Should I get kittens when neighbours have dogs?

[Saynotothefishtank]

I’ve always had cats and they’ve always freely roamed safely, with catflap.

House is mid-terrace. Over the last few years, the neighbours on all three sides of my garden have bought dogs. This wasn’t a problem (apart from the constant barking!!) because my cats were old and mostly stayed in my house/garden. On the rare occasions when they did pop over the fence, my cats were old and wise enough to not get caught by the dogs.

Cats eventually passed on.

DC want kittens. I would love to get kittens. But the thought has struck me - is it unsafe for kittens, now that the dogs are there?! Or, would the kittens simply stay away from the dogs, like their predecessors did? Happy to keep kittens in for first couple of months, but not forever.

I’ve been wondering about cat-proofing, but I just can’t see a way to do it as there are so many tall bushes and trees and a ground floor extension that runs to next door. Won’t bore you with details but I do not think it is possible to cat proof the garden, any competent kitten could find a way via up and down the trees. Don’t want a catio or indoor-only cats.

So from your experiences, would kittens manage to avoid neighbours dogs, or is it too dangerous to consider?

The dogs are a pug, a lab, and I think a collie, can’t see it too well through fence n trees. The pug doesn’t come when its owners call it, doesn’t seem trained at all. Garden is 60ft long 30ft wide.

Would value your opinion.

I probably wouldn’t. Is an FEV house cat an option? Or is a catio an option? Imagine if your cat was unable to get home because all 3 gardens had their dogs out. What would happen if they tried to make it home by darting across a garden and the dogs gave chase? It doesn’t bear thinking about.

I had a very happy outdoor cat that lived very safely within the distance of a couple of gardens until neighbours got dogs. Avoiding the dogs meant my cat roamed away from the dogs to the front of the house, I discovered this only when he had been hit and killed by a car.

Wouldn’t stop me tbh.

Cats are intelligent (mostly) and soon learn where they can and cannot go

wouldn't stop me. Neighbours had a springer spaniel about whom I feared the worst. He'd chase the cats from his garden but when he eventually broke into our garden, he completely ignored the cats.

My neighbour got kittens just after I got a high prey driven greyhound. For 3 months I muzzled him to give the kittens a chance to learn, they come in less but are still around, I always clap when I open the door for him but I do think it's a risk you take when having free roaming cats. If he caught one he would kill it and it's his garden so it's just one of those things .I wouldn't let it stop you but having had cats in the past I would try and keep them in after dark .

I have an outdoor cat and all my neighbours have dogs (as do I), including one GSD. Some of them were there even when she was a kitten. My cat knows where they live and is (I presume) vigilant if she goes into their gardens. I don't think having neighbours with dogs means that you can't have a cat (although if your neighbours had a particularly cat-unfriendly breed such as a greyhound, I'd consider a cat-proof fence). You could perhaps lift the kittens up to show them the dogs on the other side of the fence, just to make sure they're aware of them.

They won’t be tiny kittens when they’re let out will they.

My neighbours have dogs, the cats taunt them from afar.

Why not, none of those breeds have issues with cats specifically, not known to be aggressive and the kittens can learn quickly to stay in your garden anyway. My collie is indifferent to cats

Thanks guys. It’s so confusing trying to decide! Wish it was possible to cat proof garden but just don’t think it is. Good point re they wouldn’t be tiny when going out, I guess if I got them at 3 months old and kept them in for a couple months it’d be more like 5 months. Hmmm…