Indoor/outdoor decision

[retainertrainer]

We’ve adopted 2 kittens. If we do decide to let them out it won’t be for another 6months or so but it’s playing on my mind already.

I’ve always had outdoor cats, I always thought it was cruel to keep them indoors however,our lovely cat went missing last year. She was quite feral, spent most of her time outside in the fields. At the time we thought a fox or badger had got her. She wasn’t friendly to strangers so I didn’t think she’d been taken or locked in anywhere.

It’s currently in the local press that food bowls laced with antifreeze have been found. I’m now wondering if this is what killed her.

So I’m in a dilemma. We absolutely adore these kitties, I want to keep them safe but I don’t want to deprive them of all the adventures to be had outside.

We can’t catproof the garden so that’s not an option. Just wondering what other cat-lovers thoughts are. Many thanks.

You will get both opinions on here, some very vehement about the cruelty of not letting cats out, some saying depends on the cat/area, and some (like me) paranoid about modern day life.

My view was that I live on the edge of a town, so cars. There are a few entire toms in the neighbourhood who beat up other cats. Evil bastards who hate cats & harm or even kill them (like the Croydon Cat Killer, though not my area, or your local anti freeze person). Plenty of man-made hazards e.g. anti freeze, rusting junk with edges, broken glass. So I went to adopt with the intention of getting cats who needed to be indoors only as I'm a little paranoid.

Since having them, I think on average about once a week we get a new thread on The Litter Tray about a cat going missing or being run over, which has reinforced my view I did the right thing. Mine seem quite content as indoor cats, and TBH I don't think Boycat could cope with outdoor life as he seems to have a few "issues" (thick, clumsy, scared, minimal attention span etc).

On the other hand, my cousin has always had farm cats who had very independent lives and were still affectionate and as they were on a farm there were very few concerns about them - I think sunburned ears was the worst issue she ever had!

Most gardens have some possibility of being cat proofed or have a "catio" built at the back - are you 100% sure that's not an option? It can be a freestanding area if your garden is huge or you don't have traditional fences, or built to have access through a window rather than the back door - in most cases where there's the will, there's a way.

My garden is cat proofed (with the fence-top system from Sanctuary SOS) and I wouldn't have it any other way. My local FB group has weekly posts about cats being run over and others go missing never to be found. My cats have the best of both worlds with their safe, contained outside space. They are shy and/or special needs and would be at risk wandering the streets.

I used to live in a country where most people live in apartments/flats and have indoor cats who live happy, healthy, long lives so I'm not at all against indoor cats either. The only thing is that if you live in a house, it's slightly complicated to keep the back door closed at all times especially in the summer when people are in and out of the garden so if you have indoor cats in a house, you have to be extra vigilant about that.

The suggestion that people will be polarised on this is correct . Personally I can't imagine keeping a cat indoors against its will. Our latest two kittens started going out by themselves at a little over 5 months - they had spent the previous 2 months taking every opportunity to try to escape. One of my older cats is out most nights, my other older cat spends most of her time indoors - but it is their choice. Luckily I never have lost a cat from an accident or an attack but even if I did I could live with myself knowing that the cat had had a good life with plenty of freedom.

I worry about my cats' safety (cars and foxes) and also about their being a threat to local wildlife. My compromise is to keep them in at night, because most fox attacks, car accidents and hunting takes place as the light fades. When I call them in for dinner (using a bell!), I block the catflap overnight and re--open in the morning. It seems to work and they seem happy.

Grumpy-that’s how I used to feel, keeping a cat in seemed cruel to me but the thought of what our lost cat might have been through has really changed my opinion.

I will look again at some kind of cat proofing for the garden and I also like the idea of being vigilant and keeping them in at night. We did start out with that intention with our other cat but she’d disappear when we were in work and we’d find her tucked in bed when we came down for breakfast. She was such a monkey!