Allowing cat to come and go at night ... thoughts please!

[BookWorm45]

Hello all
I have a kitten now aged 6.5 months - he has full access to our garden during the day. We have been keeping him inside overnight.

He is really keen to be outside and in the morning, desperate for us to unlock the cat door.

We have been considering letting him come and go freely 24x7, probably from when he's 7 months old. He is quite fast, strong and very confident so far. He has been neutered, microchipped, vaxxed and we have a cat door which recognises his chip so no other cats can come in.

Our previous cats (died of old age) were able to come and go freely through the cat door. With our current one, he's definitely not a cat who could ever be happy indoors - he loves being out in the garden.

What are your thoughts - from what age did you let your kittens / cats come and go at night ?

Cats Protection recommend that cats not be let out overnight - & give some suggestions for how to make spending the night indoors Fun & Exciting for them.

some suggestions for how to make spending the night indoors Fun & Exciting for them.

We could play “Pull me back down the chimney by my tail”.

Mine love coming and going all night - the upside is that they keep themselves busy all night rather than wake us up screeching around the house however I generally close the cat flap at night because they tend to bring in mice overnight and it is a real hassle to chase mice at midnight before going to bet or in the morning before leaving for work.

Our chimney currently has some cardboard taping it up as I worried our kitten would go up it...hoping as he gets bigger, he won't be able to squeeze in

Mine is allowed out at night. We tried keeping her in at night initially, but she just stopped coming home in the evenings when she realised she would be locked in. We got her as an adult (rescue) so it wasn’t possible to train her to come back, perhaps that’s easier with kittens.

We are mid terrace so she’d have a way to go before reaching any roads, and I strongly suspect she spends part of the night on a neighbour’s bed anyway as I’ve seen her going in their bedroom window. So am not too worried about her safety.

We don't have a cat flap but our car goes out at teatime and I don't see him until breakfast time the next morning - I made him a little garden safe warm bed but I don't think he uses it much

Mine stays in overnight. I lock the cat flap before I go to bed and open it in the morning.

He has only got out once at night and I got up at 2am and trod on a disembowelled rat which he had left next to my bed 🤮

For me, personally, I couldn’t do it. But I do understand that not everyone feels the same.

My boy is “allowed” out whenever I’m at home, which is 95% of the time. When I’m home, door is always open - and half the time he’s stretched out on my bed!

I do try to allow him his crepuscular instincts, so I change “coming home” time seasonally. I let him have outdoor time, but that Dreamies pack always gets a good shake when I want him to come in before I go to bed.

Mine have always been happy with this. Which I’m grateful for, as people drive like idiots down my fairly rural road.

I’d keep mine in if I could, unfortunately he has other ideas (broke the lock on the cat flap). Under cover of the dark and the silence they can end up going further. I think I’d at least wait until he’s fully grown/a year.

Mine are in at night. I don't like the idea of them being outside, especially as they tend to bring presents home. They can come and go at will during the day but after their tea they stay in. When I go to bed they know that's Dreamies time then they sleep in their beds on the landing and emerge at a civilised time to hop on my bed when it's time for me to get up. They have their routine now.