Cats and main road?

[LittleCactus]

We are desperate to move to a bigger house in a better area for our DD to grow up in. I've found one that's perfect except for the fact it's on quite a busy 40mph road. We have two cats and I've always said I wouldn't like to live on a main road for fear of them getting run over!

One cat probably wouldn't mind being a house cat, the furthest she goes is the garden. Our other cat is a neutered male that we rescued at 2 years old and he LOVES to roam. I think he would hate me if I kept him in.

Would you buy the house and keep the cats in?
Would you buy the house and let the cats out? How could I make this as safe as possible for them?
Would you just look for another house?

If he was a rescue at 2, I think it's likely he encountered busy roads before. Was he a stray or abandoned from someone's house?

As far as we know, he was a stray!

Depends how smart it is. If it is smart it will avoid the road altogether.

If it is stupid then it will take its chances.

Cats understand roads in the same way they understand catflaps. Or at least some of them do.

I suppose the question is how does it behave around roads where you currently live ?

That is likely to give you the most information on how it is likely to react.

There is probably also the issue of whether or not there is some area away from the road where it can find more interesting things to do. For example if the back garden backs on to fields or woodland, it is more likely to go there for its entertainment that mess around with crossing a road.

I live on a main road and have two cats. They both seem scared of the road and don't go anywhere near it, so I'm hoping that will continue. We've lived here for 10 years - one cat is 10 years old, the other is 3.

Cat rescue centres won't home a cat where the home is on a main road, but to be honest, some of my friends who live on quieter roads have had cats run over, because either drivers were going too fast down residential roads, or the cat ran straight out completely unaware.

There are fields across the road 😂🤦‍♀️ the back garden of the house just backs onto other gardens.

The road I've scribbled in yellow is the main road, the red scribbled out road is a much quieter road 🤷‍♀️

My SIL has had 2 cats get run over on the fairly busy Road outside her house. She’s invested in a cat enclosure now like a big net that covers her garden and they can’t go outside that. Can’t remember the name of it but you could Google

TBH you have probably all ready figured out that the only way you are going to really find out whether the cat can deal with the roads is to let it out and see whether it survives.

I don't think living in a house that seems sandwiched between two roads is a great place to have a cat.

I would be more worried about the pollution than the cats. But that's probably because I don't have a cat.

Good luck kitty.

I lived on a busy road, cats used to roll around in the gutter.

moved to a quiet cul de sac. Guess what. One of them run over.

if the fields backed onto your house, I would say your side is more tempting and it would be a concern but you can only do so much. Over the otherside of the road, hmmm tempting to cross that road.

as for keeping them in, a vet i knew lived just off one of the busiest a roads in the area, he had a cat. I asked him about being concerned. He said he would sooner he had a shorter fulfilled life than a long unhappy one.

I’ve had another look at the map. I didn’t realise it was a corner plot. So even if they hang out at the back people will be turning at speed off the main road.

unless there’s no choice, I don’t think I’d risk it

My observation of cats on roads is that I don't often see them crossing busy ones. I wonder if anyone has studied whether they're actually more likely to come to grief on roads which have less predictable traffic?

Catio. You can get very fancy ones made these days.

It will make the stray very unhappy though.

I wouldn’t keep a cat inside all the time, it’s not as fulfilling for them. What’s the back garden like? Is it big and entertaining for a cat? My cats do not usually venture onto the road because they have plenty of more interesting space to roam at the back where there are no roads. Having said that, I think it depends on the cat. Also, younger cats have less common sense and less sense road sense so I would want to be extra careful until it is older. And try not to let it out at night when it’s dark.

I live on a main road and have a cat and so do a lot of the neighbours. Never been an issue for my cat she’s 8 now, she doesn’t travel far though

I'd get a catio. I tried the fence things before, cost me £3k as I had a big garden and the feral managed to jump over it in less than a day.

One of my cats was killed by a car and we don't even live on a main road, we live in an isolated part of the countryside, I was devastated. Even if a cat is streetwise they can get easily spooked and dash into the street.

When we moved to a house on a main road, we'd take our moggie out to the road and let him see the traffic whizzing by at approx 40mph. We'd hold him there so he got used to the fact that there were lulls (traffic lights changing) before the next lot came along. It worked, he always went over the back fence to more interesting places.

yeah I wouldn't personally do that to a cat - would only have a cat if I lived somewhere without a busy road so they could roam around.

In SIL's defence though, she did buy a massive Catio - it takes over her whole garden and cost more than a grand! But I agree, cats should ideally be able to roam freely

I think it's okay if the cat was raised in an environment with a very busy road from a young age. Ours was, and she's exceptionally wary of them, even now, living in the arse end of nowhere.

You sound like you know more about cats than me so I'm sure you're right.

I live next to a main road. I’ve had 4 cats and lost 3 to the roads, strangely only one on the main road, the other 2 were killed on a quieter road but each three were heartbreaking as we found their bodies and brought them back home. That was 10+ years ago, I haven’t had a cat since even though I adore them, I can’t put myself through that again.

all three!

I too am looking to move house with my cat and no way would I consider a main road, even one with a 20 or a 30mph limit. I'd be worried all of the time that the cat may run out out onto the road. And rescue centres will not rehome a cat to someone living on a main road.

Well, yes and no. The thing about cats is that their behaviour can completely change from one house to the next. The stray might decide it prefers being indoors and the timid one wants to explore.

It's completely unpredictable.

It sounds like enough folk have lost cats in this thread to have OP take pause for thought.

OP, we very, very frequently find ourselves looking at beautiful houses with terrible small gardens or yards and ask ourselves 'can we do that to our cat' because she roams fields a lot and loves it. The conversation then goes 'it's ridiculous to buy a house on the basis of a cat's needs', which is, of course, partly true.

But the thing that'll make the cat miserable could also make us miserable. Do YOU want to live on a busy road? How is that likely to affect you, never mind your cats?

If the house otherwise ticked all the boxes I'd have a catio. I don't think I could cope with a litter box indoors.

I wouldn't, but if you do you can pay companies to totally cat proof your garden - much better than a tiny cage catio.