I have to let her out don't I?

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My kitten is 7 months old and I had been planning to keep her an indoor cat. We live quite near a motorway which is seperated by woods, I don't think she'd go that far but still scares me. Lots of quite roads into cul-de-sacs and a main road but not majorly busy. We also don't live in the most pleasant area so I worrying that someone would hurt her if she done the toilet etc in their garden. A cat from my street died from poisoning which really puts me off.

At first she seemed happy being indoors, was always wary whenever the front door opened but now she bolts straight out if she gets the chance and has jumped out of open windows.

I really don't want her going out. If anything happens to her my 7 year old will be devestated, she's already going through a tough time and this would just tip her over the edge. The main reason I got the kitten was to help her through what's been happening and she adores her.

But I know that's not fair on the cat. My door is all glass and she sits looking out and looking out of windows (due to glass door I wouldn't be able to get a flap which bothers me). I just really worry for her safety and don't know what to do for the best.

Mia184

I've been thinking about it but I've read a lot of conflicting advice about getting another kitten. I wish I took her sister she was one of the last 2 and due to being a first time kitten owner I wasn't brave enough to take them both. I massively regret that decision.

Think outside the box when it comes to cat proofing... my netting cost £50 for my garden- I reckon it’s 30ft long and the width of the house ( central townhouse)... it is blue so I use blue pots on my garden to tie it all in. I think it is designed to be used as protective builders netting. I was a bit 😳😳 at the blue at first but once I added blue pots etc it all ties in well. The brackets are made from wood cut in such a way as to form an overhang... the cats can’t get over it to get out of garden

I once met a kitty on holiday, it was out for a walk on a lead. The owners had a camper van and she went everywhere with them. It was funny watching them try to get across a car park though as the cat tried to get underneath every car!
They had been having weekends away with the cat since she was young and she was quite well adjusted to it.
I have 3 cats and one of them is a homebody, the other 2 like to go out. I don’t have a cat flap, they sit on the windowsill and ask to be let in! My homebody does like going out but she only ventures into my garden and next door’s. The other two are on a mission to rid the local area of mice and rats!

You didn't mention if she's been neutered yet?

In terms of windows, if you want to keep her in you need to either cat proof them with netting or only open them up to 2 inches if they have safety latches. It's also much safer to let cats out at the back of the property rather than out front.

At 7 months old she won't be at all streetwise yet though so I would wait a bit anyway or only do closely supervised outings in the back garden.

Some would disagree, but I'm all for quality over quantity. We rehomed two older kittens last year, Cats Proection told us that cats were equally likely to be knocked down in a quiet cul-de-sac like ours, as traffic is limited and they aren't so aware of danger.

Previously we had a male cat, who would spend ours sitting by the back door looking out as a kitten . We's always planned to let him and his sister out but for him it was so right to let him out. He had the time of his life pestering neighbours and loved the outdoors. Sometimes he'd chose to come in, but he'd go stir crazy.

Initially you could let her out either in the morning, so she's got plenty of time to come home before dark. We managed to get our new boys in until they were about a year and then we relaxed.

Thanks for all the advice this has been really helpful. She is neutered and micro chipped.

A cat has just been found knocked down just down the road from us just want to keep her in and safe. I do agree she seems a bit young at the moment.

My plan for now is to just play it by ear, will pick up a harness she can investigate the garden and maybe meet the other cats from the street! Also looking into cat proofing.

Again thank you for all the advice there's been a lot of really useful stuff for me to think about here.

There’s an animal trainer on YouTube, search for boomer the Bengal. his cats are harness trained.