Letting cat out

[goldpendant]

So Ziggy is 6 months old, neutered, chipped, flea treated etc... the time has come!

We don't really want a cat flap and relatives with cats insist we don't need one, can let him in and out etc. Happy to reassess this but will see how it goes.

Today he went out for 2x one hour stints and loved it. Confident, excited, and had great fun tearing around.

Will aim for the same over the next few days.

My question is, when will it be okay to let him go out (after breakfast), and open the door for him again when I'm home with the kids (around 3pm)? There are sheltered spots in the garden for him. How many days of these short bursts should we let him have before we let him go out for the day?!

Battersea and Cats Protection both days a few short sessions/until they are comfortable but it seems a big leap!

Advice appreciated!

And yes, the nettles will need weeding!

To be honest, I couldn’t leave him out for that long.

We didn’t have a cat flap for our childhood cat, but she had access to a warm bed in the heated garage (beside the boiler).

I have a cat flap now and my cat is in and out all day - never out for longer than an hour or so at a time. There are other cats here, and she has been bitten a few times. I want her to have somewhere safe and warm that she can access at any time she needs.

Why do your friends insist you don’t need a cat flap?

You need a flap.

This shows my two year old cat’s activity this week. The little orange boobs are her time outside. She is in and out like a yo-yo😊.

Cat flap was really easy to install, and it’s triggered by her microchip so no other cats can get in

Hmmm maybe we need the flap.....

Not orange Boobs - orange blobs😂.

He is very young - cats under a year old are more likely to be involved in RTAs and it's not surprising considering how daft they are with no real sense of danger. The charity I used to volunteer for advised adopters to not allow unsupervised outdoor access until the kitten was 10 months old.

If you let him out with no way back home when he wants to come in, he is much more likely to wander far and get in trouble as well. The letting in and out from a door only really works if someone is home a lot and can actually do it. Having a cat flap is much better for the cat and actually for you too.

We don’t have a cat flap, so our cat is in if we’re out. She has a routine time-wise - goes out first thing before we leave the house, out again when I get home at 5.30ish, out for a bit after she has dinner, then always a final wander at 10.30 on the dot.

She’s very occasionally left in the garden on a nice day if we’re just going out for lunch or something, and she doesn’t want to come in, but she only ever goes one garden each side/one behind, and is always within shouting distance. She comes to the kitchen window, or sits at the back door when she wants in. Tbh she’s so predictable I generally know when I need to get up and do my door thing!

Judy, you are really lucky😊 my little monster loves the freedom of coming and going when she wants. Sometimes she is on and out over twenty times a day.

Another one saying cat flap here, and they are in and out all day, well the younger one is more than Fat Cat who is more of a night owl. She however strolls through the field to the other end of the village to check out what’s going on.

My cat goes in and out as she chooses, but after many years of having cats I feel they are more likely to roam when they are teenagers (in cat years).

Another vote for a cat flap. I wouldn't leave my cats outside without access to the inside (or a secure warm hideyhole). Even after being in for a long while overnight my cats come back in after about 10 mins (and then dash out again. And then in. Then out...) I would get pretty bored of opening the door constantly to them!

(PS Ziggy is a fab name and he is absolutely lush!)

itwasntme she is a little monkey. Because we trained her to come in by giving her a Dreamie she will sometimes ask to go out, walk a few steps, then dash back in before the door’s even closed. She will then go to her dish and wail. If no treat (because we are not total idiots) she would happily repeat this 20 times in a row. The routine also does not work brilliantly at weekends when we’re not intending to get up at 6.30!

We adopted her direct from a family where she was an indoor cat when she was three - she’s now six - which is possibly why she’s generally pretty content to be inside, and doesn’t roam? Our kitchen has a utility room before the back door, so we would either need to keep that door permanently open or have two catflaps for her to be free to come and go as she pleases.

What about a flap into the summer house (pictured behind Ziggy)? It's going to cost a fortune to have it put in the kitchen doors (glass)

If he will be outSide for six or seven hours a day with no way into the house, then a cat flap to give him access to the summer house would be better than no shelter at all.

What temperature is it in winter? Could you get a heated bed for him, or a heated pad? Lots of fleecy blankets? Cats love to be warm and cosy. My cat gets uncomfortable if the temperature in the house drops below 16 degrees😂

I just know than on a very cold, wet and windy day my cat doesn’t stay outside for longer than 15 minutes.

You definitely need a flap. They need a safe space to retreat to. Ours get beaten up by the neighbourhood cats, a microchip cat flap keeps them safe. They also often come in to have a nap in the warmth and safety, or to have a drink.