Living near main road

[Feelingstuckkkk]

Just looking for reasurrance, advice, opinions anything really!

Coming up to a month since i've moved house, i now live on the high street of a village, so 30mph fairly busy road especially at peak times etc. There is a good sized front garden so the door doesn't open directly onto the road but the road is close.
My cat is 10 and is used to house moves as i've done a few! But i've never lived on a busy road, she is very much an outside cat. Initially i'd thought that if i just keep her in long enough she might get used to being an indoor cat but clearly she isn't! At the moment she is spending all day meowing at the doors to be let out and has infact darted out twice now (i've grabbed her straight away) as i want to wait an exact month before i do actually let her out. In the summer she spends all day outside and i have children so no doubt doors are going to be left open eventually so keeping her in will never be practical.
There is a large back garden and empty fields beyond that and i'm praying she sticks to the back of the house, she's never been one to wander but im just petrified she will get hit being so close to the road!

Anybody have experience?? Just worried i will spend the rest of my life worrying if she's ok when she's outside!

Can you stop her going out the front, or is there side access to the front ?

Where you live sounds lovely really not the point

My set up is similar, and 2 of my 3 cats were strays here before finding me. I haven't stopped them from going about their business, but they are kept in at night. They seem to stick to the back and I've never seen them in the street. Maybe your DCat will stay away from the main road when she sees how busy it is.

It does sound very worrying. Is a catio or cat-proofing the fencing out of the question? Basically, if you have money to throw at the problem, there will be a solution.

I’m sorry to say the high street sounds really dangerous. Most of the cats locally that live on the high street here don’t live very long, there isn’t that much traffic here. If you let her out the back can she simply walk round to the front?

We are similar - on the high street of a village. Personally for me it's the worst possible type of road - not so busy that it's an obvious no-go for the cat, but not so quiet that an accident is statistically unlikely.

We don't want to take the risk so we are building a catio next month. It's slightly different though in that DCat is only six months old and so doesn't know any different.

Put it like this: no rescue would be likely to let you rehome one of their cats living there.

I actually live a few streets away from a busy road and my cat was killed out there.

I wouldn’t ever have another cat while living here, and I have turned down houses because they were to close to busy roads where my cats could be hit by cars.

Personally while I'm no expert, I think your cat will be ok. If you keep her inside for a few weeks and encourage her to sit on windowsills overlooking the front, she will get a feel for the road. If she is used to being outside she will understand the sights & sounds of cars/roads.

I read that cats under the age of 1 are most likely to get in traffic-related accidents. I expect your cat will stay at the back.

We have had our stray for 7 weeks (although she was hanging around for months beforehand) and she comes & goes but we never see her out the front, even though our garden is along the side of our house - so only a fence in between. Our road is just as you describe yours, with fields the other side of it. The back is far more enticing though with fields, gardens and allotments to explore.

Can ypu cat proof the garden or at stop her from etting ot of the front door? My friend lost my Dapnes brother to the road last month. Three months after moving. Massive back garden but he fpund his way to the front. She is heartbroken and for the first time in her life realises she can never have another cat whilst she lives in what is her dream home otherwise☹️

Thank you for the advice good and bad!

So building any kind of enclosure etc isn't an option, I just dont have the funds for it, I wish I did. There is access all around the house unfortunately and no way to prevent her getting to the front, one side of the house is the driveway and leads to back garden and on the other side the front garden continues round the side of the house.
She's just so miserable being in the house I just don't know what to do for the best!