Letting my cats outside

[KerryLeanne84]

Hello!
I'm relatively new here and was hoping to get some advice! I have 2 kittens/cats - Marty and Milo who are 7 months old and they're starting to really want to go outside (esp Milo!). Until now we've kept them in following advice until that they should be in at least until they get neutered (they now are) and then decided not to let them out until we move somewhere (imminently) less busy - where we live now is not far from busy roads, plus its packed full with cats who seem to love to fight all the time.

When we move to the new house with a garden we'll be further from a busy road but it'll still be there (also a train line). I know that we should let them out now but I get worried about them! I think I'm acting a bit like they're my kids and imagining the worst will somehow happen even though I'm sure they have good instincts.

What would other mumsnetters recommend? Did you let your cats out from kittens, and did you find they came back every day or that they disappeared for days on end? Any advice? xx Kerry

hello! There are a few threads in this section about letting cats out that will give you lots of good advice. Mine are rescue cats and are 1 yr and 2 1/2 ish. We've been letting them out for the past few weeks (after keeping them in for 4 weeks from when we first had them). I think it really depends on their temperament - one of mine rarely leaves the garden, she likes to sit by the pond and watch the fish . The other wandered quite a bit to start with but after a couple of encounters with the local alpha male cat he stays quite close to home too - only goes a few doors away. I know friends whose cats wander a lot further.

To start with I always stayed nearby when they went outside, and let them out hungry so I knew they wouldn't go for long! I used to ring a bell for food times and they used to come running when I rang it in the garden. Also giving them treats when they came in and making a fuss of them seemed to help. They still expect treats when they come in . I have read about people using cat leads the first few times but I didn't try that. Oh, and I sprinkled a bit of their used cat litter around the borders of the garden, it's supposed to help them recognise their territory.

Hope that helps! I know what you mean, it was really worrying the first few times, but I feel confident now that they'll come back to me.

Our cat was about 4 months old when he started going out alone (he's now 10 months)

To begin with he wore a harness more to get him used to the garden before he leapt the wall (it's quite a small garden).

The first time he went out alone it was terrifying! I had to force myself to go inside instead of watching him walk along the wall to the garden of the house 5 doors down.

He bought me his first mouse today

I have a rescue cat and a pedigree cat which are both indoors. After doing quite a bit of research I had decided that in my opinion it was best for them to keep them indoors as the research indicated that it is far better for their health, they also live longer too kept indoors. My rescue cat was an outdoor cat as a kitten before I rescued him and was fine with being kept indoors after coming to live with me, and the breeder of my pedigree cat made me sign a contract agreeing to keep my cat indoors and my partner has two pedigree cats and was also asked to sign a contract by different breeders forbidding him from letting the cats outside as the breeders also agreed that it was best to keep the cats indoors.

Although when I lived with my mother we had a cat who was an outdoor cat and there was no major problems with her going outside until one day she never came back, we don't know if she was lost or knocked down and didn't hear anything despite searching etc. But that is just my experiences and I know lots of people that have let their cats outdoors with no problems.

I hope that helps to make your decision.

We have just got a rescue cat in feb. We think she is still under a year even though she has had kittens. We kept her in for the 3 weeks and started letting her out. She loves the garden and now the weather is nice she just wanders in and out. Just doesn't seem to stray out of our garden much, although she is a bit of a tree climber.
Thought Rosie had a mouse last night but it turned out to be a pine cone:) Can't imagine keeping her in as she loves chasing the insects round the garden, or sitting next to the guinea pig run. The guinea pig calls her over when she goes out into the garden now. She is a bit scared of the tortoise as she hasn't worked out what he is yet. She thinks he is a moving stone.

We also have two boy cats who we've had since kittenhood, one of whom was absolutely desperate to get outside - we had to use the front porch as an airlock when coming and going, or he'd escape, and we couldn't have the back door open at all. Realised early last year that they weren't going to be indoor cats after all, as we'd all have boiled to death in the summer!

So we just let them out - apparently cats map out their territory by going a little further each time, so they're not going to suddenly dash half a mile up the road and get lost. They're home at some point every day - More-Adventurous-Cat was 'missing' for about eight hours once, and I cried and convinced myself he was gone for good, but then he came home. We're at number 6 and I know Less-Adventurous-Cat has got as far as number 16, cos she found his collar next to her fishpond and called me to come and get it! The furthest I know his brother has gone is about 15 houses up the adjoining road, when he followed us on our way to the fireworks last November (then lost his nerve and hid under a car, shouting at us to come back).

They're both quite home-loving still. Less-Adventurous-Cat in particular often wobbles sleepily to the top of the stairs when I get in from work. He's not going out much at the moment after getting bitten by someone last week, so that's a hazard, poor little mite. My theory is that having had them neutered young, and a good couple of months before they were allowed out, has limited their roaming, but I may be kidding myself.