Does anyone have their cats outside overnight?

[ScaredButUnavoidable]

I don’t know if this will be controversial or not but I’m just trying to gather some thoughts….

We have two cats in our house, we’ve had them for a few months that we got from a rescue and we adore them.

The problem is their overnight behaviour.

They are constantly waking us up.

My husband works very long shifts and is finding it very difficult being frequently woken up overnight and he’s exhausted.

My older child has epilepsy and I’m worried the constant disturbed sleep is starting to going to risk the stability of his seizures.

We have a cat-flap so they can come and go as they please abd although they use it in the day they will not use it at night and instead they just sit and cry at the back door constantly when they want to go out (until either I or DH get up and let them out).

We also have litter trays in the house so they have the option to use them too, but they won’t.

They also have water and dry food accessible to them overnight.

We went through a period of confining them to one room overnight (with food, water and litter trays) so they wouldn’t wake us/disturb us, and although it did solve that problem, it led to other problems so we had to stop doing that.

I’m now at the point of considering putting them outside at night and providing them with outdoor shelter. We’ve seen some really nice options (elevated and insulated units) and although they are expensive we are obviously happy to pay it (they can obviously come and go from the unit as they wish to).

Has anyone else been in a similar situation or have a cat they put outside overnight?

Thank you

If you mean a contained catio type thing then that would be good. If it protects wildlife from the cats and the cats also from wildlife.

Ours stay in, because we have foxes and badgers and because i don't want them to hunt small animals. But they are older (23 and 16) and tend to sleep all night on our bed (and my head in the case of the 23 year old).

I had a cat who was often outside all night. We couldn't have a cat flap due to the house layout and he'd often disappear and not return in time for me to let him in. (For years I waited up for him but when that started creeping into the small hours I stopped). We had a shed he could access with a raised comfortable bed inside and he always seemed happy there. He would emerge in the morning all sleepy eyed. I think if you're willing to set up a warm shelter they'll be fine. At least give it a go would be my advice!

No, never. It is against Cats Protecton advice due to them more likely being involved in traffic accidents. They got locked in when they returned for their evening meal which is between 5 and 6pm.

None of our cats have woken us up during the night but we've always given them some biscuits for supper when we go to bed.

Edit - I see you said they have access to biscuits. Have you done the hunt, eat, sleep routine? This is where you play with them for 10-20 minutes and get them involved in hunting the toy, then you feed them, and then they pass out for hours. It does work but you have to have intense play and get their hunting instincts involved but it shouldn't take long. Intense and short is the key.

I found that ensuring they were outside / active as much as possible in the daytime meant the cat was more tired and would sleep at night. Days when they were inside and dozing meant awake at night.

Adopted a feral kitten 12 years ago. In the summer you couldn't keep her in at night. Now she's getting on has calmed down. Luckily we're well away from traffic. We sleep downstairs with windows open so she occasionally jumps in during the night.

We don’t have a flap and don’t let our cat out at night, never have. She’s not allowed in our bedroom either as she’d wake us up at the crack of dawn. As long as she’s got enough food to last the night, she’s ok.

We try and put ours out at night as they wake us up to go out otherwise (no cat flap). Usually it’s me being woken at 3-5am with a paw on the face or one climbing over the bedside table.
We are rural though and they have access to a shed via a cat flap if needed.

Our cat is always outside at night. He also used to bother us a lot in the evenings /night if we made him stay in. we don’t have a cat flap.

His routine now is that he comes in at about 630/7 ish when we get up, sleeps all day till 6pm then comes down for his food. Then he is in/out/in out between 6 and about 10, then after 11 ish he heads out for the last time and stays out. A few times a year, he will wail at our back window where we sleep along to be let in at say 3am, so he know how to attract our attention if he really wants to come in.

we have farmland near us so a good roaming area for him.

Mine used to be shut out at night. Similar to you in that he would yowl at the door to be let out. We didn't have a car flap. He could get in to the shed if he needed shelter. I think it sounds fine, you are going to make sure they have somewhere cosy to go.

I had a few very sleepless nights when they were kittens training them but they sleep on the bed with me now and know that I won't respond to them until I turn the lamp on in the morning now.

I'd spend time with them before bed playing and then give them some treats so they were tired out and full, then popped them in bed with me. Once I closed my eyes I just fully ignored them. They'd constantly try and interact with me for the first couple of nights but once they learned they never got a reaction they stopped trying.

Now they are adults we cuddle a bit in bed while I read and they settle down to sleep as soon as I turn the lights off. They've only woken me up twice in the last 10 years, once was when my late OH had an accident and was injured and they all jumped on me until I got up and went to find him, and the second when one of them had a seizure during the night.

Mine are all semi feral or stray and I have one or two indoors in the winter at night but luckily they all want to be out all night from spring onwards.

But yes we have places for them to go. I leave my pottery/potting shed open and one of them loves to sleep in the rafters, so I put a mattress up there on boards with access up the side using shelves and a walkway for her.

I also have to make sure that everything is covered so that none of them drink the pottery water when I'm not there.

On our terrace we have furniture which they all love to sleep on so we turn the cushions over so we aren't sitting on muddy footprints.

I also have set up a sleeping station with a heat mat which is on all winter and turned off in the spring. I did put it on last night for them because when they are wet they dry off on it, and it hammered it down yesterday.

They also have a polytunnel which has a few places for them to sleep even when the plants are in there, I leave some cat sized non planted areas and put old cushions down for them.

And they have above next door's doorway which is where their mum took them after they were born, which they retreat to in times of stress such as when we have visitors or the badger in the woods comes round.

I also have water stations all round the garden for them which I keep topped up all year. And I make little sofas for them out of pallets which I dot around. And climbing frames with high stations that they can lie on in the sun.

Basically its their garden and home so I make it as nice for them as I can. I've even cut flat places into trees when I've had to prune off significant branches so they can climb up and sit on.

And I have a camera on the terrace so I can check in on them if I wake up in the night.

There are some sold as insulated and weather proof on Amazon for £20 by the way so that might be a good way of trying it out. I'm guessing the £20 ones won't last all that long but better than paying a lot for a fancy one to find that actually it isn't a solution for you.

My cat will never use the cat flap during the day but for some reason he knows when it's dark and he wants to go out he has to use it. He goes out very early in the morning mostly otherwise he's tucked up cosy on the sofa.

It is generally agreed that cats should stay indoors at night for their own safety. However some cats haven’t read that rule.

I’m currently battling with a cat that wants to be outside at night.

Can you work out what their problem is with the cat flap at night if they are happy to use it in the day? Could it be that it’s dark outside and they can’t be sure their exit is safe? Or are other animals passing by the door and it’s freaking them out as cats are territorial. I’ve read that it just takes one bad experience to change behaviour. Perhaps leave a light on inside if it can illuminate their exit, or motion sensor lights outside to deter passing animals.

You said you had confined them to one room but it led to other problems. Is there any way that could solved with some ‘outside the box’ solutions.

Is it possible that a cat has tried to get in the cat flap at night? I’d get a couple of cameras first, one to see what they do around the cat flap at night and second one to see what’s going on outside the cat flap - maybe that will throw up some clues?

We have a cat flap and our come in and out over both day or night. I was going to adopt a cat from the RSPCA - at that time we’d had cats for a few years and still had one. During the home visit I was told they were not happy about my cat flap. So we did not have a cat from them.

Yes cats like to go out at night. It's not right to keep them in. They'd prefer to be locked out for a couple hours than not allowed out at all.

Try and time it so they don't wake you up to get back in. But can't you leave a window open for them now the weather's warmer? Obviously what you really need is a cat flap.

You took the cat on. It is your responsibility to ensure it is safe at night, not out killing wildlife, fighting and potentially getting into trouble with traffic, foxes, dogs etc.

Build a catio and put them out a night but don't let them roam. That would be irresponsible and only in your best interests. In winter you might need a warmer solution.

Cats can be a pain in the arse at night. That's what they do. To answer your question. No O definitely would not let my cat/s roam free at night.

We live in a very closed crescent of about 6 houses, there is no traffic and there are no roads nearby with standard traffic on either.

My children play with them lots - lack of stimulation during the day/evening is definitely not the issue 🤣

When they go out during the day they very rarely go anywhere except the back garden.

It’s so hard to know what to do.

I obviously don’t want to put them at any risk but I’m not sure how much longer we can go on in this situation 😢

We do have a cat flap which they use happily during the day (it is on the front door) but at night they wont use it as they just want to go out into the back garden, so they sit at the back door (where we can’t insert a cat flap) and cry and cry and cry until one of us gets up and let’s them out.

Build them a catio.

Our cat was a rescue, the shelter found her living in a bin with kittens. She loved being outside and would often not come back in, even when she was very old. The only problem at this time of year though I'd the nesting birds, the young chicks and fledglings are incredibly easy prey. We had to keep our cat in at this time of year or she would get the chicks.

Never. Even when we’re in the garden late with them in summer, they get bribed back in with treats. They can’t leave the garden anyway but I want to know they’re in at night.

@Shedmistress- your garden sounds magical!

Two of mine prefer to go out but one stays in. A fox shouldn't be a problem for a grown cat, in fact we had a local fox who i saw walking along side by side with three cats.

No - we keep our cat in overnight. He’s shut in the kitchen at bedtime or he’s a total pest, but once he’s in there at night he knows it’s sleep time and settles in his bed straight away. Eg DP was away at a sport thing in another city on Friday and didn’t get home until about 2am, I was already in bed - cat barely stirred when he went in to make a drink before getting undressed etc. He has a cat tree, bed, litter, water fountain, toys and food - if he hasn’t eaten everything, we don’t give him a meal at bedtime specifically - in there, and it’s a big room.

Our previous girl had a very occasional night on the tiles on really hot high summer days when she just refused to come in. She’d sit under a bush by the patio and glare at me when I tried to get her. I’d leave the back door propped open on those nights so she could get into the utility at least, and just lock the middle door.

I’m probably a bit over anxious, but our boy is ginger and a bit of a dafty. I wouldn’t sleep if I left him out at bedtime. (DP grew up with cats who were out overnight and would be more inclined to give him free roam.)