Are your cats allowed out at night?

[EvansAndThePrince]

My cat was an indoor cat for his first two years but is allowed out now, with the weather we've had his window open until late and it's the only time he goes out! We give him supper at 10ish and he comes home for that and I lock the window but I think he would prefer to be out.
He lounges about the house through the day as it's noisy outside (understandable) but has access outside if he wants it.

I live in a cul-de-sac that's very quiet at night, and the closest road is quiet at night too but he tends to go the opposite direction.

I'm not sure why it makes me so nervous, maybe because I can't keep an eye on him and worry that he will go too far and get lost as he's only ever been as far as the gardens nearby.

No. I think it's safer for her to stay in away from cars, foxes and the sick individual killing cats in London. We have a cat flap which gets locked at kitty curfew. She's a senior lady and not in the best health so not sure she could handle a night out!
This has been the arrangement since we got her so she's used to it. There are some summer nights she's a nightmare to get in.

Haha no you're all fairies.

Why do the previous posters think these animals are being killed/mutilated?

My two have a microchip cat flap and do as they please.

Huntercat brings me dead birds, mice, rabbits etc day and night anyway; it's quiet on the roads and he got hit by a car one afternoon two years ago and spent 4 months on cage rest and had £4K of orthopaedic surgery (thanks pet plan) so he has a healthy respect for traffic now.

Feistycat is more a home bird and likes to patrol the garden and neighbours driveways but often spends time inside sleeping in the airing cupboard.

I've assessed the risks and benefits to them of 24/7 access or restricted access and I'm happy with the quality of life benefits to them verses the risk of shorter lives where we live.

Both have had times when they have been missing for 24-48 hours and I've had to search, shake dreamies like a loon and pray but that's my anxiety to deal with. They just live in the moment and it works well for us.

Beau I just don't know. It's absolutely awful. Not all information has been released into the public domain though. SNARL have a very good fb page which I'd recommend. Initially, the killings appeared to be restricted to the Croydon area alone but since the media coverage, many more animal murders around the M25 area bearing the hallmarks of this killer have come to light.

There is no way McKinleyCat is going out after dark! She actually doesn't seem to mind much and generally spends all night snoring on DS1's bed

Both our cats come and go as they please, it had never occurred to me to keep them in over night, though I might feel differently if I was in the day killer area, though even then I guess risk is small.

In addition to those cases linked to above there have also been more recent ones in Petts wood, Orpington and Mottingham. .

My last cat had to be PTS a year ago when she arrived home with some pretty substantial injuries consistent with some kind of trauma. added to that I too am in prime cat killer teratory so my current cat won't be allowed out at night.

There's a lot of speculation about why these cats are being killed, including some talk that the killer may in fact be committing other violent offences or even building up to becoming a serial killer. from what I'v read police seem fairly certain that they almost certainly are violent to partners, children etc which is why they're so keen to catch them.

Absolutely yes to all that Wannabe said. It's terrifying.

(And I'm so sorry about your poor cat: do you think it's linked?)

There's also been killings in Bedfont, Shepperton and Staines which are too close to me for comfort. I'd be happier if Harry was in all day but I don't think that would be fair to him. Obviously if it gets worse here then I'll reconsider.

We go in and out a lot at night (tumble dryer in shed and DH is a keen stargazer). Our house is fairly open plan so it's very tricky keeping the cats away from the back door and they do follow us out, but always reappear through the catflap in a few minutes once we're back in. We don't live in the M25 area but I have seen a lot about these attacks on social media.

It's horrendous. Can it only be one person doing this? It sounds almost as though the parts might be being used in or for rituals of some sort. We are not far from the fringes of this but I bet the person(s) involved aren't just active at night.

It sounds as though it's been going on for too long to just be the work of one person.

The statements from the police seem to be rather more measured than the SNARL stuff- no suggestion of ringing 999. I would proceed with caution........

My instinct is that it's one person.

Round here, even the local cats carry light weaponry and we have some very bold and ruthless foxes about whom I'm not sanguine. (Most areas have foxes as most areas have rats - you may not see them regularly but that's another matter.)

When The Lodger moved in with us, in our last house, it was on clear terms. He had to accept Pom Pom relinquishment and curfew and we had the usual long-as-your-arm list on our side. It was actually a good deal for him and he accepted with alacrity. When we moved to this house, he just translated his behaviour a bit so of a morning, he'll get up, have breakfast, use his tray, grab his sunglasses and head out to get the craic. Come teatime, he comes in to settle for the night.

(Seniorboy has always been an indoor cat.)

It works for him and for us. His main gripe with life at the moment, when he's here, seems to be that I won't remove the skirting boards in the basement rooms so that he can deal properly with the mice that he thinks are there. (I didn't know we might have mice - but Hey. I'm not a dedicated and talented mouser as he is.)

999... for dead/murdered animals?

REALLY?

There is nothing anywhere that suggests the police want people to phone 999. There are recurring urban myths like this- they usually turn out to be fox or dog attack a.

My cat has always been allowed out at night. She has a catflap, so can come and go as she pleases. She is nearly 13 and wanders around the village quite a bit.

I don't think many dogs or foxes have the dexterity to use knives bertrand

I can't believe that there are people who still think there is no killer. These are not urban myths and, unless foxes have started carrying knives, the majority have not been fox attacks. The cats have been mutilated and, in many cases, been placed on the owner's property for them to find.

Yes, I would dial 999 if I saw an animal being attacked. Some people clearly think 'oh, it's only an animal' but I'd rather risk wasting police time than letting the sick bastard get away with it.

No, they can't use knives. But the police are only investigating a handful of potential human inflicted injuries/deaths. And, as I said, urban myths like this recur regularly.

Mine come and go as they please through the cat flap. Before, when i closed the cat flap at night, I would be up until the early hours of the morning waiting for CandleCat 2 to come home. He won't come when called, of course. Now that he can roam as he pleases, he's always in bed by about 10pm, although when we come down first thing in the morning, he is outside. We do live near a fairly busy road, but they seem to avoid it. CandleCat 1 is far too idle to go out very often. If he does go out, it is just to sleep in the sun, resting up after his latest meal.

Spoilt Cat does exactly what she pleases.
She has a cat flap, we often hear a click when she comes in a 5am. If we're lucky we might have a gift of a vole on the carpet.
We're rural though, I think it'd be different if we lived near a busy road.
I'm thinking about getting a catnav to put on her collar but DS says it's a sign I'm turning into MadCatLady. I just want to know where she goes.

Perhaps you'd care to quote the urban myths like it then. It seems it's ok to minimise animal abuse when creatures can't defend themselves.

Oh god what have I started?!

I'm certainly not anywhere near any areas with frequent animal killings, so that's definitely not a worry, lots of the neighbourhood cats are out at night, we hear them.

How do I get him to stop being such a lazy butt through the day?! If I kick him out he just pelts back in through the window

Google is your friend, Beau. While you're about it, perhaps you can show us where th police have said to call 999, or that they think it's the work of a potential human serial killer.

Disclaimer- of course you would call 999 if you caught someone in the act.