Cat road safety dilemma

[KittenKaboodle]

This is a WWYD - I know it’s a decision only we can make, but it’s helpful to hear from other cat owners.

Recently moved house. Our purchase fell through and we’ve ended up in a rental found at short notice. We are in a rural area, with fields at the back and sides, but immediately fronting onto a 30 mph road. It’s the main road through the village and can quickly change from pin drop quiet to lorries thundering through. We’ve moved from a very urban area but we don’t think our cat (who was a stray) is road-savvy. She is a mad keen hunter who is always exploring and seems to have no sense of danger.

She has been having a great time mousing in the fields, but today I found her strolling down the middle of the road, without a care in the world. There are literally acres of fields and hedgerows for her to explore, and yet she’s wandering in the road. Thank god there were no cars at that point.

Last January she dragged herself home with a broken pelvis, which required surgery and 3 months of cage rest. A year on and I’m imagining even worse.

I am terrified about letting her out again. This is a temporary home for us but realistically we’re going to be here for another 3-6 months. She will be utterly, utterly miserable shut inside for all that time, especially as she is in hunting heaven here. It’s not possible for us to cat-proof the garden. But I will never forgive myself if she gets hit by a car - we would never buy a house this close to a road for that very reason.

I just don’t know what to do for the best ☹️

I have this fear every day. All our cats are semi feral or strays, and the one ex stray indoor cat goes out most mornings and I stress about him every day until I see his little ears outside the door waiting to come back in. We've lost 2 ferals to vehicle accidents, we didn't realise how fast vehicles thunder by, and we live in a little village in rural France. The speed limit outside ours is 80kmh which is about 50mph. The cats don't stand a chance. Even the savvy streetwise ferals. We never intended to have cats, they all just found us. I shoo them away from the road end of the garden but they are intrigued as to where I am going and automatically want to follow.

I'd say she had 3 months of cage rest so she knows how to be indoors, so I'd keep her in. My indoor boy gets extremely distressed if we don't let him out, or I'd keep him in all the time.

Could you buy a standalone temporary catio that you could put cat in to have some time outside? You could take it with you when you move or sell it.

I'd not be risking free roaming with what you've described, especially the wandering in the road. I actually think roads that go from dead quiet to very busy are worse than consistently busy as cats get complacent.

@AlisonDonut I’m so sorry to hear about your cats. The fear with your ex-stray is exactly how I feel. Like your boy, mine lives to be outside and gets distressed if she can’t go outside when she wants. It was a very long and tough 3 months last year, and she hated being stuck in when we first moved here. But the risk is so real. I swing between thinking it’s better for her to have a short and happy, rich life than be miserable and bored inside, vs the fact this isn’t forever, whereas if the worst happens…. But she is having such a brilliant time racing around across the fields - it feels cruel to shut her in (though if I knew we were moving in a month I’d do it in a heartbeat).

@TemporaryCatSlave She will hate a catio - she has been racing through the fields around us like a little panther - but it may be the least worst option. My DP thinks I’m worrying too much, but now she’s done this once I fear there’s a risk she’ll repeat it and may not be so lucky. As you say, quiet roads can be worse in many respects. There’s not even any pavement here: it’s hedge, steep verge, road.

I am in the "have a wonderful, free and healthy life" despite the dangers camp.

We lost a young cat on our road, exactly the same type and location as yours, but Arthur, now 10, is also an outdoor hunter of the fields. He is so happy and fit. He is perhaps a bit savvy, I have watched him looking up and down the road before crossing, but I've also seen him sitting in the middle of it!

It's a risk, but I would never restrain him in any way.