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.

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.

This ^^

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-35598232

Here it says ring 101 but obviously if you actually SEE something then call 999 as Bertrand says.

Missing paws

In my experience, if you phone 101, they'll refer the matter - quickly - to the relevant place if needs be.

Foxes to me are a big difficulty for even car-aware cats, especially in a nighttime urban environment. I'm aware that many people are relaxed about them - even feed them - but I've personally seen groups of hungry young foxes on a co-operative nighttime hunt so I'd rather keep my cats inside and let the foxes go after the local rats.

That's just me of course.

In my experience, if you phone 101, they'll refer the matter - quickly - to the relevant place if needs be.

I phoned 101 when I saw a dog loose on a main road and was immediately transferred to 999.

(I still had to pay 15p for ringing 101!)

I didn't actually know you were charged for the phone call, Pink. That seems to be a matter to raise generally, I think?

Our two Siamese are free to come and go all day and night although must of the night they are ensconced on our bed

We live on a very quiet road with speed bumps and "20's plenty" signs. A beautiful silver Bengal cat who lived just beyond the speed bumps did get run over - but then she had a habit of sunning herself in the middle of the road.

We do have lots of foxes around here, but the cats and foxes seem to give each other a wide berth.

Cozie, I think it's the mobile phone operators rather than the actual police forces who get the money from the charges. It seems petty to be charged for calling the emergency services!

I'd maybe start a thread on another board to give the issue more prominence? As I said, I just wasn't aware of any charge.

OP I don't think you should force your cat to go outside if he doesn't want to!

I can't believe someone would make an ignorant comment like this is an urban myth. Tell that to the (many) people who have lost their beloved pet in horrific circumstances

This has been in the national news for a long time. Vets have done post mortems on the animals and have concluded that they were killed by a human. The person responsible is likely to pose a danger to humans as well. Burying your head in the sand is stupid.

Certainly there's no suggestion that this is an urban myth, since decapitated animals are actually being found with heads/limbs/internal organs missing.

www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/london-s-cat-ripper-serial-killer-making

Also it's not a handful of incidents - it's at least 50 cats and some other animals too.

Mine are curfewed at night to try to cut down on them preying on things.
They have trained me to let them out at dawn, though, sigh.

"Also it's not a handful of incidents - it's at least 50 cats and some other animals too."

Not according to the police.

Don't forget it was only towards the end of last year that the police and the RSPCA started taking this seriously. Now it's in the public eye more people are coming forward and in many cases cats have already been buried or cremated and it's too late. I admire the people who are letting the bodies of their cats be taken by the RSPCA. I'm not sure if I could do it, I don't think I'd want to let him go.

You seem very blase about this Bertrand, I presume you're not in any of the (many) affected areas.

That's why I'm thinking of letting him out through the night, as he is like this through the day but active all night!

He's lovely Prince. My cats can't go out anyway because they're house cats.

Beautiful cat.

As Siamese, our two are also "white" so more visible at night.

I'm in Telford, the last 3 months here and in shrewsbury, there have been a lot of cats going missing, it's made the papers, then these two that turned up clearly abused in the last week... There have been rumblings of a copycat of the m25 killings.

The police are now advising people to keep them in.

Cats get used to their routine (just like owls in captivity).

If you only let them out in the day, they become active in the day and are therefore tired at night. You need to be persistent in the beginning, though.

Some cats do, others are active all day then sleep until 4am then start yowling...

Foxy - yes but she rarely does as she's a home bird
Olaf - NO - because he sits on the neighbours flat roof yowling to be let in at 4am
Spock - yes - you can't keep him in doors
Bonnie - I try to get in as she's under 1 and still a baby but she sometimes disappears
Bernard - no he's 11 weeks old

Yes, all of our cats have gone out at night.

Keep mine in at night, though he seems quite happy with this and is quite an indoorsy cat.
I feel cats roam further at night, under cover of dark. Although theres less traffic, you get people going at stupid speeds along the lane near me.
I also think he's more likely to get into fights and be a nuisance (yowling) in the night.