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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

Does anyone leave their cat out all night?

36 replies

NotGonnaAnswerThePhone · 22/01/2016 10:33

My little boy loves to go out. However I find myself waiting up till all hours for him to come home because I can't bear the thought of him being outside all night.

MIL says she leaves hers out all night and then he sleeps all day!

Is this ok? My boy is only 10 months old and boy do i love him

OP posts:

TheGreenNinja · 22/01/2016 10:34

Why don't you get a cat flap then he can come and go as he pleases?
We keep our cat in all night.

Arfarfanarf · 22/01/2016 10:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

NotGonnaAnswerThePhone · 22/01/2016 10:37

The things that bother me about a cat flap:

Fitting the damn thing

Not being able to monitor what he brings in, e.g mice

OP posts:

Arfarfanarf · 22/01/2016 10:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SparklyTinselTits · 22/01/2016 10:41

I don't put my beautiful girl outside myself, but as soon as we go to bed, I hear the cat flap go, and she's off. When DD was tiny and I was going downstairs to make bottles during the night SparklyCat was never in the house. She normally comes running in the second I come downstairs every morning and gives me cuddles
She sleeps for most of the day on top of the radiator in the living room

SparklyTinselTits · 22/01/2016 10:43

Afar don't even get started on cats bringing presents in my little princess likes to leave her victims alive for a few days somewhere in the house

fieldfare · 22/01/2016 10:44

Our cat used to stay out all night. I'm the same re a cat flap on the back door, I'd worry about "presents" he'd leave me so we put a cat flap on the back garage door and he had a cosy little tent bed in a non draughty spot in there with extra bowls of food and water. He'd come inside and sleep all day.

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 22/01/2016 10:54

Mine don't get their supper until the window is closed.

Previous cats could come and go, but really got fed up of mouse faces on the stairs and gizzards under the breakfast table and the Rodent Safari behind the bloody fridge.

On the odd occasion they get out after and won't come back in then the porch window stays open, we're lucky to live somewhere that is possible, and they can sleep on all the shopping bags as penance. ;)

The cats we have now are not that good at hunting, and I think it is because they don't get out to hone their skills, we have the occasional dead thing, but nothing to the standard of my first two boys who were absolutely ruthless. We rented a farm cottage before we bought here and the farmer asked me if he could buy my first cat as he'd watched him clear a barn of rats! He was so sad when we left to move here!!

Alfieisnoisy · 22/01/2016 10:55

I wouldn't and always get mine in before dark. They are not allowed out after that as I live in a built up area and never know who might be about. A friend recently lost her cat at night and he turned up in the next town having obviously been picked up and then dumped there....two other cats went missing from the same street that night. Hers turned up 11 weeks later....the other two are still missing.

Original poster

NotGonnaAnswerThePhone · 22/01/2016 11:03

I live in a very rural area so am not too concerned about him being picked up etc.

I think I will just not let him out after 6!

The cheeky boy comes home for a shit though, whats the best way to train him to do it outside lol

OP posts:

Crumpet1 · 22/01/2016 11:08

my cats stay out at night, used to have a cat flap but I couldn't bear the presents left. One of them loves to rip the heads off mice and hide the bodies! They're both quite tough cats though.

At the moment it's too cold for my older cat so I let them in on the morning, let them sleep all day and then put them out about 5 to do their business, they're ready to come back in by bed time and will stay in until about 3am when they want to go back out again.
Dh thinks I'm mad for pandering to them!

Crumpet1 · 22/01/2016 11:13

Just read your last post...good luck trying to teach a cat something! They are stubborn little sods.

WinterChill · 22/01/2016 12:22

I don't like any of my cats being out at night and I always give them a call about 10 mins before bed. If they don't come in though I will leave them out - well the boys. I don't like my girl out at night because she always gets stuck somewhere and she's too trusting. She will go to anyone and unfortunately that backfired when she came home with concussion from either a bite from a fox dog or person. Since then she's petrified of rustling bags.

Both my boys are more wary of people and quite 'street wise'. One of them won't even come in the house if we have visitors that aren't here a lot.

If the boys are out, by the time I wake in the morning they're waiting by the front door to come in.

Crumpet: If my boys are in at night I have to get up and let them out at around 4am too. My DH thinks I'm crackers too. But they miow so much asking to go it's easier to let them out.

Savagebeauty · 22/01/2016 12:26

Mine has a catflap to go out but can't come in.
She's usually in my bedroom window ledge at 10pm waiting to be let in. If she's not, she has to wait till the morning.
She sleeps under the hebe bush.

Kreacherelf · 22/01/2016 12:27

Depends on the cat really. Everyone is different.

My cat used to be feral. He lives outside and only comes in for meals (his choice!)

My boyfriends cat refuses to leave the house OTOH

Sparklingbrook · 22/01/2016 12:36

Cats' Protection recommend keeping cats in at night. From the website-

Should I keep my cat in at night?

Cats are natural hunters, making them more active at night time. There is a slightly increased chance of road accidents when cats are out at night and as a result, it is best to keep cats indoors at night where there is a risk to the local rodent population. A cat should never be locked out all night.

If your cat is used to being active at night, it can become restless and stressed when kept in. If it is neccesary to keep them indoors, an indoor environment should provide them with plenty of things to do - from toys and climbing frames to puzzle feeders.

There are lots of people who think putting the cat out at night is the thing to do though.

gleam · 22/01/2016 12:50

Mine goes out and has a cat house outside with a thermal pad in it. He also has access to the conservatory via a cat flap.

If he doesn't go out when we go to bed, he wakes around 5-5.30 demanding to go out. And gets pretty agitated until you do.

StopLaughingDrRoss · 22/01/2016 14:24

I keep my boy in every night - he's a dark cat and I'd hate for something to happen to him. He hated it for the first couple of nights but is totally used to it now.

Having said that, my beautiful girl cat who I also kept in every night was hit by a car on daylight so you never know (at least in her case even though the car drove on, some lovely kind samaritans saw it happen so were able to get her so I know what happened to her)...

Dieu · 22/01/2016 14:52

Yes OP, I used to, in our old house (no cat flap). It worked so well. I'm a night owl, so let the cat out at around midnight (he was obviously very willing), then he was waiting at the back door for us to let him in at 7am.
He would then sleep all day indoors.
This routine seemed to suit him really well.
However, we now live in a flat (previous house a 3 storey townhouse), and this routine isn't working so well for me. Reason being that he can jump outside my window anytime through the night, and cry to get in!

Quietlygoingmad67 · 22/01/2016 15:01

I have 3 boy cats and an open all hours cat flap! OP how are you going to keep your cat in after 6pm during the summer - that would mean all windows and doors closed!
We do get the 'odd' present:offering from 1 of them! I was in the kitchen cooking tea and heard a car being sick - went into the dinning room and the bloody cat was vomiting a headless mouse right in the middle of the dining room table which had be set for tea!!

PolterGoose · 22/01/2016 15:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WhoKn0wsWhereTheMistletoes · 22/01/2016 15:36

Cat flap and free run of the house here, we used to shut the catflap at night but don't generally bother now, I don't think they go out much at night (they are always in when we go to bed and get up). They aren't great hunters though, we get the occasional worm but that's all.

pilates · 22/01/2016 16:00

No, she sleeps with us on the bed and wakes up between 6 and 7 and goes out then. I wouldn't be able to sleep if she wasn't in.

Purplehonesty · 22/01/2016 16:05

Mine sometimes stays out and sometimes in.
She was a rescued indoor cat, we got her six months and she loves being outside!

Re the littler tray, she did the same, came home for a poop.
So I out it outside for a week and then chucked it.
Now I put her out after she eats it feels a bit 'full' and no accidents yet apart from she once weed in the utility room sink. But that wasn't too much bother!

Wolpertinger · 22/01/2016 16:10

Cats have never gone out at night as wanted to keep them safe and minimize hunting and fighting.

Trained cats to come in when fed then didn't let them out again - no cat flap. When little cats were out all day. They did want to go out at night and sometimes successfully snuck out of a window in the summer but I can ignore them for a very very very long time. Keep doors closed and they only jump out of some of the windows. My curfew is much later than 6pm though!

Now they are old ladies they go out briefly in the morning and evening and that's them done thanks. When one started expressing an interest in jumping out of the windows again we realised something was wrong - turned out she was hyperthyroid

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