To let my Ragdoll outside?

[ConcernedCatmother]

I have 4 cats, one of which is a Ragdoll breed. Anyone with a Ragdoll breed will probably know it is recommended not to let them outside due to their “lack of survival instinct.”

So here is my predicament;

All of my 4 cats are indoor cats. I live in a 5 bed house currently, but i’m having to massively downsize to a 1 bed bungalow. I am planning to let the cats go outside as it is too small to not give them that extra space.

AIBU to let my Ragdoll outside? Does anyone let their Ragdoll outside? The other option is to sadly rehome her, as it would upset her to see the others going out but not her.

P.s I do not want to have a catio installed

Same with ours. A rescue ragdoll who likes going outside when weather is good, often in our garden or surrounding gardens but never ventures towards the main road.

First time she went outside was an escape and scared herself once out. The more she went out in summer, the more confident she became. She's fine these days.

Forgot to add our ragdoll once successfully hunted a small bird and plonked it down on our living room carpet proud as punch! 🤣

Next door lets their ragdoll out and if our back door is open (which is a lot when we're home), he's straight into our house! They don't have a cat flap and fortunately he's too thick to work out ours.

Here's my youngest. He's 2 😃

He loves a mooch around the garden, but not if it's too hot or too cold or windy. Or if there's scary pigeons flying about 😂

I wouldn't let him out out in a million years. He has no sense of danger. It would be like allowing a 2 year old human out alone.

Squeeeeee! Thank you @Laiste he is gorgeous!

I had it installed by Katzecure in 2016 and paid £3000 but they do have a diy option but I'm no handy woman.

The price above didn't include the new fencing, only the Katzecure mounted about

My thoughts were at the time that my cats were at risk of being run over living on a busy road. This cost about the same as the intensive vets bill would should the worst happen to my cat so on that basis it was a no brainer

Excludes the grand it also cost for sunken trampoline. It had to be sunken otherwise it was too close to the fence enabling my daft fluffs to get out. Aesthetically in the garden it looks better at ground level too

Thanks @DoeRayMe, interesting re trampoline. We have a few trees in the back garden and I think they could be climbed. Might need to think about that.

That's the dream! During moulting season I do sometimes wish it were possible to directly hoover the cats.

We have 5 cats, all have access to a cat flap including our Ragdoll, he is not the slightest bit interested in going outside.

Here are the pictures of mine

Do you want to risk losing your Ragdoll because the chances are that it won't be ok if you decide to let it out? I think you know this but perhaps just don't want to face it. As is stated time and time again in breed literature Ragdolls shouldn't be allowed out except into pet-secure gardens, they've been bred for their docility and gentleness, they will go up to humans and dogs and they have no road sense. They have also doubled in price in the last few years so they are also very expensive to buy now which means they are particularly vulnerable to being stolen.

I often read on here of people letting their Ragdolls outside (obviously rescued Ragdolls already used to going outside are different). If people can't be arsed dealing with litter trays then they shouldn't get a Ragdoll.

Thanks so much for this comment, really helpful. I have contacted them and they are going to take her & find her a forever (indoor) home ☺️

Hi there, would cat proofing the garden be an option? We have a small 3 bed bungalow and have an indoor rag doll. We chose a catio but if you didn’t want this then there are specialist companies that cat proof gardens. We also take her ours out in her harness and lead to potter about the garden (I just follow her wherever she wants to go) and she seems very happy with this?

It’s not recommended to let your Ragdoll outside unsupervised due to safety risks like traffic, predators, and injury. If you want them to experience the outdoors, a secure catio or supervised time outside is a safer option.

I have a lot of cats, 15 currently (have had up to 20). All outdoor cats. But we live very, very rurally and have no neighbours and not even a road within 2 mikes (single dirt track to just our house). I have had problems with a maine coon. Long haired cats and brambles turned out to be a terrible mix, and she dislocated her tail to get free after several days trapped in undergrowth. After that I trimmed her tail short and no long haired cats are allowed to have bushy tails anymore :)

I wouldn't let a ragdoll out if I lived anywhere near other people or roads. I'd let one out here, but with a trimmed tail. I've always, always wanted one. My dream cat, but other cats keep needing us more :)

Rehome, or fence your garden. Work out what would cause most regret. Rehoming, losing her to a thief or car or keeping her inside your new place. Make your choice based on that. Good luck, it's not easy x

By outdoor cats - i mean they have the freedom to go outside. They are very much indoor, fire loving housecats when it suits them :)

My ragdoll is scared of the wind to

I wouldn't let them out. They're beautiful but a bit stupid and have no survival instincts.

We had 2 beautiful blue colourpoint ragdolls. Both went outside. Our house backed onto woods and one used to scale the fence and hunt in the woods, bringing in mice and voles regularly….always alive and we would have to catch them and release them.
They cried if we tried to keep them in. One lived until she was 11 and had to be pts as she had a tumour. Our hunting cat lived to be 17!
Neither had much fear, and held their own against all the local cats. We always kept them away from the road as I’m not sure that they would have much road sense. Maybe it was unusual but although they loved being cuddled and carried around, they always wanted to be outdoors, even in the dark.

My ragdoll goes out but stays in the garden. He's got no interest in going into the street. He's a bit dopey and scared of people and noises, but God help the cat who dares set paw in his garden, he's fiercely territorial.

My mum’s ragdoll goes outside, but only about 3 ft, to just under the bird feeder. Then she sits and watches the birds without making even an attempt to catch one, for literally hours.

She did get into trouble just after my mum got her - she walked into a bush, got stuck and didn’t have the sense to back out of it, so was there for an hour or so til the neighbour spotted her. She hadn’t even left the garden.

As to why people like them - moggies are lovely but they kill a lot of small birds and mammals. A cat with a lower prey drive is a pretty good thing imo. And they are on the whole lovely, friendly, calm kitties.

I have a ragdoll/siamese cross and a ragdoll/siberian forest cat cross.
Both go out, we have fitted them with AirTags.
They both tend to stay quite close to our home.
I understand your concern.
However, when I see how much my cats enjoy their freedom, I am happy I made this choice.
Having kept cats all my life, I lost only one to traffic and he was an European shorthair.

We cat proofed our garden but have since changed the fence and our rag doll has never left the garden. She is 12 now and catproofing was only in place for first year or so.