How do we best go about letting small cat out?

[sharklasers]

Hi I'm really just looking for advice. We adopted a kitten from a local rescue she's now 8 months old. She's very petite and has just recovered from being neutered. We took her to the vet from 4 and a half months and she was too small so we had to wait until she grew a bit.

She's now recovered very well from the neutering all her stitches are out and we are starting to think about letting her outside. She was also chipped at the same time.

Is there anything we need to do to let her out? I'm worried about her getting bullied by bigger cats she's such a wee thing! I'm a bit overanxious cat mother !

Is she showing signs of wanting outside? And do you have a cat flap for her to exit/enter by? (As she's chopped, you can have a microchip cat flap. More expensive than the ordinary but well worth it for ensuring better safety for her.)

She is she near busts herself to get out when we let the dog out

I can admit here (but not to DD whose baby she is) that she got out yesterday, ran onto the patio, sat down, got her bum wet, and ran back in again all while I was fumbling for shoes to go and catch her and praying DD wouldn't come in the kitchen!

Don't have a cat flap was wondering about if we needed one or not

We started gradually with ours - let them out into the garden where they couldn't easily get out at that stage (fence too high). We let them out before we'd fed that, so I knew they were hungry, and after they'd explored for a while, called them back in by shaking the Dreamies pack! That worked a treat, and after a few times of doing this, shaking the pack always called them home even after they were going over the fence and into who knows where.

If you can, I'd definitely get a cat flap fitted, so that she can come and go when she wants to.

Oh thank you :) the fence is high (to keep the dog in) so I don't think she could easily get out but I'll try that. And definitely look into a cat flap.

Thank you.

• chipped

We have a now 5 month old and I have been taking him in the garden on a harness so he can have a good nosey around. Vet thought it was a good idea and had advised us to keep him in until he was neutured, though I cant recall keeping my previous cats in.

He did scale a tree on NYE and fell down and started limping so we had a dash to the vet. He thinks it is probably soft tissue damage.

I am booking him in for his op and microchipping next week so he isnt going out again until after. We also have tried to get him used to our call, whistle and bribing with treats

Oh and on one of his outings he nearly got under the fence at the bottom as its got quite a gap underneath but there isnt anything we can do about it

She comes when we call her name and when she hears the rattle of the tin with the treats in it and also when we call the dog and when he comes running she comes too at his heels as if she's scared to miss out on anything :)

Aww that's sweet!

She is like "oh they're calling him must be something interesting I must go and find out"

She hides when she hears him coming and pounces on him it's so funny I was in the kitchen today and she was in with me, heard him coming and she goes sneaky behind the corner of the door and pounces when she saw him!

She's a real wee pet and I never thought I'd say that I am a real dog person but DD wanted a cat so I gave in !

I don't have a cat flap. I made a point of calling my cats' names whenever I fed them and sometimes just calling them at random times and giving thema small treat, so not just calling them at meal times.

Once they were out, they were out! I can't catch them outdoors (but my neighbour can which is annoying) but the effrt put into teaching them the call and food was worth it - 95% of the time they came home for food. I didn't want them out over night while the cats' preference would have been to be out everynight In 8 years they've prob been out about 30 nights between them. They always turn up eventually when they are hungry enough too even if I've been shouting a while.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they know their names but they know my high pitched calling always without fail = food and they will always get a food reward for coming home.

Lurking. I'm bracing myself to let our two girls out once I'm sure the fireworks have finished.

To start with, the best plan is to let the cat out when they haven't eaten, so they are hungry and will come back in again for food.

I whistle when I feed mine so they come back to a whistle. I plan to let them out in the morning before breakfast and go out with them. I will whistle them back after a while for a small treat.
I plan to sprinkle used litter round the garden like a crazy cat lady! It's supposed to help them find their way home.
(I will not lurk anxiously in the garden until they are in. No. Not me!)

I was going to suggest training her to come to treats being rattled but see she already does that. In which case let her out just before feeding time. Go with her to keep an eye on her and then rattle her food to get her back in. Do this for as long as you feel the need, gradually building up the time out. Make the first few times fairly short though and make sure she walks back in herself rather than is carried in. Kittens are amazingly good at this, its older resumed cats that are more worrying.