Do you keep your outdoor cats in at night?

[ChatterMonkey]

Introduced the kittens (5.5 months old, fully vacced, neutered, flead and wormed) to the outdoors last week, and other than anxiety from me about trusting they will be ok, theyve taken to it perfectly.

They arent too fond of the rain, when the weather isnt nice they know they have it good in the house curled up on the sofa, and they come in when they want food. We have a microchip cat flap so leave it open through the day and lock in when it starts to get dark. They seem to be learning that night time is time to be in as when we lock the catflap the dont try to get out any more when its dark.

Will do this for another few days at least, but wonder if other people let their cats roam through the night? Ideally we want to minimise litter tray use and have them going to the toilet outside, so i suppose if they were doing this they would need access to outside through the night as well?

Two of mine stay in at night. They don’t like being left out for longer periods of time especially in bad weather, they prefer to be inside. The third one I let out as he prefers that. He doesn’t always come back in the evening anyway and on the odd occasion he stays in he starts crying at 4.30 in the morning at the door to go out. He was a stray when we adopted him at age 4 so think he is just set in his ways!

No, but there is no access to the road from my back garden so she is pretty safe, and not much of a hunter. She enjoys going out late at night to hang out in the garden, though I bring her in when she starts yowling loudly at the local tabby.

I try to, but like others have said they will miaow at the door to be let out so I give in.

One of mine will wait patiently until the morning to be let in if he's out at night. The other will miaow at the door until it wakes me up!

I had my cat for 10 years and he was killed by a car in April. I didn't believe it would happen as he was older and more streetwise. We were devastated.
I now have two kittens who are nearly eight months old.
I keep them in at night.
I whistle them for their last meal of the day and they appear.

Should have said, Dcat was hit overnight as he used to come and go as he pleased.

Yes, we have a cat flap that's set to let them in but not out so once they're in, they're in for the night. We let them out when we come downstairs in the morning.

I let one come and go as she pleases. She gets bullied a lot by my neighbours cats but they are in overnight, so she gets to be outdoors unmolested at night.
The other 2 I keep in. It does reduce the hunting. Plus they're safer.

Yes had always had come home for dinner, and then the door is locked.

We now have our most outdoors ever cat, if he stays out overnight he just gets into fights that wake the whole village.

So he has a tracker on, and we can spot when he loops past the house, remind him of dinner and get him in.

Cats are crepuscular as opposed to nocturnal so actually their ideal time to be out is dawn and dusk
i have three house cats but one is determined to be out. She asks to be let out at around 5.30 am (🙈) and then loves sleeping indoors from about 8.am then as dusk comes out she goes until the dark sets in and then is back by the door.
she is a hunter though and this still happens with the presents!

Ours are generally in at night, we always call them before we go to bed if they aren't already inside. However if they refuse to come in they are out all night, (unless of course they wake us up by miaowing outside).

Ours is in at night.

She can be a pickle and won’t always come in before we go to bed but she always does bring herself in and comes to bed with us, normally by midnight.

I can normally call her in but I go to bed very early, she won’t come for DH so occasionally she is left out but once she comes in and we are in bed, she doesn’t go out again.

I’m hoping with winter coming her routine will change and she will settle a bit earlier.

We always kept ours out at night, but we are very rural. They also had their own 'house' an outbuilding with beds, food and water and a microchipped cat flap, not to mention access to the boiler room and various nests around the garden.

One was a hunter, but she didn't seem to hunt more at night than during the day.

If we did have to keep them in for any reason, after a visit to the vet for example, they were not happy.

Yes, we keep both our cats in at night. As kittens they were pretty annoying the first year or so and wouldn't settle that well, but now they're 3 years they understand the routine. They know night time is big sleep time, and very rarely use their tray at night.

Yes. I think cats go a bit looney in the night. When mine gets out after dark, she always stays out longer and refuses to come back.

Also we don't have a cat flap.

I always keep mine in at night. They come in for their dinner (if they have been out - they are lazy, lol) and that’s them until the next morning. I once had a semi feral boy who literally would throw himself at the window and scratch for hours if not allowed out, so I made an exception for him, but all my others have been or are totally fine with being in at night. It’s safer for them so I prefer it.

Ours used to be allowed out all night, but since moving here 6 years ago she has been getting into fights (undone toms we think) and getting stressed (cleans her back so much she has lost fur) so we keep her in. She is much calmer for it and the local wildlife can worry about one less predator.

I try to, but if I bring them in too early, big one tortures me until I let her back out. I need to get her in, feed her then go straight to bed. Some nights she refuses to come in, but then wakes the street yelling to get in. She then scratches and yells from about 4.30 until I let her back out. Little one wants to go out, but is far too well behaved to complain.

Now my older two are seven they can have free access. But my kitten is locked in at night I won't let him out at night till he reaches at least 18months.

He goes out daytime.

It depends what he wants to do, he used to spend a lot of time outside during the night but he’s 14 now and seems to prefer being in overnight.

No, I have never kept our cats in at night. They have 24/7 access to the outside. I don't think foxes pose a particular threat tbh, and we have lots as rural. Arthur spends a lot of time out and about in the fields catching and eating mice. Of course there is a small chance of getting hit by a car, but I think it's just the same as daytime round here. I like that he can act according to his instincts, he is happy, healthy, fit and muscly. He sleeps most of the day, so needs exercise overnight.

I have 3 and all are in at night. We lock the flap to in only at about 9pm, and they're usually in by 10 once they've finished chasing moths in the garden. They get a treat when they come in, then supper when we go to bed. We do play a lot with them once they're in, as they are 16 months old and still bouncy. Once in bed (shut in spare room with food, water, trays, beds and toys), we don't hear a peep now. The routine suits us and all our cats have adapted to it. The previous 2 used to nag to go to bed....

Always in here. Though have never been roamers, always stuck to the garden. In the future, for new cats, still think it would be indoors overnight - but accept this is my personal preference.

The one thing I never get is the “dislike” for litter trays. Surely, that’s part and parcel of having a cat? No shit on your lawn/beds plus not pissing off the neighbours. I’d rather deal with a litter tray than a gross nappy!

Yes. I like to know mine aren't raping the local cats or murdering the local wildlife whilst I'm asleep. However he does have a tendency to come in to wee!

Why would they be raping the local cats? Have you not bothered to have him neutered?

I keep mine in overnight so that I don't wake up to a collection of dead mice. Plus they are black so would be quite vulnerable to car accidents.