Or you can pull on the sock and he will struggle and wrestle to hold onto it as you try to pull it away. All these things are a lot of fun and will force your cat to exercise and improve his health.

In regards to fresh air, he can get it if you open up your windows. The cat will jump up on the window sill and look outside for a while. Just be sure your windows have screens so your cat doesn't fall out of the window! Good luck.

Answer 6

To tell you the truth..your cat is safer and healthier INSIDE. Outdoor cats are prone to getting hit by cars, poisoned by people, rat poison, snail bait, antifreeze, can get attacked by a dog or wild animals, can pick up diseases like feline leukemia, feline distemper, rabies, can get in cat fights resulting in abscess and infection, and pick up fleas, ticks, ear mites and fungal infections. Why would you want to expose your cat to all this...it will likely die much sooner outside than it will of being fat. Put it on a low calorie diet..they make special cat food for this...and try and get him to play more. Is he the type of cat that will chase after balls or fake mice, etc. Will he chase after things..you can pull a long rope or cat toy around the house. You can try and take him outside on a leash...a lot of people do this when they want their cat to be able to experience the outdoors but don't want their cats to be unsafe. You would still have to worry about the cat picking up certain parasites and disease however.

Answer 7

If you can, keep your precious cat inside. I have two cats currently and they do go out. I grew up on a farm and we always had only OUTSIDE cats, and tons of them. Within the past three eyars, I have lost two cats. I found one dead in my shed. She was a beautiful long haired calico. She must have gotten into something and I walked out there one day, the door was open, and there she was, hiding behind some drywall. My other cat I found dead in my driveway. I came home late one night and he was laying clear up by the house, just laying there. I thought he was being his usual stubborn self and just not getting out of the van's way, but his eyes in my headlights didn't blink. WHAT A SHOCK! I think someone in the neighborhood was setting out antifreeze to rid the neighborhood of roage cats. If I was able to keep my current cats in, belive me, I would. So, please listen to your mom... keep it in the safe house!

Answer 8

Your mom's pretty smart.

Cats are exposed to a lot more than just fleas. The resident cats could be very territorial and fight yours, or they could carry feline leukemia or FIV which you don't want yours to get. AND if yours catches and eats birds or rodents, you're going to have to treat ALL your cats for worms. Or he might go into the road and get killed, which you don't want to have happen either.

An alternative might be to get a harness and 15 foot leash and you go outside with him on the harness and you staying in safe distance in case he gets into trouble.

Answer 9

i would not let him out, unsupervised, cats can get in to fight and get feline lukemia and other sicknesses that can be potentially deadly, and he could run away and get hit by a car or a dog could get him. besides he is old, if you are concerned take him to a vet and ask to put him on science diet w/d (works the best for me) and he will lose a good amount of weight in about 5 months,
please dont take him outside not a good idea.

Answer 10

yeah go with the harness and lead,as my sister in law does this and the cat doesnt mind at all now.or you could make him at cat run and stay out with him while he moves about,sitting around makes them fat and lazy but a good diet works wonders,and NO tidbits becos you feel sorry for him.he meant to explore about outside,they eat grass wen they feel sick to make themselves vomit its a natural,and good ole tummy and back rub feels great on the grassy areas.use flea stuff,the spot stuff that lasts the month,it works..