Is it cruel to put cats out for the night?

[Spidermama]

I'm thinking of putting them out and locking the cat door overnight to stop the toms coming in and spraying.

The man in the pet shop said not but I'm not so sure. They have plenty of space and a great hunting ground, but they are only young and what if they get cold.

Please someone come along and tell me I'm being a city wuss and cats are fine outside.

Apart from the wee shite bit ... that's not very SK

4,000 mammals a YEAR? That's 12 a DAY. They'd have to be one heck of a killing machine Desi. My cat has never managed ONE in her entire 19 years of existence. In fact once, she was sitting in the garden when a bird flew overhead and she ducked.

What can I say?

Your cat is obviously a dunce.

She is not a dunce. She is an indigo cat. You know nothing of the needs of my highly strung, sensitive but incredibly gifted pet.

had come on to say the same as Desiderata (well, perhaps not quite the same )- is definitely cruel to all the small mammals and birds that think it's safer to come out at night....

that fucking ho' cat!"

i'm now out there with a damn torch trying to get her erse in.

she's in.

i'd better round up all the detrius in this living room before bed.

PMSL Des.

MMJ as for the Cats Protection League, frankly I've lost all respect for them. When I decided to get cats I went to them first in the hope of rescuing one but they refused me saying they'd never house a cat with children under 5. Very short sighted IMO and this is born out by the behaviour of my 2 and 5 year old. Our kittens come and hang out with us and it's touching to see what a lovely relationship the kids have with the cats. My 3 year old bruiser is calm and gentle with them.

They also said I would have to make a committment to bring them in overnight. OK so there's a slightly increased chance of them being run over but that's because they're out hunting, doing their cat thing. I could never deny them that.

I call them the Cats Overprotection League. They're obviously well meaning, but they won't let cats be cats.

I think that it's also a bit cruel to force your cat to stay in overnight. Cat flaps are the answer, cats should be free (although ours is confined to the one room in the house at night for my sanity)! I hate colors on cats, so ours are microchipped - although having said that we haven't had a strayer in a long long time. We've also not had a successful hunter - the vet said he thought one of our cats had Downs syndrome (can you get that in cats?). The only thing he ever brought in was a large and quite meaty joint of lamb, he was very disconcerted when I removed it and spent the next half hour sniffing the carpets

Our cats love to go out at night - we're next to a field and opposite a wood! If I am soft with them and let them stay in, they scratch at 3am until I get up tolet them out.

I have a cat flap in the utility room so that they can go into that if they so desire!

For those of you collar dislikers, there is a catflap called a pet porte that works by microchip, eliminating the need for collars, but still preventing the neighbourhood riffraff from entering your house and pissing on your stuff.
Its not cheap, but imo is a good thing

Cats should be let out whenever imo it is cruel to keep a cat indoors all the time.

I wish we could put a catflap in. That would be ideal.

But this is a rented house.