Indoor or Outdoor

[LavenderDoll]

We have recently adopted a rescue cat. He's lovely. Been advised to keep him in for 5 weeks before letting him out. I don't know if he would be happier as an indoor cat. Or is that just me being over protective. Any advice or help gratefully received

Hi Lavender, my rescue girl is much too scared to go outside. We gave her the option, but she runs from all doors and windows leading to the outside world.

It's also become apparent that her spatial awareness is dreadful and she frequently stretches and falls off laps and other surfaces. She runs into doors chasing toys and topples out of her cat tree. (Medical issues ruled out). She also gets bullied very easily by bigger cats.

I can relate to being a bit PRF (precious rescue feline) and it may simply be a matter of waiting and seeing. He may like the garden only. He may not want to go out at all. If he's not pining for the outdoors keeping him in may be an option.

No solid advice, just empathy and a cat picture.

PRF, brilliant! My PFP's (precious first Persians) are totally PRF's I'm glad they are indoor only as I couldn't cope with them going out. Not a helicopter cat parent at all!

Has the cat previously had access to outside? Might be a case of wait and see, if he expresses an interest to go out let him out and try if he is happy to stay in and sleep on the bed that's fine too.
My cat loves to be out when it suits her, (when it's sunny) but spends a lot of time in during winter/bad/cold weather. I'm happy with that. She chooses whether she wants to be in or out and that's fine.

I have had cats all my life. . Imo they need to have a life outside of your home!!
We live near but not on a road though back streets outside of our garden, they manage just fine. Last house was on a main road and they managed. . Get a cat flap, keep them in at night if it let's you sleep better! But open the door and let them explore!!

Im in a flat on a main road and i kept her in for the first seven months i have cat protectors on the windows. Now i let her out when im at home in the day and shes hardly interested she goes out for 15 minutes and comes back in. As soon as it gets dark the door is shut. I do feel for you and i think you just have to go with what he wants. Can you cat proof your garden?

Sadly its not even about the traffic i worry more about the people wondering about on the back streets i think the traffic is that heavy near me cats dont even bother. Ive never seen one on my front road. They must have somekind of traffic awareness.

He's been hit by a car quite seriously before we adopted him.
He is so lovely and active and he does sit looking out of the window which makes me think he'd love to be out playing in the garden but I worry so much that he will get hurt or lost.

My friend paid a company to cat proof her garden something that goes along the top of the fence she said it was worth the money

My two go out in the garden (and over the fence into the neighbours gardens too!). They are in overnight and i don't have a cat flap so they are only out if someone is home

We have three indoor cats. We have had them since they were eight weeks old and they have not been outside since then.

We live next to a main road, although we have a back garden. I was brought up on a farm and I know that cats are explorers and hunters and, as very intelligent animals, I fear keeping them indoors is not allowing them to exhibit their natural behaviour.

However, both my sons and I have issues with anxiety and I don't know how we would cope if anything happened to any of the cats. This fear has not been helped by the fact that I picked up a neighbour's cat from the road and it died in my arms. He was beautiful and only ten months old.

My cats express no real desire to go outside, Yet, it is hard to discern a cat's desire. They look out of the windows and they sit by the door.

We do not have a large income, so we could not afford any expensive cat proofing and I have looked at cat runs, but they still seem to be like outdoor cages.

The cats are not unhappy. Should we just continue as we are, or are there any suggestions about how we could ensure the cats' safety outside?

I compromise with a cat proof garden so they can go out but stay safe :)

If he's used to having access outside, then I personally think it would be mean to keep him inside and have him miss out on what he's come to love - even if it caused him to have a shorter life. My boy used to sit by the glass door for ages while he was a kitten and loved going outside, sitting looking around, sun bathing, pestering neighbours - even three hours before we had him pts and he was struggling, he'd gone outside.

Is it possible to restrict access by blocking up gaps under fences, gates or are these low and he could easily get over?

Ok so I did LOADS of reading on indoor/outdoor before I got the Kitten.

The cats we had when I was a child were very much outdoor cats and hardly came in. They were kittens from a farm cat and were beautiful and strong and amazing hunters and very clever but not super good pets TBH because they were never bloody in. We had a huge garden backing onto fields and woods and they had massive hunting territory.

Now I live in a 3 bed semi with small garden, in London, busy roads. I was going to keep the Kitten as an indoor cat but but actually have gone down the cat proof garden root and I am so happy I have done so.

Having access to the garden extends his 'territory' by about 1/3 and there are lots of exciting things to look at (birds, squirrels) and things to chase (fly, leaves) and he loves a good dig in the flower beds.

Cats need to be able to exhibit natural behaviors - hunting/stalking, climbing, scratching, grooming

If you have indoor cats you need to make more effort to enrich their environment. Cat trees, different scratch pads/posts, high places to hang out, more toys, puzzle toys, more time from you to play with them, grow cat grass to nibble etc.

Indoor cats will be more bonded to you and better 'pets' because they will be around not out killing rabbits (yes, really, I'm looking at you Tabby).

Not all cats will be happy indoors tho, so I think you do need to be led by them.

If you are prepared to put the effort into making their home environment good I don't see why you can't try them as indoor cats.

I think indoor cats all end up a bit odd, neurotic and weird. Let him out after the 5 weeks. He can behave like a cat and see the world.

I think the cat decides. My big butch Tom was desperate to go out from the start , couldn't keep him in. My dainty little girls show no interest in going out.
I don't have the Tom anymore and have since moved to a new area where I don't think the scroats would give a second thought about using my girls as footballs. I'd do prison time for what I'd be prepared to do to someone who hurts them , and like I said they show no interest so they are staying very much housecats.

I've had my rehomed cat for nearly 6 weeks ( neutered tom) . I'd been told he had always been a house cat and had never been outside. He's a bit of a scardy cat when it comes to people being in the house and comes across as a massive wimp. I decided to let him out for the first time this week and at first he was terrified of the grass.... 3 days later and I'm struggling to get him back in! He's still scared of silly things for no reason though, like the watering can, so if I want to get him back inside I just pretend I'm going water the flowers! Not sure how long I'll be able to keep him within the 6 foot fences though .....