Outdoor Cats? Good idea? Not sure I think so?

Question

I have two indoor cats, and see way too many dead cats on the side of the road, It breaks my heart. I can't imagine letting my cats loose, especially with Coyotes, foxes and emotionally disturbed people out there to trust they are ok. Curious to hear from someone who does allow their cat to be an outdoor cat.

FYI, I do not plan on letting my cats out. I live in a city suburb, I just want to hear and understand why this is even done.

Answer 1

I hate that people let their animals run around loose. I understand that cats were once hunters and people domesticated them, blah, blah, blah. I just think it is irresponsible of the owner to let their pet out without a leash, be it a dog or cat. And don't even get me started on the owners who let their animals that aren't spayed or neutered run loose. GRRRR!

Answer 2

If you live in the country then no it is not a good idea coyotes got 8 of my cats over the 9 months and I was super sad Just one cat is sad enough imagine 8! And cats can get fleas and they get dirty and if they are not spayed or nuetered......uh oh then you will have even more kitties! And the cats might leave and you cant find them. So I would suggest keeping them inside.

Answer 3

I think it all depends on where you live. For those of you in America, there seems to be a lot more dangers than here in the UK - we don't get coyotes! If you live on a busy road, of course you wouldn't want your cat to go out because of the danger. I live in the middle of a terrace of houses where the small garden backs on to the back garden of the house behind. My cat is an indoor/outdoor cat. Unlike the toms who I see out the front of my house, my cat remains in the back gardens. I don't know where she came from, but she climbed over the fence one day and decided to stay. I keep a window open during the day and since the colder weather (for more my comfort) keep her in at night - although she has a bee in her bonnet tonight, so have just let her out again (I think she prefers outside to her litter tray). I worry less about her being outside, because she knew her wandering patch before she knew me. If I get another cat in the future, I would more than likely make it an indoor one, but as mine started off outside, I think it is particularly cruel to expect her to suddenly turn into an indoor cat. I love watching her stalking leaves and bugs in the garden and on fine days, stretching out on the roof to catch the sun. I think people have to just weigh up the dangers and decide what is best.

Answer 4

I used to have an indoor/outdoor cat. It was a horrible mistake. He got into a fight with a neighbor cat and was so injured he had to be put down. Check out the internet for cat enclosures. If you're handy or know someone handy you can build one yourself. They are very nice. It is a totally fenced in (top, too) run. You can put it on grass and plant a couple of appropriate bushes for them to play in and even put in a fake tree for them to climb on. But remember they need a way to get inside or have some type of shelter to get into to get away from inclement weather. Keeping males in your home is a real pain if they spray. Having them neutered helps most of the time, but not always. And people have no idea how destructive cats can be... they love to shred paper! Have to hide your pay checks! haha! I wouldn't give mine up for anything in the world. I blame myself when they get into something. I know what they are capable of! And other than a fully enclosed outside pen I would never allow my cats outside other than in a travel carrier. Even on a leash if something scares them, it is a nightmare. And even in an enclosure they can be exposed to illnesses if neighbor cats come up to the enclosure and they touch noses or spray on each other, etc. My cats are kept indoors and other animals aren't allowed anywhere near them without knowing they've been tested for everything under the sun! Haha!

Good luck. You're doing the right thing keeping them in.

Answer 5

When I was a teenager, my family started caring for a feral cat who had kittens in our garage. We allowed the kittens to be outside with their mother, and they had a blast, for the most part. We'd never had outdoor cats before (had an indoor kitty at the time), and I've resolved never to let a cat I own out again because of what happened to those kittens.

Our neighbors had an issue with the kittens being allowed to roam free. They constantly complained, although to my knowledge the kittens never did anything bad to their property, and we kept them up to date on shots (and they were neutered, so there was no worry of them getting another kitty pregnant). Our neighbors just didn't like cats. One day we came home to find one of the kittens having seizures on the floor of our garage. We rushed him to the vet only to discover he'd been poisoned with anti-freeze and had to be put to sleep at nine months of age.

At first we thought he'd just gotten into something on his own, but a week later our neighbor's teenage daughters were joking about killing our kitten. As a 13 year old, this was pretty traumatizing for me, and my family quickly moved the remaining kittens indoors from then on out.

I just think that there are too many dangers an outdoor cat can get into that an indoor cat is sheltered from. An outdoor cat could get diseases from other animals, get into fights with other cats over territory, could get run over by a car, hurt by other people, etc. I read somewhere that an average indoor cat's life is around 14-17 years whereas the normal life expectancy of an outdoor cat is closer to 7-8 years. If you want your cat to have a safe and happy life, I'd opt to keep them indoor cats (with perhaps the option of harnessing them up for outdoor walks once in a while if they get stir-crazy!).

Answer 6

I used to have outdoor cats b/c I thought it was just cruel to coop them up inside. It's a cats nature to hunt, prowl, etc so I thought it was cruel. Every cat I have ever had since I was growing up on the farm to living in the city has been ran over or just end up missing.

I have 2 cats now. I chose for these to be inside cats b/c I got tired of being sad and I also live on a very busy street so they wouldn't even have a chance if they went outside.

One is 2 yrs and the other is 1yr. I have NEVER let them outside. I thought they would drive me nuts meowing and wanting to be outside....but since they have never been out there it's like they don't know what they are missing.

Answer 7

One of my former housemates had a cat who was allowed out into the backyard occasionally in good weather, but he could not jump very high, so he couldn't go over the fence and the bottom of the fence was cat-proofed. Other roaming cats could come visit, but Clawed Monet could not leave the yard (and he was fixed so there was no chance of any visiting roaming cats having kittens in the future).

But most cats can jump high, so I'd say keep them inside where they live longer anyway

Answer 8

I have 5 cats (yeah, that's a lot) they're free to roam wherever they want, but they're always back in the morning and around 3 o clock, that's when i feed them. But there's ver little traffic on the street where i live, and all the neighbor's dogs are chained. Actually, the cats spend most of their time in the house and back yard anyway, they don't like too roam when there's food and shelter so easily available.
Oh, and they're all neutered.

Answer 9

In my opinion, cats that are left outdoors are prey to a lot of vicious things from natural predators to mean, cruel, people that think it is cool to run them over for road kill.
I am concerned that too many of the cats that are left outdoors end up having litter upon litter and each of these little babies that are born are susceptible to the cat disease that kills because the kittens have not been given the proper care by the owner.
I am friends with a person that does not allow cats into their home but will put food out for them and the cats are not tame but wild. Every time one cat comes in season shortly their are another litter of kittens and as soon as the kittens come of season age another litter. It breaks my heart because these cats are being born to become sick and to die from the horrible cat disease which is so easy to prevent by being a responsible owner and taking the cat....cats,...kittens for vet. care.
If I were to have a cat for a pet, I would not let my cat go outside and if I did I would put it on a leash and go out with it.

Answer 10

I agree that the world is a dangerous place for cats, or any pet for that matter. Both of my cats are strictly indoor cats. They have a warm safe house to live in free from anything or anyone who would want to hurt them, and also away from diseases. When they get bored there are plenty of toys for them to play with.

Answer 11

I have four cats and I keep them all indoors. They are much safer and I don't have to worry about them. My mom also has four cats and lets three of them outside. She used to have five and the fifth recently disappeared. But she still lets the others out! I don't really get it either so I keep mine inside for my own sanity.