Can your cat roam outside your garden?

[CroccyWoccy]

If you have a cat that has access to the outdoors, can it get out of your garden and roam further afield? And if so, can it or does it get to a road?

Trying to adopt another cat and one of the objections raised by a cat rescue is that a cat could get out of our back garden, round the front of our house and onto the (very quiet) road at the front.

This strikes me as a perfectly ordinary set up and that most people don't have a cat-proofed garden? Or am I wrong?

Hmm I think that’s comparing apples with oranges… I’ve seen cats crossing roads and they are a lot more cautious than a toddler would be.

So have I, but I've also seen others who just run out with no sense of danger.

Personally for me the benefits don't outweigh the risks.

My 16 year old cats beg to differ 😂 Honestly, what rubbish. I know loads of people with cats, have had cats myself my whole life. I've only ever had one hit by a car, which was devastating but very rare.

In the US I can perhaps understand being more cautious in rural areas given the predators. Personally I would hate to try to keep a cat indoors.

This is why I've never adopted a cat from a rescue, because of their ridiculous road rule. You'd think I was living in the middle of a motorway by their standards, instead of your average suburban street. We even back into woodland so our cats have always had a good adventure playground on their doorstep.

We've had three cats. One came from a litter which a colleague offered me the choice of as "they all need homes or my DH will dump them in the canal", one was a stray rescued by another colleague, current cat was a stray who adopted us in lockdown.

I think if they were less strict about this rule, there would be fewer opportunists churning out kittens which they then sell to anybody who can offer the cash, as it is so hard to get a kitten from a rescue.

My cats are allowed to roam free. Toasty Girl Cat will follow me down to the post box, while Toasty Boy Cat feels that his daily routine must include a patrol of the school grounds next door.

It's clearly nonsense that a domestic cat in the UK that has access to roam outdoors has an average life expectancy of 2-5 years. Not saying there's no risks attached because their obviously are, but that stat quite simply can't be true, unless you're assuming a majority of cats die in early kittenhood.

My personal view is that, unless you live in a particularly risky location (near a busy road etc), that the pros and cons will somewhat balance each other out. My current cats have access to the outdoors but really don't roam at all, despite having the opportunity to do so - they don't care that much about going outside, but equally they're not exposed to a great deal of risk by doing so. Whereas my previous cat was criss-crossing roads all the time but she was a dedicated explorer who would have been most unhappy indoors. Yes her life involved more risk but that was her source of happiness.

It's like people - some people are content living a quiet life, some people are adrenaline junkies. The adventurous lifestyle is bound to involve more risk but those people are happy with that trade-off.

My garden backs onto a narrow country lane and beyond that fields. Cul de sac at the front. My cat is fine with these small roads and keeps well out of the way of cars....except mine which he always runs in front of to do is 'notice me' dance.

My garden is fully cat proofed with netting on the fences and summerhouse. I'm had the opposite problem the OP and have been refused by several rescues because I won't take the netting down as they believe cats have a right to roam!

I suspect if roaming cats survive their kitten/teenage years then they have a decent life expectancy - but most of the cats here that get killed on the roads are very young, sadly.

I know of quite a few cats who were sadly killed on their first few outings. For me that's just heartbreaking and not a risk I'm happy to take with mine.

They have free access to a nice safe garden with lots of things to climb and play with.

The tide is turning on this debate with more people and rescues understanding the benefits of creating safe and catproofed spaces. Mine have a large catio and they love spending time on the high platforms there.

It's not just road traffic accidents that are a risk. Just this week I've read about one local cat who died after ingesting anti-freeze and another one that was badly injured in a dog attack and might not pull through even after surgery.

It's not just road traffic accidents that are a risk

Exactly - I think people focus too much on roads and not on all the other risks of cats being allowed to roam.

Interestingly in many countries it's now considered cruel and neglectful to let your cats off your property (unless on a lead and harness) and it can even get you a fine and a ban on pet ownership (see Australia).

I do wonder if in fifty years time people will look on free roaming cats in the same way we now look on free roaming dogs:

Can I just ask apart from Australia what countries don’t allow cats to roam?

I think it’s cruel to only walk a cat on a lead. Cats are not dogs.
I did actually get a cat harness for my cat when we had moved house, for the first foray into the garden.
I made it as tight as I could. He wore it until the second he was in the garden then slithered out of it, went off to sniff things and we never spoke of it again.

@Scampuss

No it isn't. I live in cat central, every neighbour has one and they are all outdoor cats. We live in a quiet cul de sac admittedly but there are still cars coming and going and the main road is not too far away.

All the cats (except a new kitten) are at least 9 years old and one is 15.

Do cats get killed on roads? Sadly yes. Do most cats get killed before they are 2 years old? No, they don't.

In many places it's not a case of it being banned, it's a case of it not being encouraged or considered "best practise" anymore.

I personally find it really strange that people are allowed to buy animals and just let them roam free to do whatever they fancy with zero consequence to the owners. You wouldn't let your dog bugger off for days on end to shit on people's property or fight with the neighbours' dogs, after all.

Our garden is not enclosed and our cats can and do get out on to the (quiet) road. They were rescue cats but this didn't seem to be a problem (the rescue place did a home visit so they knew all of this).

I have 2 dogs and 0 cats, yet there are 3 cats lounging in my garden on the sun trap spots (shed roof, hammock stand, pergola) at all times and are drinking from dog bowls - dogs don't even react to this any more. No idea who's cats are those, but definitely have not seen them by the road. Cats are smart.

I too tried to get a rescue cat, unable to because I live close to a main road. A couple of streets back, but parallel.
I got a kitten off a friend instead. 10 years later still have him.

But thinking about it, most of the homes in the entire country must be close to a road. There are loads of cats around here, and we are all close to the main road.
Mine used to go begging and getting in empty houses and being fed by lots of neighbours, now hes too old and on a strict diet.
He does still go across our quiet road, never seen him near the main road.

It doesn't make much sense that rehoming charities wont rehome anywhere near a road then complain they are inundated. But then I dont run a rehoming cat charity. Maybe they have good reasons. It wont help that those wannabee adopters get a cat or kitten from elsewhere. That leaves them out of the adopting pool for a long time. Well I am, I now have one older getting grumpier cat, i cant adopt another while i still have him, so even if the rules were relaxed, i could not get another cat now.

Utter rubbish & scaremongering with your average lifespan of an outdoors cat being 2 years! My last 3 all explored the surrounding streets (luckily I'm 3 streets away from the main road) & lived to 14, 15 & 17 year. My parents cat is 3 & my cat is 4, both love to be outside exploring as a cat should be doing. My friend has a bengal cross that is 20 & still likes fresh air. The problem is that rescue charities are trying to impose Americanised ideas that are unnatural & detrimental to the physical & mental wellbeing of cats. ALL cats should have a form of access to fresh air whether it be a catio, harness walking, enclosed garden or free roaming.

"the average age of an outdoor cat is 2 years"

Sorry but that is absolute rubbish! Where on earth did you get that statistic? Are you in the US? I've heard all manner of scaremongering from US friends about how unhealthy, prone to illness, etc our poor outdoor cats must be ... either things must be very different over there, or it's just some nonsense spun by the indoor cat cultists to make them feel more comfortable about depriving their cats of a normal, natural cat life.

I would say - IF you live on a very busy road, or on a prairie populated entirely by cat-eating eagles, or in an area where cougars come into people's gardens to feast on pets - just maybe, don't have a cat?

Judging by the amount of cats passing through our back garden a lot of people allow their cats to roam.
Disclaimer: I don’t mind.

In response to the OP rather than the absurd statistical claim made earlier , in my admittedly limited experience, many cats who live in a terrace and aren't let out the front rarely bother to go round the front unless they have to, if there are pleasant places out the back for them. My first cat as an adult was mine as a student in a university town. We lived in the middle of a terrace and she went out the back and enjoyed our little garden and those of the neighbours. She hardly ever made it over all the fences and walls of 6 or so houses and back round the front, apart from one time when she was quite young and got lost - and ended up on our front doorstep crying pathetically. We were crying pathetically too as we thought she was lost forever (it had been 3 hours ...) and were watching The Aristocats to cheer ourselves up. It didn't work.

She was great though - at the back of our garden, over the wall, was the local pub garden. We'd go round by the pavement and she'd pop over the wall when she heard us, and we'd sit together in the beer garden. Happy days.

Then I sloughed off student life and moved in with my bf in a house in the 'country' (edge of a village, after Reading it was the countryside to me!). She TOTALLY recreated herself as a huntin', shootin' type and started bringing back baby rabbits. She had the best life ever until she had a stroke, which (obviously) had nothing whatsoever to do with her normal, natural outdoor life.

Conversely, I have a good friend who last year got a kitten and they decided that he'd be an indoor cat. They live, like us, set back off a road at the edge of the village with a huge garden and then fields backing, and they enjoy having their patio doors open all summer long. I have to admit I was sceptical - but he is now so unused to going out that he doesn't really try much, and I'm actually worried that when he inevitably does sneak out unsupervised, he'll come a cropper because he hasn't been able to develop any road sense. He is also obese, which for a cat of his age is tragic and actually makes me quite cross. They're trying to restrict his food intake a bit but I just want to scream 'oh FFS just let him out and run it off!'

I agree with a PP who suggested that rescues in the UK are adopting more and more American ideas about cat safety, but I also think this society is becoming a lot more risk adverse generally, and this is just one example. Cats need to roam - most want to - and unless you're living somewhere very unsuitable for that, you should let them if you want your cat to live a fulfilled, happy life. Rescue centres will have to accept that if they continue to be so unreasonable and picky, we will continue to go to commercial sites for our cats. I'm currently into my second month of actively searching - combing all the rescue centres in this county and a few others. I rarely even get a response saying no. I don't know where all the rescue centres that are snowed under are, but not round here, apparently. I really don't want to go to a commercial site but I think we're going to have to.

My cat is an outside cat and he is 14. Street smart. Looks for cars. Mostly now just lays in the sun. Would love to have the link to the research that says outdoor cats mostly only live till they are two.

People used to before about the late 80s

There were a couple of dogs - one a Jack Russell and the other a mongrel - who used to spend most of their day on their door step where I grew up in London. The Jack Russell used to walk up and down it's part of the road but wouldn't cross it. He (I think it was a he) would chase you if you ran and get yappy.

The mongrel would circuits of the block, and sometimes cross the road to try and get in the corner shop. This was to get attention and food. The mongrel was calmer and would ignore you if you ran. The mongrel could actually be stroked unlike the Jack Russell.

Yes he can roam
Because of the cat I adopted previously and the fact his fosterer now owns a charity, they basically said "give her whatever cat she wants"
Mine isn't really fussed about going out though, he sits on the windowsill yelling at the birds and that's about it