Are your cats indoor or outdoor?

[Spudlover]

I know there are pros and cons to both, I’m just so undecided!

I live in a large cul-de-sac in suburbia. No especially busy roads in the vicinity and a 20 mph speed limit. There are plenty of other cats around who all seem to be fine and happy. However, about half a mile away through some woods is a dual carriageway and we have tons of foxes.

They are 6 months and 11 months at the moment and while they are very curious about the outside, they seem very content. Both chipped and neutered.

Someone accidentally let the eldest out when she was 5 months and spent a night under the stars. It was the most stressful night of my life I think and keen to avoid that again but equally, want them to be a bit street smart in case they do get out.

Indoors. Didn't want to let them out

Nothing wrong keeping cats indoors

There is if the cat wants to go out. If the cat knows no different then fair enough. But it's cruel to keep a cat used to roaming inside.

Outdoors but they aren't roamers, they poo in our garden but I've seen them furtively drop one in a spit of an alley that the more intense neighbours like to call a bee meadow.

Mine have never been out well apart from the garden but not for long. They weren't really interested.

One mostly indoors but she gets kicked out once a day or her mental health deteriorates.

One who would like to be much more outdoors than he is - he has a tracker on so we know he does about 2.5k a day, and we can find him if he is lost. He isn't allowed out at night.

I have lost a cat very young on the road - even though our road is very quiet - I think she died doing what she loved. She was the smart one of the pair! Unfortunately led to too much curiosity.

Keeping them in overnight minimizes the risk but doesn't prevent it. Most cats don't actually go that far, our explorer is an Arabian Mau and normal for his breed, if exhausting for us. The tracker has given us a lot of peace of mind.

My cat doesn't want to go out. 8 years and has shown no interest. She goes into the garage (attached to our house) but that's it. She's currently curled up on a cosy barrel thing that she sits on in the morning when the sun hits it. She goes there in the evening because it's near where we sit. Midday she's worshiping the sun from our landing. Afternoon she's snoozing on a really high cat tower that gets the sun from about 12 - 6.

Outdoors. Cat flap open during the day, I get them in at night. In fact, I don’t really have to call them in at night anymore but maybe that’s because it’s still cold out overnight. I kept mine in until they were about 6 months old. Live on a road which can get busy with residents and school and college traffic.

That's very judgemental, my uncles cat has been found dead as it was shot by a BB gun, he was distraught. People have reasons if they want to keep them inside. Mine is an indoor cat because he is a ragdoll and we have unsavoury people in my area that like shooting cats.

Indoor. We have coyotes in the area.

Both very much outdoor. Boy cat doesn't leave the garden much, especially in the summer where he lays in the sun all day. Girl cat is a bit more of a wanderer, especially down the back alleys. They would go mad if they had to stay in.

I have a 3 year old male. He's been an indoor cat. We've moved to a house with a garden and he's really unhappy about not going outside.

Can anybody give any tips on how to make this transition? We are close to a main road and anxious that he won't be very streetwise.

You cat proof your garden or have a catio. It's not worth the risk tbh.

I’d use a catio or cat proof. You can diy them both.

Our Bengal was streetwise, terrified of cars and still got run over. Broke our hearts losing that cat.

Indoor by their choice. They run from an open door to safety of inside but both rescues and I wonder if hit if went to go outside hence their fear of open doors. Both lovely cats and love life running round the house

What tracker are you using please? When we started to let my current male rescue explore outside we tried a tracker but it was so large it was going to get caught in bushes.

Before my Scully cat went missing end of last year she went in and out as she pleased using the cat flap and never seemed to travel far, staying mostly in the garden.

However, since last years escapade I keep her in when it gets dark and monitor her more (I still get nervous if she's gone more than an hour!) though she's free to go out when she likes. Since her unknown travels she's much more skitty and doesn't really like to go out for long and seems more than happy looking out the window from the warmth of her bed or the windowsill.

We use Tractive:

tractive.com/en/pd/gps-tracker-cat

It is big but it's light and has a quick release. You can make it beep and flash if you need to find it in a hedge.

We lived on a cul de sac when we got our kittens. They had a catflap. They had free access outside during the day but they were all in by bedtime and catflap locked until morning.

We have moved and there is nowhere for a catflap so they have to ask to go out. they are in their mid-teens now and only want to go out in summer. Sometimes spring.

Indoors

where we live it is both culturally and legally required to keep cats indoors. Not everyone complies of course, but most do.

even if we built a cat-proof garden to stop them from leaving our property, it wouldn’t actually be safe to let them out. We have coyotes and absolutely gorgeous large hawks hunting small animals in our area. We know the coyotes get past our current fence and hunt in our garden because we see it on our external cameras. The hawks hunt during the day, but they are fast. mostly we see the results when they accidentally drop a piece.

We have 16 cats. I honestly believe that cats should be given the opportunity to be outdoors if possible. Cats are not as domesticated as dogs and still have a lot of their natural instincts and outside gives them the chance to use/act on them more readily than inside.

We have a mixture of everything. We live in a rural location, quiet road, backing on to fields. We have 4 who will murder you if you don't let them outside. We have 3 who are allowed out but are offended at the notion of being outside. We have 2 who are far too trusting and stranger friendly they would wander off with just about anyone, so they stay in. We have 1 who suffered brain damage at birth and literally cannot deal with the outside world. We have 3 very sought after pure breeds who we are harness training, 1 who is too young and needs to be neutered before we decide and 2 whom we debate over, my husband believing they are not smart enough to be outside. It is all about circumstances, location, personality and ability.

Oh wow! I have so many questions! Where do they all sleep? Do they all get on?

They sleep anywhere they want 😂we have kallax units filled with beds, blankets and cushions just for them. We have beds and cardboard boxes dotted all over the place and they have their own lounge with the wall lined with shelves, xxl cat trees, kalllax units and other bits. They generally all get on, we have the odd tiff here and there but nothing major. They tend to pair up and have a best friend/sibling they prefer.

We only have 3 cats, hope to expand to 4 as DH is no longer remembering to resist properly 🤣

If we had a secure garden I would definitely be campaigning for a fair few more.

I'd love more cats. I currently have 4 and I think so would kick us all out if I had anymore 🤣 I'm always on the look out for a abandoned box of kittens!