Does anyone have a house cat?

[bandito]

DD (15) would dearly love a cat and for the last year we have been animal free, having had all sorts of pets and livestock in the past. However, we work long hours and are all out of the house in term-time between 7 and 4 (when DCs get in from school). Also over the last year I have transformed the garden into quite a nice nature area with a pond and meadowy bit and we have frogs. I really don't want a cat wreaking havoc with the wildlife in the garden. DD has said we could rescue an old cat that stayed in the house and she would look after it. Is this a thing? An old cat makes me think of some incontinent smelly animal, but keeping a cat indoors just because of the garden feels cruel. Does anyone keep a cat indoors and is it do-able if you are out most of the day? I don't think its a goer. There are a lot of cats already in the street. Am willing to be convinced though.

SisterCat probably goes out for 5 minutes after dark in 24 hours. She is black and seems to prefer being out in the dark - but never for long! She was born feral in December, and imo, that put her off the big outdoors - she seems to be happy in a warm house with a never ending supply of food and fuss! Her brother is in and out all day, so it is her choice!

Our cats are sort-of indoor cats.

We previously had a pair who were outdoors, but the council changed our road layout, people started speeding down it and one got run over not long after. We kept the remaining cat in from then on and got a kitten about 6 months later who was indoor from birth. It worked fine but the older cat did pine for the outside.

Solution has been to build an outdoor cat shelter over our patio. They have access via the cat flap and a tunnel and the french doors, there are chairs in there for us and lots of plants, and a door into the rest of the garden for us.

They now pop in and out there all day and night, mainly sleeping indoors at night, and seem to like just sitting on the high shelves sniffing the wind and pawing and spiders! We have two covered litter boxes, one in the bathroom and one in utility. They don't smell except immediately after a cat has pooed and we just make sure to scoop daily and change regularly. Once the weather is nicer we will look into building an outdoor cat litter tray & house thing to get the bathroom tray out of the house.

Overall it's working really well! If you were considering kittens I'd recommend, otherwise I think a pair of house cats from a rescue would be ideal.

I have three indoor cats.

Not sure why you've been advised against covered litter trays. Cats prefer them. They generally like privacy to toilet.

I’ve got two dopey Persian house cats. They go into my garden but it’s fully enclosed and are back in in five minutes. They are happy being left while I work 13 hour shifts. And are no trouble at all.

I have 2 ex-feral cats from a rescue. I specifically asked to be shown indoor only cats as I'm paranoid about cars, the local evil tom, antifreeze, accidents, cruel teenagers, that local evil tom...

They seem to keep each other well occupied when I'm out, and tbh seem to sleep most of the day time anyway - they get bouncy & run around like loons trying to kill each other playing in the mornings & evenings.

Boycat has turned out to be totally a little thick & clumsy, and scares very easily, so I doubt he'd be able to look after himself if he went out anyway. When they aren't play fighting, Girlcat seems to look after him a bit which is nice e.g. if he was out cold upstairs at supper time she would call him down (now he slinks into the living room at exactly 8:31pm every evening ).

They have the run of the house except for 1 bedroom and the toilet (separate from the bathroom), and I shut them out of the kitchen at bed time & when I'm out since the incident with the shopping bad.

I can recommend the James Webeloved dry cat food that is specifically their House cat dry food- duck flavoured.

It’s got less fat in it, as a house cat wont be running around as much as an outdoor cat. It also has plant extracts in it to reduce the smell once it comes out!

We use the World’s best clumping flushable litter, and a covered tray and have had our kitten from 10 weeks until now (5 years old) solely inside