Is your cat an indoor or outdoor cat?

[LiveLifeToTheFull2]

Just that really....

I posted a post on Reddit about advice and tips on how best to let 6 month old kittens out for the first time and got an absolute roasting 😳
Apparently it's a thing to not let your cat outdoors and it's bad for the environment and dangerous for the cat etc

I'm already so anxious about letting them out for the first time soon but am also aware they are cats and have an instinctive nature to explore and enjoy the outside world
They keep looking outside in the garden at the birds, bugs etc and I can tell they desperately want to get out on our garden.
We live in a semi rural area with fields surrounding our harden garden and I hope that is enough to keep them out the back and not the front where there is a cul de sac road
Neighbours are all lovely and cat owners so not worry about any weirdos farming the cats

🥴

I live in a terraced house in London. I have two Maine Coons. I do have high walls, but also a tree that grows up near it. So I wrapped aluminium around part of it so they couldn't climb to the top to get on the fence. This worked while they were little but of course they soon got big enough.
Anyway they do go off, and at one stage if I went out the front to walk the dogs at night one of them would run out the back, all along the back of houses and join us where there was a cut through and join us! One hangs outside much of the day, usually going from the top of one garden shed to the other. Only once have I had a mouse brought in.
If not home when it's feeding time I just call them and within a minute or two they are there so guess they don't wander far.
I wouldn't have a cat if I had to keep it inside, and over the years I've lost a couple to cars, but still wouldn't.

Outdoor. We adopted our cats from a rescue. They were two years old and had never been allowed outdoors. We live in a rural area and to see them adventure outside has been a joy. Yes they get fleas and ticks and we spent £500 recently on vets bills for a scratched eye. It's worth it to see them enjoying themselves so much.

We had a ragdoll who we took on as a kitten while we lived in a flat. We were advised she shouldn't go out but we did try letting her into the communal garden under supervision which she didn't enjoy at all.

When we moved to a house she loved the garden and didn't try and escape at all. She very sadly passed away in September.

We now have another ragdoll who has always wanted to get out.

Fortunately the garden is very secure and she seems happy to spend most of her day there. She is still young so I am worried she will want to roam further but we will cross that bridge if we come to it.

I think it's really dependant on the cat.

Indoor. Will have always keep them inside. They're happy 😊

I'm not sure that they can ever make their mind up!

Indoors. He's happy and safe.

People often treat cats as low maintenance housemates, indoor cats need stimulation and enrichment and that doesn't seem to be what people want from having a cat. But you wouldn't let your dog or hamster come and go as it pleases. The lifespan of an indoor cat is significantly higher than outdoor cats. Everyone I know with outdoor cats has had them hit by cars. They're not wild animals and shouldn't be treated as such.

Indoors and soon to have a catio

9 month and 5 year old cats both go out.

Had two rag dolls growing up both went out.

We don't have a cat flap so I shout them in from 10pm ish but sometimes they wake me around 1am to come in!!!!

Was your daughter ok with that? Is she indoors / outdoors now?

@ObsidianTree

I kept my kittens in until they were both neutered/spayed

This is what everyone does anyway (if you are a responsible cat owner).

We got our cat when she was a year old and she had been kept indoors, we let her out now and she doesn't venture much past the garden, perhaps next door at most, and comes in to use her litter tray. She is no danger to the birds we feed in the garden, she hasn't a clue how to catch them. My dds cat is the same so I think if they are kept in until they are grown up they are less likely to be a menace to wildlife or shit in your neighbours garden.

It's not cruel to keep a cat indoors as long as they have stimulation.

Growing up our cats were allowed out and every single one of them either got run over or went missing and never returned.

Keeping your cat safe from danger is a perfectly responsible thing to do.

As for the person who let her DIL's indoor cat outside while she was away, shame on you.

She goes outdoors now, but they've moved to a quiet area.

Had another friend with a maine coon who would stalk and catch gulls, never small birds just gulls.

The Reddit cat subs are mostly US based and it’s very different to the UK!

I could never have a completely indoors cat, they are animals and need to be able to at least go in the garden if they want to.

Our cats are indoor atm becuase we live near lots of busy roads and it's quite a rough area. We're moving soon to a place that is surrounded by farmers fields and three houses within walking distance. So they'll be allowed outside then.

Outdoor. When he was forced to stay in whilst wearing a cone it almost broke him. He loves his freedom. Do I worry about traffic? Yes very much so but he needs to lead a full cat life.

Mines outdoor, we back onto fields. He has lots of people he goes to visit as well as the farm. When he was a kitten he found his own limits after following me a few times and encountering bigger scarier cats. He goes in and out all day and night but when he was smaller we'd shut him in over night. He loves to climb trees and roll around in dust.

Nobody thinks it's ok to let dogs roam around unsupervised, do they?

Indoor, but I realise that's not the norm in the UK. I live in a city centre flat and don't have a private garden, and I worry too much about the busy roads.

I would absolutely not force a cat that's been used to going out to stay indoors, though - when I adopted my two I made sure to only consider indoor cats (and TBH I don't think any rescue would home cats that are used to going outside to an indoor-only home).

My cats are happy and safe, and have plenty of stimulation (plus they have each other to play with). If I move to somewhere with a garden at some point, though, I would quite like to fence it properly so that they have secure access to outside.

Previous cats all had 24/7 flap access. Current cat has an overnight curfew.

@DirectionToPerfection well no, but they're very different animals! Plus people walk dogs, or at least they should.
I think where I live the dangers to the girls are minimal. I said, they are older cats and spayed and don't go far. We have a nice big grassy communal garden (I'm in it right now and they're both out here, just chilling). I live on a quiet road with a 20mph limit, and they seem to have some inbuilt sense about staying away from moving cars. Even the sweet-but-dim one stays away. If I have any concern, its a very large, stunning beautiful and extremely aggressive British shorthair that lives over the road. I don't know whats up with that cat, he really hates everyone and every other cat, and he's walked right into my flat before now. I've tried squirting water at him, he doesn't care. He backs away from the water then comes righ back.

Mine used to be outdoor (always in overnight though) but when we moved she became indoor as the roads are nearer, and whilst on 30mph in theory, in practice I'm not sure how many actually stick to that. She's an older girl now and hasn't been bothered, and I got the garden cat proofed so she can still potter about and sunbathe and chase bugs.

If she had been unhappy I would have had to have let her out and take her chances. But I think she has been much more happy and settled in her safe little environment. In the old house she would regularly get stress related cystitis, which I think was from neighbourhood cats bullying her and getting into her territory. Now she's no competition she's not had a single episode since we moved over 2 years ago.

My set up probably wouldn't suit a very active, adventurous wanderer, but it suits my cat fine, and if I was to get another i'd do so knowing the limitations of my set up and just look for another pudding of a cat :)

Our old boy is 16 now so spends around 90% of the day indoors although he does go out more when the weather is nice as he likes a wee sunbathe. He won't use a litter tray so has a cat flap and goes in and out as he wishes. This has always worked well for us.

My daughter's cat has never been outside other than on a harness and lead in their garden.

Lots of the cat subs on Reddit are American and having outdoor cats in America is much much rarer than in the UK.

This.

Though ours are indoors with catio - my ideal would be to cat proof entire garden but not currently an option.

It depends on location and on cat personality.

Here there is busy road which we are nearer but also seen a lot of cats that are apparently great with traffic have near misses on quieter road hour house faces when looking out from our windows - work desk faces road.

Ours go out on leads, have catio access, cat shelves and sleeping beds round one large room near ceiling - and get played with a lot.