What’s your cat’s routine, with going outside/being let in for the night, etc?

[JMSA]

Hi. We’ve had our lovely rescue cat for two months. For various reasons, there was a delay in her being able to go outdoors. So today was Day 1 of being allowed outside.
Obviously it’s a big novelty for her, so I’ve been like an anxious mother whose kid is off to school for the first time 😁 She has been in and out like a yo-yo, with me providing lots of praise and reassurance.
It occurred to me that I should really have a routine in place for this kind of thing. I don’t want her to go outside late at night. But I’m not sure from what time I should keep her indoors. What do you do?
We’re in a safe, quiet-ish neighbourhood with a big garden (which she has now ventured outside of). In Scotland, so it’s dark and cold pretty early. My concern is that she’ll be nipping my head to go outside every 5 minutes, now that she has a taste of it 😄
Thanks.

Is there any reason you don't want her going out at night. We have had a cat flap for all the cats we have had they come and go when they like. They tend to sleep at night but like going out early in the morning around 5 - 6am.

I have a microchip cat flap where you can programme the times it opens and closes. Also stops other cats coming into the house the main reason for getting it. Mine opens at 6.15am and closes at midnight. 9/10 she’s in before midnight especially in the cold weather. She has a litter tray if she gets caught short in the night. System works well for us. Ps. Congrats on your new fluffy companion!

I just bring mine in and don’t let them out, in winter they are in by 4 in the summer it can be later often 9/10. I just ignore them if they want out. They are perfectly fine and happy.

Presumably you have regular times you feed her, so only let her out for a few minutes just before feeding time. Because she will be hungry, it gives her an incentive to come back inside for grub.

Not letting her out at night is simple. Just don't do it.

Well today is the very first day she's ever been let out, so of course she shouldn't be going out at night yet.

I don’t let mine out overnight. She is old and did live as an indoor cat for many years in my flat. Moved to a house now with a garden.

my routine is I wake up and let her out. She comes in when I go to work and then give her breakfast. She goes out when I come back from work. Then spends the night meowing to go out or sitting at my feet until I move. Always in for bedtime where she comes upstairs for a cuddle. She is good, but is 15 now.

I was the same first time she went out. I was constantly looking out for her and worrying when she left the garden. But she came back when i called her name. She never died that indoors.

In winter she goes out for 15 mins at a time and only if it’s not raining or windy. Summer she will be out all day and night. But she only stays in the garden.

Thanks everyone. So, full disclosure. Many, many years ago when we got our old rescue cat, we were in our family home, a large townhouse. He was always nocturnal; I’d let him out at night and he’d be waiting by the back door at breakfast time. It worked for him, and for us.
Then we divorced and I moved into my flat with the cat; a large maindoor flat with garden. For years and until he died, I allowed my cat to stick to going outside at night. But it was brutal for me! He’d leap onto my bedroom windowsill several times in the night and miaow to be let back in. I didn’t have a full night sleep in years. If I kept him indoors, I’d hear him miaowing from the living room to be let back out.
I cannot go back to that. I want to learn from my mistakes and actually make it work for me too!
I think I’ll look into getting a cat flap installed.

My last cat used to scream to get out around 08:15am as I was heading to work, he would run onto the lawn, poop, then hang around under the hedge waiting on me or DH coming home 😆.

I think where possible, keep them in overnight, much safer in terms of road accidents etc. And, keep them in during dawn and dusk to help the local bird population.

Current cat can't go outside as she isn't able to be neutered (severe anaesthesia allergy), thankfully she hasn't had the urge yet although I'm dreading springtime!

I don’t let mine out at night. They come in for their tea and that’s them in until morning.

We don’t have a cat flap - we have a utility between the kitchen and back door so there would need to be two flaps or put one in the wall/window - so our cat is only out if we’re in to open/close doors for him. He tends to go out for a bit around lunchtime if someone is home, then in the evening goes out after his dinner, in, out about 10pm, in and doors locked for bed. He hops up at the kitchen window to come in.

I wouldn’t like him being out overnight even though we live in a very quiet one way street. We had the same routine with our previous girl cat and have been lucky that neither cat has particularly roamed (we do have a biggish garden) and have both come when called.

Previous (and sensible) cats have all had 24/7 catflap access.

Latest (and not sensible) cat has a curfew, which she's quite happy with, and has flap access from around 7am until around 5pm, on nice days she stays out later but so far never later than about 9pm. We do 'cat playtime' around 5.30pm and she gets quite annoyed if she's late in and misses it!

We have a fairly good routine established. We don’t let ours out when it’s dark, so the cat flap gets unlocked 6-7.30am depending on the time of year, and then she’s shut in after dinner in summer/when she comes in for her afternoon nap in winter. In summer she only comes inside for meals and it can be tricky to get her in at dusk (she’ll get a 🐭 take-out rather than come in for dinner sometimes), but usually the lure of the lick-e-lix wins out. She always has a lick-e-lix before we go to bed.

I got a rescue when I retired. Her cat flap opens after breakfast at about 9.00 when people have gone off to work and there are few cars about.
( Except weekends when she can go out earlier as most of the workers are having a lie in and there are few cars)
She usually comes in at 11am for a couple of dreamies and to finish breakfast. Out again until 1 pm then returns for a handful of kibble.
Out again until about 3 pm when she is tempted back in with a lick e lix to avoid the return of the school run and people coming back home from work in cars. Catflap locked then until morning
She's not bothered because she has dinner and a catnip mouse to look forward to.

We have three cats. They’re allowed out after breakfast and then they get shut in once it’s dark - in winter that’s about 4pm but in summer it can be as late as 10pm. They all come in when they’re called.

In summer we’ll leave a window open for them all day (or the door if we’re home) - in winter the window is open while we’re out, and if we’re home they either miaow or tap on the glass to go in and out.

I live in a flat so my cat just goes on the balcony 💕💕 I don't let her out in the street because there's a cat curfew where I live 😊

We have a cat flap, cat goes outside as he pleases. It seems to be more about the weather than the time of day - he's outdoors most of the time in warm summertime, and indoors when it's cold/wet. We put him out if he starts charging around inside, our house isn't big enough to adequately provide for the zoomies 😂 We live in a pretty rural location, so road safety isn't a big worry for us, especially now he's middle-aged and doesn't go so far.

We don't have a cat flap so the cats demand entry to and egress from the house by yelling at us or banging on the door (photo enclosed). We usually manage to get them in before our bed time - but if we don't they are stuck outside for the night.
In summer they are free to escape at night through the wide open bedroom window anyway.

I wish I'd kept mine in at night from the start but a, she would've shouted the house down (a rescue loud bengal) and b, she's very nervous and night time is quieter. Cat's prefer dusk and dawn, so I think a cat flap is a must. Get a chip one though, really stops unwanted visitors! We had a in tact male come in and spray over all her furniture, not impressed.

Congrats on the new member of the family!

Do you have a house/kennel in the garden, for that occasion when stuck out in the winter?

I think it depends a lot on where you live and what your cats are like. We don't let ours stay out after dark now - the girlie doesn't go far from the house but I know our lovely boy cat will wander further. Where we lived before, they had a cat flap to go in and out but it felt like a safer area. Now I'm happier knowing where they are at night, the cats have got used to the routine and are fine with it 🐈

No - but there are plenty of places for them to go (woodland over the road, under our cars, neighbour has an open fronted wooden structure etc.). They are fitted out with very neat fur coats so I don't think they suffer too much if they decide to be dirty stop outs on a winter night.

Are love being out at night. Totally recommend going out with her at night, go for a
walk round the block, around the other houses, she will follow you and will deiscover her way back with you. Do this for a good few weeks at night when it is really quiet. She will love it. Also when walking do a whistle for her that she will know is you. Mine is (whistle short whistle long and repeat twice) they all
xome running when they hear it. Mine all do anyways, all
my neighbours laugh when they see me.

This isn’t a bad shout actually. So far, mine has only been going out the back, as that’s where our garden is. But she’s going to have to become familiar with the front at some point(and you can’t easily get round my front from the back). I love the thought of doing that with her!

I don't have a cat flap so prefer my cats to be in by 10pm, although they don't always do what I want! Some people like their cats to be in when it gets dark, because that's when road accidents are more likely to happen, and some let them have free access.
I back into a large area of trees and overgrowth, with no road, so my cats go there and I feel reasonably confident that they are ok. They don't usually go out the front because it's less fun.

I only let mine out for a few hours a day during summer as the only access meant leaving my bedroom window wide open (ground floor flat).

I picked a phrase that I said every time I fed them as kittens to get them used to associating it with food. I also gave them treats at 6pm every day while also saying that phrase.

Within a couple of week, calling it out had all three of them lined up in front of me excited for food and treats so I could shout it through the window and get them all in quickly.

It also makes for a fantastic party trick for guests - three sleeping cats lounging around all suddenly stampeding towards the treat cupboard with just 2 words.

Just don't use Nom Nom like I did - it sounds a little to close to NO so the naughty cat was getting excited when I was telling him off. I had to switch to saying stop.