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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

When did you let your cat outside?

16 replies

Doggotired · 03/07/2020 19:48

Hi,
My boy is 5 months old and will be neutered next week. I know he is allowed out after that but I think he’s too little so I won’t for a while yet but I was just wondering what age people let their cats outside? He’s so desperate to get out and explore. We live in a quiet street but due to lay out of the garden I can’t really cat proof the garden so he would be able to roam about which I think he would want anyway. My previous cat was a house cat until she was 5 when we moved to this house and by then she was lazy and sensible and didn’t go too far....
Thanks!

OP posts:
MadCatEnthusiast · 03/07/2020 20:55

I let my cat go out properly and unsupervised at 1.5 years old and now she doesn't ever leave the garden. However, it take a few moments of her being missing in next door's forest-looking weedy garden but she never went beyond

Elieza · 03/07/2020 21:05

I didn’t let mine out until I had them trained to come to my call (ie you get food every time you hear me call).
So if they got lost I could shout them and they’d come to me.

Prior they were out on harnesses for a sniff in the back garden. They weren’t keen on the leads at all.

I was terrified they’d run away. Can’t remember what age they were though when I finally let them out alone

Oldraver · 03/07/2020 21:41

We started taking ours out on a harness round the garden. He got to explore and sniff but couldn't escape

boatyardblues · 03/07/2020 21:43

Where did you get your cat harness, Oldraver?

YouAndMeAndTheDevilMakesThree · 03/07/2020 21:51

A couple of weeks after being neutered and microchipped at 6 months old.

Original poster
Doggotired · 03/07/2020 22:45

He’s a greedy bugger so he would definitely come back for food.... I’m not convinced he knows his name though 😂 he ignores me.... maybe he’s just rude 😂 I think I will wait until he’s 1ish maybe and see how he is then. Thanks!

OP posts:
TroysMammy · 04/07/2020 09:05

I waited until Haribo was nearly 10 months old, firstly on a harness and lead then after a few weeks of going outside on his own he disappeared (see thread Haribo is missing). Since then he's been on the harness and lead again but last week he's been going outside without it but supervised. So far he stays in the garden. He's now 1 year old.

AnnaMagnani · 04/07/2020 09:39

6 months. They had been neutered at 8 weeks - rescue kittens - so it was a long wait but we were desperate to get them out by the end as they were sooo annoying.

Both came back for food and initially we only let them out when they were hungry. Can't say they knew their names, more that when we said them they always got fed. now they know the sound of the fridge opening and the snackie tin being picked up

One was really in to it and one was so scared we had to go and stand outside with her so she got used to the concept. She still spends most of her time sitting in a hedge now but asks to go out.

Be prepared for outside to be quite interesting to start with and recall to be dodgy - on occasion our neighbour got her gundog to flush our cats out of the hedge for us in the evenings when they were messing about.

Elieza · 04/07/2020 15:24

I never used my cats names to call them, as all the local kids knew their names and could shout my cats to them - across a road with cars driving along, no too dangerous to have others having the power to call my cats to them. I only wanted them to come to me so I shouted another word which they knew meant ‘she’s got treats run to her’.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 04/07/2020 15:41

At 5-6 months old.

Although it's usually it's about a year before I stop being worried about them if they are out all night.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 04/07/2020 15:42

Apologies. Too many "it's" in my last post Confused

cosmo30 · 04/07/2020 16:15

Neutered at 6 months, he was petrified of going outside and would dart behind the wall to hide but it seemed like overnight this changed and he suddenly loved it!

Original poster
Doggotired · 04/07/2020 16:37

I’m really worried about him going out by himself 😂😂 he is so nosey though, I know he would love it! I want to get one of those cat tracker things then can spy on him 😂 I think I will give him a few months before I’m brave enough

OP posts:
AlCalavicci · 05/07/2020 03:40

I have been pondering the same thing for a while now , I have a 8 /9 month old kitten , he still needs to be neutered and chipped , I didn't get a chance to have him done before lock down.
I have a old big hutch outside so he goes in that a couple of times a week for half a hour or so , he loves been in there he can watch all the starlings on the phone wires .
I am going to get him done as soon as I can get a day or two off work and then let him out.
In the mean time ever since I got him I have got him use to coming for food when I ring a bell as I did not want to be shouting him in the middle of the night ( I work odd shifts )

Oldraver · 05/07/2020 11:05

@boatyardblues it was form a generla pet shop (the one attatched to poundstretcher) it was just a basic one, you can get ones tha are more like a coat harness. I think Leroy has one

Saying that he was on a harness with me holding the lead when he ran up the tree and hurt his leg ...it all happened so fast

We used an extendable lead attatched to the whirly gig when we were in the garden. You have to be on the ball as he would walk round the trampoline legs and get stuck

But he loved being in th garden. We didnt have cat proofing but enclosed. He didnt make any attempt to get out until he was quite a bit older

OhTheRoses · 05/07/2020 11:20

Our boy went out once neutered and chipped. About 5.5/6 months. Initially he was not to be allowed out overnight but decided to use a plastic linen box under ds's bed as a litter tray! Cat flap permanently unlocked from that moment.

He's had a few scrapes: caught end of tail on something at about 9 months and had to have the end amputated, badly poisoned at about 2.5 and gravely ill, list a few collars so must have been getting into scrapes, has a nick out of his right ear.

But he's 12 now and has had a good life. I know he roams and has a tinkering attitude. He'd have been miserable as a house cat.

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