What would you do in this situation?

[Doodledumdums]

DH, DS and I have got the opportunity to move to a new house (well new to us, it is actually an old cottage!), and if we take the opportunity then we will literally slash out mortgage and bills by about 3/4, which will enable me to potentially work part time and therefore spend more time with my baby. Obviously this would be really great for us (more specifically me and DS!), however, the house is on a really busy A road, and I am really not sure whether it is safe to take our cat there. The house itself is really rural, and if our cat ventures out the back of the house rather than the front, then there will be fields and mice galore, however if he goes out the front then he will find himself slap bang in the middle of an A road. We currently live in a village so he isn't used to negotiating traffic.

I feel terrible for even considering not taking him with us, but I will feel so guilty if we take him and he gets injured or killed on the road. I feel that moving is too good an opportunity to miss, as financially it greatly benefits us, and means I can spend more time with my DS, but at the same time, our cat is part of our family, and I feel terrible that we are considering doing something which is potentially dangerous for him.

What would you do?

Well we moved from a 'blink and you'll miss it" village to a larger village on the main road and the cat survived, we car trained him as a kitten by revving the car and driving at him when we saw him on the drive so he knows cars are a bad thing and tends to run for cover if he sees a car approaching.

I think lonecat lives on a main road and says cars going by frequently are better than a quiet road with infrequent fast traffic.

If there's fields I can imagine the cat will gravitate to them if you always let him out near the fields.

Oh that is good to know Trouble is that he seems to have no fear of cars at all! I was reversing off my drive the other day and he was sat in the middle of the road completely in my way, I was revving and beeping at him, but he remained where he was, until eventually I had to get out and physically move him!

I guess I just have to take the chance and hope that he gravitates towards the fields rather than the road. He would be silly to go in the direction of the road, because the other direction would literally be heaven for a cat!

You could keep him in overnight and until 10am in the morning then back in at 14.00 onwards so he misses the school run hours.

Does he go out much?

Yeah he is out all the time! He's only four, so is very active and only really comes home for food!

That may be an idea to only let him out at set times, but I will need to work part time, so i'm not sure if it would be possible as I may not end up being around at the right times. Certainly worth a try though, even if I can't do it all of the time.

I live on a really main road. So I only ever let my cats out the back of the house. I entice them in at night with offers of Dreamies so although they are not locked in they sleep on my bed with me.

As fluffy has eluded to the majority of RTAs I see are actually on quiet roads where the occasional car comes fast. Busy roads cats don't greatly bother to try and cross.
Sounds like with all the fields at the back it would entice any cat well away from the road.

Oh that is reassuring Lonecat. We are planning on blocking up the front door so that no one can use it, and putting very secure fencing around the house so that our DS and dog cannot escape if we have our eye off them for a second. My worry is that even if it is secure the cat will still be able to climb over it (something which I am hoping our DS and dog will not be able to do!), though maybe with fencing in the way, it will act as a bit of a deterrent and will encourage him to explore out the back rather than the front. What you say about RTAs makes sense actually, I guess if the cats can hear the cars constantly then it probably scares them off. He certainly would hear cars pretty constantly on this road...very glad the house has good double glazing so we don't have to hear it too much!