Cat in or out?! What is best?

[WonderGirl11]

I have a 5 month old kitten who I love completely. He is neutered, vaccinated, chipped and loves exploring the outside. However, he just stayed out late for the first time. He got home at 11pm and I was stressing about him being ok. Should I be letting him out?!

He is home now. Totally fine. I think I am just worrying too much. But I’m questioning myself. I’d miss him so much if anything happened to him.

I have a (future) breeding queen. I lock her in certain areas of the house when I air the other parts and keep rotating.
But now the weather is warmer I'll have to buy a window net for when I want to cool the house ar night.
I don't keep my doors open during hot days, all you're doing is letting the heat in.

This is a really interesting discussion. Loads of issues. I guess it depends on the cat, location, time of year etc. My kitten just loves being outside so much since it’s been warm, he runs, climbs, chases flies. He really seems to need the stimulation and space to run that he just wouldn’t get if only inside. We are lucky to be in a quiet cul de sac with fields behind us.

Ours are indoors only, but we have a second story deck overlooking the woods where they hang out when the weather is nice. Indoor only cats are a much lower risk of disease and injury.

We trained our two to come in when we ring a bell. It didn't take long - we just made sure we rang the bell before any meal we gave them. Cats have excellent hearing and even when ours are roaming they pretty much always come when we ring x

We trained our two to come in when we ring a bell. It didn't take long - we just made sure we rang the bell before any meal we gave them. Cats have excellent hearing and even when ours are roaming they pretty much always come when we ring.

This said, your kitten does seem quite young. another big danger would be other cats at that age. We didn't let ours out alone till they were almost a year old.