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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to be afraid to let my kitten outside?

19 replies

BalthierBunansa · 24/12/2012 02:16

I got a kitten a few months ago. He is seven months. I've let him walk around the garden the bit when he was a bit more timid, but now he's becoming adventurous and wants to wander, but i'm just so so nervous. I know so many people who's cats have been run over or have run away and I really love him and just want to protect him and never let him out. But I appreciate cats need to go outside. Any advice?

OP posts:

AgentZigzagHasABigYuleLog · 24/12/2012 02:23

If he's gone seven months inside, there's no use in letting him out just before Christmas so you'd be worrying yourself sick if he stays out longer than you think.

Part of having a cat is knowing you have to let them out even with the risk something would happen to them (same as DC).

Just do it gradually and let him take take his time, it's better he gets to know how to deal with outside when he's smaller.

Honestly though, he'll be fine

He will.

Have you had his nads chopped? Because that cuts down their roaming area massively.

Original poster

BalthierBunansa · 24/12/2012 02:25

Thanks for the advice AgentZigzag And yes, he's been castrated

OP posts:

PurplePidjChickIsNotTheMessiah · 24/12/2012 02:28

Get into a routine of regular feeds then start to let him out shortly before food time. Cats can also be trained to come when they're called

AgentZigzagHasABigYuleLog · 24/12/2012 02:32

My two cats (who are 14 and 18 now) started out as house cats, I could never have imagined them waltzing around out doors doing Cat Stuff.

But they were bored inside (well one of them was, the other's a house cat through and through) she didn't know she was at the time, but once she'd seen what the outside had to offer she was in her element.

It's not a very nice thing to say, but it's one reason for not getting too close to the little blighters, because it really hurts when something happens.

TwoFacedCows · 24/12/2012 02:50

purplepidj has the right idea. I used to let mind out before he was fed, s he would come home when hungry.

Also I would start now training him to know a word for food. mine knows 'numnums' means dinner. he is also obsessed with the sachets, so I shake them and call ''numnums' and he comes running!!

my dogs have also got wise to this whole 'numnums' thing and will also come running!

i would start off with teaching him the word, wait until he really comes running for dinner ( maybe split his dinner into smaller more frequent portions and practise a few times a day to speed it up) then let him out first thing in the morning before dinner and after a short while call him for dinner then let him back outside when he is finished and a bit later do the same again.

when he 'gets' the whole in and out malarky and if you don't want them out at night I then don't feed him until bedtime, so he is always home for dinner!

good luck, i was afraid that a crow would steal my tiny kitten. he is know the meanest, coolest cat on the block!

TwoFacedCows · 24/12/2012 02:53

also the only time my cat has ever gone missing is when some kids picked him up and took him home with them to play. not realising he didn't know way home. lucky he was chipped so when he was taken to vets 5 days later by some poor women whose German shepard he had terrorised they could just call me!

AgentZigzagHasABigYuleLog · 24/12/2012 02:55

'he is know the meanest, coolest cat on the block!'

Didn't there used to be a poster called MyCatsABiggerBastardThanYourCat?

Or some such sentiment?

Would that even fit into the name changer device?

sashh · 24/12/2012 03:02

All of the above.

There is also an old wives tale that you should put butter on their feet when they first go out to leave a scent for them to get back.

I've not used it but it might just work.

TwoFacedCows · 24/12/2012 03:08

I thought the butter was so they sat and licked it all off while taking in their enviroment?

sparkleyangel · 24/12/2012 03:40

I let my cats out as soon as they have had their jabs around four months. As long as you don't live by a busy main road he will be fine. By now he will be attached to you and recognize the smell of his home and garden, let him go off when he's hungry he will soon be back. The first few times can be nerve wracking but he will come home, cats aren't daft they know when their onto a good thing

salsmum · 24/12/2012 03:53

I have 2 cats, the youngest is 8 months old and a rescue (looks like a choc point Siamese) we have trained him to come back when we shake the Dreamies sachet he does go into neighboring gardens but has never gone out the front..he's very curious, loves to climb and REALLY loves the rain!...trouble in the making me thinks! he doesn't go out at night just in case mr fox is hungry
or he tries his luck with a 'random' staffy thinking it's his favourite playmate Bella our staffy who he beats up on a daily basis!!

AlexReidsLonelyThisChristmas · 24/12/2012 04:48

I've recently been through this with my cat. We started by going out into the garden with him for ten minutes or so letting him have a wander then bringing him in.
Then I'd leave the back door open and let him potter about by himself, he'd come back into the house every couple of minutes to make sure we were there I think, we'd give him a little treat and off out he'd go again. We hoped to associate returning home with nice things.

The first time he jumped the wall my heart was in my mouth I know, I know, get a life Alex.

He soon attracted the attention of another cat who lives a few doors down who would come into the garden whenever ours was out. They are best of friends now and you rarely see one without the other, always playing together. The bigger cat looks after him when other cats are around. How cute is that.

Your cat will be fine, honest. I know a lot of people have housecats but our boy was desperate to go out and it felt very cruel to keep him in. Good luck. (Do you think my method will work when the Dc leave home?)

Meandmycats · 24/12/2012 12:42

I have 3 cats and before we moved they were house cats. When we moved to a house with more outdoor space we started letting them out, and first of all (after initial reluctance) they loved it and would be out for hours. But, after a couple of months if exploring 2 of them aren't so bothered about going out anymore. They'll go out for a bit, will drink out of a mucky puddle, then maybe sit on the path for a bit then come back in.

My boy cat likes to have the window left open (no cat flap) and if it's shut he jumps on the windowsill and stays there until he's let in. Even if the window's open, if he's just gone out and I happen to look out, or he hears me moving about inside, he will come rushing back. He is definitely a 'homeboy' whereas when he first started going out he used to stay out all night.

One if the girls will stay out for a while but will just sit under a bush. She doesn't roam (and she's a daddy's girl and if she didn't come back when called my husband would be straight out searching!). The other girl we have to leave out more as she refuses to use a litter tray. She's happy to stay out but doesn't go far.

RyleDup · 24/12/2012 12:51

If you keep the cat in for a week before letting them out, they get used to their surroundings and generally come back. Your cats been inside for months now, as long as you are not on a next to a busy road, then your cat will know his home and will come back.

everlong · 24/12/2012 13:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Iamsparklyknickers · 24/12/2012 13:34

Get him microchipped and think long and hard about having a collar. I decided against because they're at risk of getting caught on something (plus my girls were not impressed!).

I think if you have a safe enough space then they should be let out, with my eldest we got her in the October at just over ten weeks old and didn't introduce her to outside till the weather got nicer in the May I think. She's a homebody now and would rather be in and I think that's down to keeping her in for so long. The younger is a stray who adopted us and likes to pop in and out but doesn't spend hours and hours roaming.

lljkk · 24/12/2012 13:35

Is he neutered, OP?

SuperTressy · 24/12/2012 17:02

We cat-proofed our garden when we had ours with overhanging fencing so she couldn't get out. She lived to the ripe old age of 20 :)

alicetrefusis · 24/12/2012 18:47

I understand completely - I really do. I had this irrational fear that mine - both rescue cats -would run away.

DC 1 has turned into a homebird, who only goes out to wee and poo. DC2 on the other hand is an absolute character. The very first day I had him, he escaped. I was heartbroken as I thought there was no way he would ever find his way home,especially given the odd configuration of houses where I live. I thought he wouldn't possibly know what home smelt like. And he didn't even have a name at that point. Guess what - he was home within two hours! I cried with relief.

I agree with everything that has been said though, especially about not initiating anything over Christmas.

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