To let my cat out at night?

[Deargodletitgo]

I have two rescues, both fixed, both chipped and one of whom wears a tracker after getting himself locked in a neighbours house for a week last year and scaring the crap out of me.

Their schedule is out from early morning and then able to come and go till dusk when they are locked inside. Except twat face my boy cat is now waking me up at 2.30am onwards to demand to be let out. If its light, I've let him out (4.30am onwards and gone back to sleep) but last two nights I've waited until the sun comes up and had over an hour of claws, abuse and terrorist activity from him. And no, locking him out of the room isn't an option as he'll claw through the door and meow the house down keeping everyone awake.

Issue is we lost a cat a couple of years back during the early morning on a road when we lived in another village and so I'm a bit paranoid. AIBU to just say to hell with it and let the little sod out into the dark?

Well this has taken a turn!

Yes, many rescues now won't adopt to homes unless the cats are indoor only

No you’re not. You’re a pet owner.

And you're missing the point of this thread but thanks for your contribution 🙄

😂

It's better for birds and wildlife if cats stay inside dusk night and dawn

I never let mine out at night. Way too much road risk from speeding drivers. My worst fear would be something dreadful happening to him and me never knowing the end of him.
Plus cats that are outside a lot tend to roam further afield than those whose outside time is more tightly controlled. He also fights with other males cats despite neutering.

My name is sleepy and I'm a cat mamma.

I would suffer though it and keep them in.

Don't know if it is really connected, but our night howling (let me-owwwwwwwt) came to a rapid end when we started randomly loudly howling in the face of our sleeping cat overlord during the day.

I bring mine in at night. They’re more at risk of being hit by a car because they can’t be seen as easily. Also more likely to encounter foxes and more likely to hunt. If I’m out in the garden and she’s happy to sit and chill with me that’s fine, but if she shows signs of going on an adventure she goes inside.
I also don’t let her out until about 7:30am because she has a tendency to sit and wail, and I don’t want her disturbing the neighbours. Even though some of them are probably as delightful as the cat haters on this thread.

Mine come in at teatime and the cat flap is locked then. It doesn't seem to bother them.

Just started putting mine out at night as she's literally ripping the house to shreds overnight. I don't like it. I'm worried about cars but she's destroying the place and nothing is working to prevent it.

Oh behave. When did you last hear of a cat attacking a toddler?!

We kept ours inside at night since kittenhood but one of them can now open the cat flap. He’s good but he’s not that good - he will often get the dial to ‘out only’ rendering them both unable to get back in again until I come down in the morning. I’d much rather they stayed in at night but when I taped the dial up (desperate measures!) long summer nights indoors seemed like torture to them, they don’t sleep a wink, run round the house like it’s an obstacle course and clearly love the nightlife, so what can I do, fingers crossed.

Mine pretty much lives outside May to October and only comes back for food. In the winter he sleeps in bed with us.

Mine has a cat flap so goes out whenever he wants.

He used to pester for food at 4am but would be put out of the bedroom and the door shut until I got up for work at 6. He’s now good as gold, sleeps on the bed and doesn’t disturb us at night.

Cats are like children, if you teach them that pestering gets them what they want then they’ll keep doing it! If you don’t want to let him out at night then be firm and consistent and he’ll stop hassling you at night.

My personal opinion, but it is a cat, not a dog. Let them come and go as they please.

Wow, you sound like you're in denial, or maybe you lack critical thinking skills. Cats in the UK kill an estimated 27 million songbirds every year. You think that's nothing? And cats are here because of humans anyway.https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wildlife/animal-deterrents/cats-and-garden-birds/are-cats-causing-bird-declines/

Are you on the right thread?

The OP can refer to herself how she pleases, nothing to do with you, you don’t get to decide.

Indeedlydoodly.

I used to always let my DCats out at night and they were always fine. My DGirlcat went missing at 8.30 in the morning.

But I can't bear to let DGirlcat 2 out at night. I'm only just letting her out briefly in the day in her own.

It's so stressful.

We locked the Bengal in the kitchen and wore earplugs.

Bengals are loud.

It is so stressful, I hope your cat came home

Ive lost a couple cats to cars . But I don't restrict my cats coming and goings. So the answer is simple. Continue as you are, or let them go as they want.

We have three. The younger ones came during Covid so we spent much more time with them. They don't go out when we're at work and don't really stray far. We have no problem getting them in in the evenings and they sleep with us and wake up with us

Our old cat on the other hand is just a right twat. He constantly low level bullies the other ones. Pushes them physically off their fave spots. He usually comes home for a late evening meal. Then wants to be out at first light. He wowls. Scratches. Head buts. Knows over water bottles. Throws specs on the floor. We can't keep him out of the bedroom cos he knocks stuff over or occasionally poohs on the carpet. We can't have an accessible cat flap over night as we don't want the smaller cats roaming. And it triggers the house alarm

We love him dearly. But he's hard to like

I let ours out whatever the time and weather! We do t have a cat flap, (glass doors) but they'll wake me up in the night to come in our out at the bedroom window.
Takes a few seconds to open the window or door and then go back to sleep!