At what age can kittens go outside?

[Claw3]

I have 2 kittens who are desperate to get outside, they cannot go out just yet, they are due to be neutered and chipped in 3 weeks. They are almost 6 months old.

How do you introduce them to going out? I have 2 much older cats, but cant remember how i did it with them as kittens, it was 12 years ago!

I have a cat flap which is currently locked to one way only, so my older cats can get back in.

Do i just re-open the cat flap in a few weeks and leave them to it?

I would re-open the catflap and let them learn from the older cats, but keep an eye on them to start with - how safe is your garden and what about traffic? Perhaps when they first go out bring them in after a short time until they get used to fnding their way about, or you may find, like me, that you are trotting round all your neighbours to hunt for them after they've slipped under the fence!

When they're neutered and chipped and recovered, introduce them to the garden just before they'd be due to be fed. This way,their stomachs will bring them home. Get them used to the sound of the box of food rattling. Let them out for longer and longer periods, then unlock the cat flap and let the big cats show them the way.

We live in a very quiet road, only people who drive down here are the people who live here and you have to drive slowly due to parked cars either side.

I have filled in any holes in the garden fencing, due to a previous escape attempt, they learnt pretty quickly how to get out of the cat flap hence now locked!

They have escaped a couple of times, never out of the garden, but one is a climber and had to be rescued from the garden shed roof and lots of chasing them around the garden!

Im more worried about letting them out and never getting them back in again or them going too far and not being able to find their way back.