Is a flat, no garden, ever suitable for a cat?

[bittenipples]

I am day dreaming really, maybe its too soon after my old rescue dog was pts a few months ago. Its just that Ive never really had a pet free household and it feels wierd. I cant get another dog, that would be just silly as Ive got a small toddler and a small flat.

So just curiosity really, could (in the future) a flat provide a home for perhaps an older rescue cat? what about the toddler?

[dementedma]

Personally I wouldn't have a cat if it had no access to outdoors but I can't abide litter trays so that's probably just me.

[livinginwonderland]

We have two cats who have always been indoor cats. We live in a 2-bed flat and we've had them since they were 12 weeks.

They have lots of places to climb up and they have lots of boxes to play in and we do make sure we play with them everyday. I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping cats indoors so long as you make sure they're well-stimulated.

You need to make sure you have the time to play with them and you have to make sure you clean the litter trays regularly too.

[ILoveMakeUp]

Cats are happy indoors, if that is all they've ever known. We have indoor cats. They have a good life. In fact, our vet recommends that you keep cats indoors.

Just one thing... please, please get from a rescue center.

[Noodles123]

I think it depends on the cat. We have British Shorthairs which are often recommended as house cats and they are definately very chilled out, relaxed souls. Ours are lucky - after we lost our beloved Blue on the lane outside we spent quite a bit on cat proofing our garden (which is maybe 30m long by 15m wide) so they have the run of that, with two big apple trees to climb and lots of shrubs and flowered to hide in.
But - they wouldn't mind overly being inside I don't think, certainly they both came from families of indoor cats.
How about an older cat that has been used for breeding?

[schnockles]

Our rescue cat has feline aids so she can't go outside. She's been an indoor cat since we got her as a kitten and she's always been happy. We make sure she exercises by doing lots of playtime and she has a scratching post etc.

If you'd like a cat have a talk with your local cats protection league or RSPCA. There are plenty of rescue cats gentle and tolerant enough for toddlers too.

[Caitlin17]

It's absolutely not acceptable for an adult cat who has had outdoor access.

It's not acceptable for a kitten to bring it up denying it the chance of outdoor access.

I'm not even sure if I think it's acceptable just because an adult cat has never had outdoor access. One of my 4 had no outdoor access before she came to me and she adores getting out to the garden.

However if a rescue cat is genuinely very nervous and timid or has health issues then it might be ok. It's certainly obviously better than no life at all.

[Caitlin17]

As chuckles says, in the case of feline aids outdoors access is impossible

[Caitlin17]

Sorry, schnockles, not chuckles.

[Treasures]

We rescued our cat a year ago from CP. He had never been outside. We live in a second floor, 2 bed flat. He's perfectly happy, gets tons of exercise as he loves racing around the flat and jumping off/over any furniture that gets in his way and we play with him lots. The only problem we had was that he liked to stand on the windowsills, up on his back legs, to look at birds flying past. We worried he might try to go for them so we got cat nets from ZooPlus online. They're brilliant. They are ugly!! But they do the job and it's easy to unhook them to open/close Windows.