Cat owners- do you keep them in at night?

[sweetnitanitro]

I have 2 neutered males that are 6 years old and they are free-range kitties. We tried to keep them locked in at night but they smashed their way through 2 cat flaps (they are very large strong cats) so in the end we just decided to let them go out. We live in a quiet street and so far they have been fine.

Now. One of my neighbours has recently got a dog and since then their cat has been outside all night. I have my suspicions that it is an un-neutered male. It is always hanging around in my front garden (right under my bedroom window) and picking fights with my 2 boys, who although they are big are for want of a better phrase, total pussy cats

I'm going to try to keep them locked in at night from now on because I am worried about them getting hurt and also I am being kept awake with all the fighting

Those of you that lock yours in at night- what time to you lock them in? Do you keep them in as soon as they've been fed? Any words of wisdom for a cat owner with 2 outdoorsy giant cats? Can't say I am looking forward to it but I don't know what else I can do.

LittleRedCar, that link is interesting because it seems to show that the CPL agree that cats are nocturnal and prefer to be out hunting at night, but recommend that they should be kept in anyway in case they get run over. As if there weren't millions more cars on the road during the day going much faster.

I always thought CPL were batty, now I'm sure of it.

Yeah, all the cats I've known that have been run over/knocked down by a car (and I've known quite a few, one of ours included ) were hit during the day

I put mine in the porch at night(its completely enclosed) with her bed food etc,she goes out through the letterbox!
As for getting a cat to toilet outside,i find attempting to grow a Magnolia tree in a tub works wonders...cats come from miles around to take a crap on it

We have always had free-range cats and it has never occurred to me to keep them in at night - we have only ever had litter trays for teeny kittens.

My parents have CPL cats with no conditions on keeping them in - although the local wildlife population might be relieved if they did.

TBH, unless they have been brought up from kittenhood to expect to be in at night I think you are fighting a losing battle.

On deterring neighbours cat - do yours have keys for their cat flap so that the other cat can't follow them inside? If so I would leave them to work it out (and/or make judicious use of a water pistol - a method I am sure the CPL would not approve of but it has worked for us in the past )

I am completely soppy about my cat and dread the thought of him being hit by a car, but I also feel strongly that he should be able to live his life in a way that is natural for him - and this means going out to hunt at night.

I think a water pistol may be the answer stealthsquiggle the neighbour's cat has only come into our house once but it does hang around in our front garden a lot, which has always been my cats' territory. They are not happy about the invader but I'm sure they'll sort it out soon. I've decided to continue letting them be free-range, they would hate to be shut in at night I think.

Hi. I live on a main road, so we kept our cats in from about 8pm until 7pm the next day. I like having them in the house anyway, makes me feel happier. My girl died a few weeks ago though

We've always had free range cats, partly because we usually sleep with our bedroom window open, so the cats have always had at least one route to the outside. Where we live now (BC in Canada) the SPCA recommend keeping cats inside at all times, which I think is slightly bonkers. Yes they might be eaten by a hungry bear or coyote, but I think that as cats are hunters themselves that's fair enough really. Not that we wouldn't be incredibly upset if they went out and didn't come back, but not enough to restrict their lives so much. I'd rather not have a cat at all.

Anyway, no cat flaps here, and all the windows have bug nets on them (we're renting) so they have to choose whether to be in or out. One cat usually is out, and no problem, but the other one has figured out how to climb onto the porch outside our bedroom and then gets stuck and makes a terrible fuss, so she's not allowed outside at night any more. We just don't let her go outside after about 11ish.

Re your invader, we found water pistols and general making sure they don't feel welcome on your patch mostly does the trick (day and night).