Letting Kitten Outside

[watersoul]

I’m looking for some advice around letting our kitten outside alone. He is 6 months and is castrated and microchipped. He has also had his injections and flea/worm treated, I have let him
in the back garden with us and he loves it. We don’t have a cat flap yet but I would like to leave the back door open on warm days when I’m working from home and let him wander in the garden. The garden is quite secure but I’m sure he’ll
learn to climb the fences soon. There are quite a few neighbourhood cats around and I’m worried about them attacking him. He’s not big for his age. Any advice on how to do this? He cries to go out often and I feel bad but am very nervous of him getting lost.

Cat proof your garden , that way he gets to catch the sun and you don’t have to worry about him getting lost or being beaten up

Thanks @tinyspiny. How do you go about cat proofing?

There are a few different ways and also companies that will come and do it for you - have a Google .

We need to see your kitten, OP.

The usual advice is to let a cat out before a mealtime (so they come back because they’re hungry!). Our boy was one when we adopted him so a bit older, but I took him out for short spells and kept an eye on him, then gave him treats when we came in so he associated coming in with something nice. I’d read that sprinkling used litter around the garden perimeter helps to create a boundary with the cat’s scent, so I did that too. (No idea if that’s true though.) He’s very good about coming to his name, so I was pretty confident he would return if called - and he did/does.

Our previous girl we adopted in high summer, so when we started letting her out it was much easier as we were in and out of the garden and back door open. She started toileting outside immediately and rarely ever used the litter tray after that, but it’s taken our boy a year to start (not always) toileting outside. We don’t have a cat flap so if we are out or in bed, the cat is in.

We have loads of cats round here - our sassy girl used to see them off pronto, but our wee fella is keen to make friends!

Ours have free access during daylight - so in the summer that’s around 7am-10pm and in winter around 8am-4pm.

We got them into the routine of being fed when they’re shut in for the night so they know to come in for their evening meals. In winter that means they get a few Dreamies at 4pm to get them inside.

None have ever gotten lost and while we’ve had a couple of visible injuries, none have ever required vet treatment and all the cats are so much happier now they have their freedom.

Your approach will end up being pretty personal to you. Some people are very protective and build catios, invest in expensive perimeter fencing etc or get trackers for their cats. For me this wasn't possible and the only real thing I could control was when and how long my cat was outside. Mine had a scrap early on and it knocked her confidence for a little bit but I think the cat put her in her place. Aside from the odd violent unneutered males, most cats would actually prefer not to get into a physical altercation as predictors, instinctively they know the cost is high...they're more likely to deploy the threatening body language, growling hissing, staring contests as they smartly know these are just as effective as a proper brawl without costing them any damage. At 6 months to a year they're still babies really and they think they're more grown up than they are (like teenagers). Limiting the time they go out can help keep their territory closer to home, and help them to become street wise gradually. Some cats are more roamy, others are happy to sit in a bush for hours on end and spy on the neighbours. Mine now just over 1.5 is pretty wise, she seems to know how the neighbourhood works, whose boss, which gardens peak her interest, which to avoid.

I like to keep my cats in at night so they are all trained to come to their names and I also have a bit of extra Pavlovs training in that they come when the dreamies are shaken and they get three in their bowl. They are fed meals so they come home for those.