Cat lead or spend a fortune cat proofing the garden?

[stirling]

My kitten is 5 months old and a house cat. I'm not entirely sure what breed she is but supposedly a persian chinchilla, though she looks more like a British Longhair and sometimes even a Norwegian forest.

Anyway, she's doing everything she can to escape and it's getting harder to block the doors. She lies in ambush ready to bolt when you're least expecting it. I've seen her climbing out of the toilet window and now we don't open any windows.
The conservatory is like a torture chamber for her as she can see all the birds etc in our fairly wild garden.

She meows in distress looking through windows and looks so unhappy that I'm feeling guilty.

Would a cat lead help or should I just cat proof which will cost a fortune?

Thank you for any advice

We have a cat proofed garden. It wasn’t that expensive and well worth it for piece of mind and to keep my cats safe. I wouldn’t let her free roam. For one you will drastically reduce her lifespan. Look up the average lifespan of a cat indoor vs outdoor, it will shock you!

She's clearly telling you that she doesn't want to be an indoors cat!

More likely she's on heat and desperate for a shag!
Get her neutered ASAP OP or she will find a way out. Our local vets currently have a wait list of 6 weeks for routine surgery so prob better get her booked in sooner rather than later.

Thanks again. Cat proof sounds like the right way forward plus neuter. Seems strange to think she's on heat as she's such a baby to me. :)

@Madwife123

We have a cat proofed garden. It wasn’t that expensive and well worth it for piece of mind and to keep my cats safe. I wouldn’t let her free roam. For one you will drastically reduce her lifespan. Look up the average lifespan of a cat indoor vs outdoor, it will shock you!

Last cats I had lived to almost 15. Died of old age. Went out daily. My mum had a Persian house cat that lived 5 years. Died of boredom I guess!

At 5 months she can definitely be on heat and can become pregnant. She is still a baby so this would be VERY risky for her. It’s really important she does not get out until neutered.

@Soontobe60 Anecdotes do not make statistics.

I had a chain smoking nan who lived until she was 93. Doesn’t mean I’m going to start recommending smoking!

The statistics show that indoor cats live an average of 10-15 years. Outdoor cats live an average of 2-5 years. There will always be exceptions to that however it is statistically proven safer to keep a cat indoors.

www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk491/files/inline-files/Cats-Indoors_or_Outdoors.pdf

Get her neutered first and see if that noises have been calling.
You could consider a cst run or Cairo type thing form an open window. She would have room to run, get fresh air and exercise but not gate birds or get run over if she got out the front

She has aspects of a chinchilla in the eyes and coat but her ears and size look like she is mixed with a Norwegian or a Maine coon ?
She’s very striking though and is going to be a large adult cat I’d say.

Large catio or cat proof. Once you’ve picked your dead cat off the road you have a different view of letting cats roam.

I don't understand these comments about cruelty. We don't let dogs roam around freely do we? They are hunting pack animals with still wild and fairly strong territorial instincts (Okay they are more of scavengers but still). Why would you let out a tiny defenceless cat out like that?

Cat proof or a cat- specific harness. OP my house is exactly like yours: really busy road out front (drivers treat it like a dual carriageway even though it is clearly not!) And woods and fields behind us with aggressive foxes. I wouldn't even dare let my cat out unsupervised.

She goes out into my largish garden accompanied. But people hear "indoor cat" and they assume these felines are cooped up all day in a tiny airless room

And OP your kitten looks so so gorgeous!! Do everything in your power to give her a long healthy life. A short life with a brutal death is not "fulfilling"

Cat harness. My 2 were house cats before they arrived and I took them on as house cats but they love a morning walk on their harness although I wouldn't let them out on their own.

Outdoor cats live an average of 2-5 years.

I'm not convinced about that. Most things I've read say cats live to average 12-14 years although it may depend on what other wildlife is prevalent in the area.

OP your cat is beautiful!

What a beauty she is, my guy os always to let them out! We have ragdolls on our site that manage just fine. My two a regular cats so eas fo me to say maybe. If its genuinly not safe thwn get a big catio built!!

Cat proof your garden before letting her out so she can't get out (she's a beauty btw)
Please don't let her out to go wherever, like many other selfish owners.
I am not a cat lover, although I'd never hurt one. I had a gang of around 9 or 10 that kept coming and shitting all over my garden and leaving dead animals for me to deal with. I say had.....some have been poisoned recently and that's horrible but a real risk.

Outdoor cats live an average of 2-5 years.

Ours is 8.

I've always had outdoor cats. Current 2 are 4 so too young to see if they make it >5 but given that one barely goes beyond the patio, chances are high.

Of the others 7 have gone over 10 years and 2 hit by cars under 5 and killed instantly. Personally I think that isn't bad going.

Feral cats live 2-5 years, not owned cats that go outdoors.

@AnnaMagnani

This is a vet study on the most common cause of deaths for cats in England. By far the number 1 cause is trauma. Remember these are only the ones that make it to a vet, so not feral cat at all!

www.rvc.ac.uk/Media/Default/VetCompass/Documents/VetCompass%20Longevity%20and%20Mortality%20of%20Cats%20in%20England.pdf

Thanks for all the compliments
And good advice. Yes she is too precious for me to send her out without proofing the garden. The drive is another matter though..
Attaching another picture of her a month and a half ago when she looked more like a chinchilla...

Stunning! She’s certainly got Persian in her somewhere.

@MrsFin

Outdoor cats live an average of 2-5 years.

Ours is 8.

Our outdoor cats lived to 20 and 21 respectively

The median age of a crossbreed cat - the most common breed - in that study is 14 years.

And the average UK cat is not an indoors cat, kept in a catproof garden or catio.

14 years. Not 2-5.

@scochran

You can cat proof without spending lots, have a Google. I used brackets from b and q and loose chicken wire. I let my cat roam though and now he's been missing 5 weeks. I wish I hadn't. I dread to think what happened to him or how scared he might have been. So many cats die on uk roads I'm not sure letting them roam is a good way to care for them. My next cat will get a pre made catio, I'm just going to spend what it takes and have fun making it exciting and accessorising it.

Sorry about your cat. I just read on a thread though about a cat that went missing in August just randomly showing up again today, totally fine, so you never know.

All my previous cats have died of natural causes, the last two lasting to 17 and 20. I do accept that I've been lucky that none have died on the road.
I very strongly believe however that I'd prefer to have a cat with a shorter but fulfilled life outside, over one that's long lived but bored.

[quote Madwife123]@Soontobe60 Anecdotes do not make statistics.

I had a chain smoking nan who lived until she was 93. Doesn’t mean I’m going to start recommending smoking!

The statistics show that indoor cats live an average of 10-15 years. Outdoor cats live an average of 2-5 years. There will always be exceptions to that however it is statistically proven safer to keep a cat indoors.

www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk491/files/inline-files/Cats-Indoors_or_Outdoors.pdf[/quote]
Oh, of course it's safer, no doubt about that. But if you could live to 200 on the condition that you never left your house again, would you?

I can’t believe that statistic about an average outdoor cat living 2-5 years.