My cat is four. I was given her by a neighbour when I lived in London and we had a three years together in a ground floor flat. She was a house cat because the area was quite industrial (lots of big lorries) and there was antisocial behaviour nearby. I was worried about her getting hurt by a vehicle or a person. She was a very happy house cat and showed no signs of stress. She would come out to my (private) garden to potter with me and chase leaves in the spring/summer when I supervised. She would follow me in and hate being left out alone.
In the past year there has been a lot of changes. I moved to a new city and took on a renovation project whilst pregnant. Me and my husband moved in with my parents and continued the supervised garden access in my parents lovely big garden. They live in a very safe area and she loved spending an hour out there a day.
That was four months ago. My parents kept hold of my cat whilst we were finishing off the big jobs and I have since had my baby. She has been living apart from us for about 8 weeks and I have missed her terribly. My parents however admitted that they had let her out at night and she had become a bit of a nightprowler. She would stay in the garden, but prowl up and down the fences and fight off other cats. She enjoyed it so much that she would wait by the door and miaow to go out every evening.
She returned home to us this week, remembers us both and DDog and has settled in beautifully. Calm around baby. Cuddly. No interest in the windows and doors at the moment. My husband asked if we should let her out after 6 weeks, as she has had a taste of being outside- but I am so unsure.
There is a very, very busy a-road just over our high fence, separated by a dual use bike/pedestrian pavement. My job is to keep her safe and I honestly don’t think we can :(
What should I do? I’m so scared she’ll be depressed about being indoors but I don’t want to put her at risk from bike or car.