Letting house cats out?

[orchid1234]

Can anyone tell me their experience of letting house cats out? I have 4 that are house cats but moved to a smaller house and have a baby so I'm considering letting them out. They're all 3 year old and I'm just concerned about being house cats so long they would struggle going out?

I have an outdoor cat and indoor cat , my indoor is 18 months old I do let her in the garden with me but, she is really nervous and does not seem to have much common sense. For example she got onto the shed and couldn't work out how to get off of it, also she has no fear of other cats because she has not really met any.

Can you supervise them in the garden for a bit to give them some practice? I think if you just let them out you might loose them. They might struggle to protect themselves. Why because you have a baby do they suddenly need to be outdoor? Why did you keep them as indoor cats? Not judging just interested as I had never had an indoor cat before.

Also what sex are they? Are they neutered and vaccinated? I know neutered female cats are viewed by other cats as the lowest type of cat so can be prone to being bullied.

Maybe ask your vet for guidance.

Yeah I would definitely slowly introduce going outside if I chose to do it, they have all been out on a lead before but never without. Having a baby comes into it because before they were allowed in more areas of the house before but we don't let them upstairs now, just so they cant get to the baby whilst he sleeps. I had them as house cats as I used to live on a busy road but now live on a quiet one. They're all vaccinated and neutered and 3 boys and 1 girl who was actually a rescue and I think spent some time outside before I got her

Sorry, forgot to mention, they just dont have enough space at this house and I'm just feeling bad that they dont have the room they need

We adopted our neighbours cat when he moved away. His wife had been very overprotective and barely let the cat out. We left his litter by the backdoor and would sometimes leave the door open on a nice day with us out there. He would start braving the garden and pottering around with us. Then we put in a cat flap and one night when he was showing interest, I flipped it up so he could smell the outside. Slowly he worked out what it was and wanted to go out on his own. We also put a collar with a bell and contact number on him. He got so confident that we removed the litter box as he would go outside go toilet.

My house cats go into my enclosed back garden, and through a hole in the fence to next doors garden. They've got out the front a couple of times, and quickly decided it's not for them. They are not botherecif they stay in at all.

I’ve only ever had outdoor cats and they love it. Unsure if it’s an old wives tale or not but on their first outing I always put butter on paws so they have a scent trail to come back to. The only thing I would point out is that if they enjoy being outside there is a good chance you can end up with them bringing in birds and mice

Thanks everyone! I did grow up with outdoor cats and was scarred as a child standing on a dead mouse on my way to the toilet in the middle of the night that my dad accidentally let the cat in with 😂 I'm just worried that they're 'grown up' so I imagine that it's slightly different letting them out rather than a kitten. All the horror stories of outdoor cats dont help either!