How often do you let your kitten/cat outside?

I just don't want him gone for long periods... and defo inside really i think once i am home from work!

Whether my plan will come off we will see....... ;0)
 
My 2 who are just coming up to 14 months old do exactly as they please, we let them out into the back garden from the day we brought them home, under supervision of course, and I dont think they ventured any further until they were almost a year old. We back onto a field and allotments so they have plenty to keep them amused without straying very far. We did install a cat flap in the back door but they prefer to use the bedroom window, via the trellis and porch, they are often found asleep on my bed having used this route! The only downside is that they also use this method of entrance when I am asleep, fine except if they bring me a "gift". "Shut the window" I hear you shout, well I would but I need the fresh air coming through to be able to get to sleep:(
 
wow, am amazed how many cats stay in!

squish, one surviving kitten from yard litter.... mum didnt like the rest of them, he had a tough childhhood :p arrived age about 12 weeks and moved into the stable (££££s worth of new stables and one small kitten ;) ) and has stayed there ever since. I'd like to say he was a wild feral thing but he loves human company, comes to call whenever you want him (or he is being fed) despite the fact that once a day its for his heart tablets which he still doesn't argue about. He isn't hugely intelligent or agile for that matter, he falls off things quite a lot and has got into a few scrapes, one involving a car but he learnt from that and now steers clear.

I don't think I could keep a cat indoors. He does exactly what he pleases all day and comes for company when he wants it which is most of the time when people are about :)
 
I'm a massive cat person and have been breeding to show standard for 10 years.

RTA's are THE biggest killer of cats, so going out must depend on where you live and what the traffic is like and also the personality of the cat, some have no road sense at all and no matter what you do, the road is a magnet. I have learned this through sad error.
I have a massive network of centrally heated runs, all linked by walkways to the house for all my cats so am lucky, but appreciate not everyone has this. Also, after my mare, the cats are my hobby, obviously.

For safetys sake, I would suggest,keep 'em in during peak road traffic times, such as morning and evening when people are going to/from work, picking up kids from school etc. Get a catflap too, so safe haven encouraging kitty to go in during day - and have a spot in garden, like a garden shed with catflap or a sunny spot with comfy blankets, so an additional place for kit to go, during the day, keep a gravel area too so they don't have to go searching for a loo somewhere and take out solids once a week, replace gravel once every 4/5 months. Airing cupboard or heat pad encourages in time - and feed them in that area too initially, so they learn to associate comfort in that place (even in summer).
Oh and if you're lucky enough to have electricity in garden shed, get a plugin Feliway (cat relaxer hormone) initially, so they learn to love it in there.

If you live in a busy road area, think about investing in a cat run, like this below, so kit can get some fresh air (though you have to have 2 kits for this for company - wink, incidentally, with neighbour coming in daily, this saves a fortune, over time in cattery fees when you're away on holiday - this run cost £700 and has paid for itself within 2 years and is lined and insulated so can be used in winter:D):


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My cats have free access to the outside world via a cat flap.

However, as kittens they were only allowed out supervised, and only after their operations. It wasn't until they were young cats that I let them out as and when they wanted to go.

I should add that I live in a very quiet area, with hardly any traffic. Otherwise I simply wouldn't have a cat.
 
Forgot to add, I stipulate in my contract of sale for my babies that they must not go outside, despite this, out of 105 kittens, 18 have been killed on the road (that I know about). It's alarming, but times have changed .... 20 years ago there was far less traffic than now, cat flu or feline leuk/cancer is no longer the main killer - it's RTA's - and that is one horrible death.
If you can't stretch to a run like above, try this - cost £99 - and now with lots of seating areas, scratching posts etc

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see I really struggle to imagine restricting a cat at all even like that.

But then I freely admit to not really getting the whole pedigree cat thing never have
 
Thank you Rotchana for all the info and pics etc.. the problem is we don't have a huge garden so unfortuantely a large run wouldn't be possible...

I am still deciding on whether he will be allowed to go outside and if he is it will be on a harness at first and then perhaps slowly without?? Nervous already.....
 
But then I freely admit to not really getting the whole pedigree cat thing never have
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My neighbour has 4 beautiful pedigree cats. Can't remember the breed, but it's the same as the Whiskers cat.

The only difference between them and my moggies was their price tag :eek: However, they too are free to wander at will, and frequently do - in to my house

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Mine goes out pretty much everyday. Apart from when it's tipping down with rain. He goes out at 7.30 in morn and comes back when he wants, usually around 8pm. We leave his window open (we live in middle of nowhere and we're very close to our neighbors so they keep eye on place when we are out) and he comes and goes as he pleases. We just have to shut door to his room (yes he. Spoilt and has own room!) as he's started bringing back mice!
 
There is no difference between moggies and pedigrees, apart from the price tag.

If anything, in my experience, pedigrees are slightly more stupid and have far less road sense and if not very carefully bred can have major genetic problems.

Either way, they can all get killed on the road.

I'd rather restrict their environment than take the chance, but then as I said, I have major walkways everywhere all linked to the house for my cats, so the restriction is fairly minimal anyway.

My moggie rescues have free access to wherever they want to go as it's very hard to train an outdoor cat to an indoor life, but not if that's how you start off.
 
Sorry I cant understand why anyone would willingly keep a cat indoors 24/7 or put it in a run?
It is natural for a cat to roam.
I have lost 2 in a year, just gone out and never come back. I dont live on a main road and am surrounded by field, dont understand it, when I did live in the middle of a town with a roads all around they were fine.
Mine are free to come and go as they please, I have 3 now, one being Tiggycat. My kitten is 4 months old and he goes in the garden when one of us is out there, he is desperate to roam though, having his done asap.
 
All the cats i've had up until the ones I have now have had free access outdoors up until the current ones. Having lost our old boy just before we moved we decided to get 2 moggies and kept them in for the first 6 months, unfortunately we soon discovered that most of the cats round here are un neutered so picked on our boys :( One then went missing so we took our other one down to devon to live with my gran and her old boy (who died over easter). He could not live inside and enjoys the devon life! I now have 3 cats, 2 are half russian blue X maine coone boys and the other is a russian blue x BSH girl (the girl was free!) and due to her colour and the boys being 'special' (the vet said this) there is no way they are going out. *prepares to be jumped on* There was an accident thanks to my grandmother and the female had 4 kittens (thankfully we know which boy was to blame), one we are keeping and the other 3 have been sold. Because they look like pure bred russian blue's the new owners have decided themselves to keep them in. Due to the high numbers of un neutered cats, the m.o.d. land (which has snakes and several cats have died from snake bites round here) and the certain type of people that live up here, there is no way we will ever let a cat out round here.
 
Hi Swift 08,
Am guessing you are somewhere near Camberley or Aldershot. I'm not too far away and my cat lives out 24/7 although she can go in the buildings outside when she likes. I have howver lost 2 x kittens on seperat occsions which I kept, during the past 2 years, dunno if they were stolen or taken by red kites/foxes.
 
rangerover said:
Hi Swift 08,
Am guessing you are somewhere near Camberley or Aldershot. I'm not too far away and my cat lives out 24/7 although she can go in the buildings outside when she likes. I have howver lost 2 x kittens on seperat occsions which I kept, during the past 2 years, dunno if they were stolen or taken by red kites/foxes.
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Im near aldershot on a certain estate (did not know what it was like etc until we exchanged!) so many cats go missing up here and the one that we lost was deliberatley taken by someone for 4 days! None of our cats will ever go out for as long as we are living here :(
 
Basil (His Lordship) comes and goes whenever he pleases, he does have to say meoww though for the door to open - there is no way I'm having half dead rats brought through a cat flap
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Kitty never comes in, she lives in the horse barn and roams the countryside, I also only feed her when she asks for it:)
 
Meeru is the first (Siam) and Sangu the second... neither of which go out and never really have the urge to even if the door is open. But like a few on here, we are Surrey/Hants border in Army quarters and I would NEVER let them out here! :)


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martlin said:
Basil (His Lordship) comes and goes whenever he pleases, he does have to say meoww though for the door to open - there is no way I'm having half dead rats brought through a cat flap
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Ha, my fat cat still meows to be let in even though we have a cat flap! And yes, we do get the odd dead bird, still alive bunnies and rats in our house :( wish we didn't have a cat flap sometimes!

Here's my kitty :)

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He doesn't spend much time outside as he is too lazy, but he has free access. Our cat flap doesn't actually have a "flap" anymore, after the dog thought he could get through and broke it...so we now have a nice hole in our door!
 
My stable cats were outside from the start and had a little nest in the straw barn for them to sleep in. Having said that one of them was dumped down at the stables at 4-6 weeks old so she just sort of stuck!! They are very spoilt though as fed twice a day, cat flap into tack room and a heater on all winter with their beds beside it!! My cat at my house he was kept in the conservatory as a kitten for about a fortnight. I used to let him out with me in the garden for a few hours everyday. We would just play and he'd stalk pretend things. Naughty (house cat) comes and goes and I leave a window open for him to use as a cat flap until it gets cold. He does sleep on my bed every night though!! I can't sleep if he's not inside and then at 4am he'll scream outside my window wanting to come in - so I get up and let him in. Yes spoilt rotten!!
 
Mine stayed in until they were neutered. Then we started letting them out in the garden for about 20 mins at a time, a couple of times a day and supervised them. Gradually we let them stay out for longer, and supervised them less. They always stay in at night, and we have a one way cat flap so if they are out and we are going out they can still get in but cannot get back out. They still prefer to come in through the door if possible though!
 
I've kept them in until vaccinations have finished (and neutering), bar the odd outing into the garden. Always in at night, due to accidents and fights - on the rare occasion they don't come in, I don't get a wink of sleep, but thankfully that really is rare. Since getting my old boy in Feb, I've split the evening feed into two, so they get a sachet between them about 7pm and another before I go to bed. This ensures that they're always hanging around if I'm out for the evening. I couldn't shut them in permanently. Poor rosco spent nearly 4 months in a pen before I got him and was quite withdrawn. What with neither cat having a tail and one having an ear missing, I tend to spoil them a bit, as the poor buggers have had a hard enough life as it is! :D
 
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