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

Thank you - we've had 17 ferals and strays living here since we came in 2021 we are in rural France and have 7 here at the moment. I want them in the garden not on the road so I make it as hospitable as I can for them.

Mine comes and goes when she likes, we have an electronic cat flap. We've tried to keep her in overnight and she violently scratches at the thing until we let her out. Same if we try and keep her in one room. We've just accepted she's a wild and free kind of cat. Downside is she brings mice in to snack on 🤮 and we live by a road, but she's living the life she prefers.

At night generally she sleeps on the bed til about 3am, heads out for a few hours then comes back to sleep. In the summer she can be out for hours though.

I agree with this. If my cat's out when I go to bed I shout of him and he comes in. Occasionally he's not there and will be out all night. I'd never lock him in early as he creates madly to be out. I took him in when a friend died and would feel mean locking him up when he's always been free to roam. I'm up early for work so he wouldn't be out too many hours anyway. It's not like I've gone on holiday for a week!

Cats Protection have outdoor pens for fosterers. The OP isn't just kicking the cats out.

OP do what you need to do.

My bedroom window is always open in the summer months so my cat will come and go when it is warm through the window. I'm on a quiet cul-de-sac so the only traffic is a police car about twice a year.

If we did make this choice they would be out between 10.30pm-6.30am.

Can you prop the catflap open? I have a cat who hates the catflap and just whacks it repeatedly so I often just prop it open for her. In summer I sometimes leave the outside living room door open for them only we have feral cats where I live and they come in and pinch the food and annoy my lot so it’s not the best idea!

My 3 beasties sometimes wake me up at night but I don’t mind, I’m so used to it I go back to sleep quickly.

All the cats I’ve ever owned over 40+ years have sometimes stayed out over night. They choose. I think the scenario you describe is just fine. Do it if it suits your family.

I wouldn’t do this because it’s too cold at night in winter and there is more danger (other cats, foxes, traffic) at night.

i did manage to largely solve the problem for my little terror by getting her a ‘tent’ in my room with a cat heated pad for her to sleep on. I exhausted her with loads of play in the evening, give her a warm meal before bedtime and she now usually sleeps through the night! It’s like having a toddler!

my childhood cat was outdoors at night - she slept in the garage where the boiler was so at least it was warm ish but I feel very guilt looking back

My cat is an absolute pain in the arse at night time. He gets locked in the kitchen diner where he has food, water, litter tray, velvet chair, cat bed, toys.

I can't be doing with all the galloping around, up and down the stairs, meowing and moaning, he saves jumping on the bed and biting any limb out of the covers to get attention ... on the very rare occasion you have achieved a state of deep sleep as a menopausal woman, as a special treat.

Annoying as hell, but no, I wouldn't lock him outside overnight for all the reasons above.

We are in a terrace with a high walled garden. One cat sometimes leaves the terrace,
but very rarely. They know where the dogs live and can jump up onto sheds/walls etc., so are completely safe.

As far as I can tell they both go out at night, coming back in at some time between 4:30-5:30 (though will jump on the bed to let me know if it is raining!).

They each have a double-walled plastic cat shed, with a blanket wrapped around memory foam. One doesn’t like visitors/workman so uses it in winter too.

I think they are probably out as soon as it gets light at this time of year as they have both been sound asleep since about 6am!

It hasn’t been dogs that have been an issue for my cat - it’s other cats.

There is a large, unmetered male a few doors up who fights with every cat in the neighborhood. My cat has had three abscesses in the last four years from cat bites - very painful and as a result I know keep her largely in doors. She only gets out into the garden when I am with her.

We shared a semi ferel cat with the neighbours. He died at night in a fight with a fox or cat. We were devistated.
Current cat is bribed inside the house. She came from battersea who advised that cats need to come inside at night now.

When we had them confined to one room overnight we noticed a deterioration in their relationship with each other (they were a bonded pair).

We spoke to the vet and the Rescue Centre who both advised that confining them to one room together may be the cause and so we stopped doing it and things then returned back to normal.

Although they are bonded, one cat is much more reliant on the other (always wanting to be near the other cat for example etc) and the more independent cat does need her space at times otherwise she feels very overwhelmed. When we started confining them in one room it took away the option for the more independent cat to be able to escape the other cat (for want of a better word) and her reaction was to then start getting aggressive towards the other cat, which obviously we didn’t want.

Now we have given them back the freedom of having the run of the house again overnight their relationship has returned back to how it always was thankfully and we can’t risk disrupting that again.

If I was a cat and wanted to go out to catch mice, mark my territory, meet my friends and warn off cats who do not belong on my territory ( potentially have a good old scrap with them), maybe have a sneaky visit into someone else's catflap and generally have a cool time, I don't think a catio would cut it and I'd be yowling all night to get out - the same as I would indoors.

@VictoriaandAlbert - this is also part of the problem…. The galloping up and down the stairs!! We live in a 3 storey town house so they have two flights of stairs to gallop up and down, and when they’re chasing each other up and down them in a state of play the noise is horrendous.

The rescue centre told us they always have trouble rehoming cats as a pair and I can understand why! Cats having a playmate at 3am is not fun for the owner 😬😬

We have a cat flap so our cat can come and go as she pleases. She tends to stay in though and sleeps on one of the beds (she tends to stay with one person for a few weeks then moves onto someone else’s room for a few weeks and so on).

We did have to change the cat flap to a microchip one. We found another cat was constantly coming into our house and eating our cats food. The night I found it scratching at my bedroom door at 3am I realised we needed to find a way of stopping it from coming in as it was upsetting our cat. I suspect, from the times the cat would come to ours, it was kicked out all day when the owners were at work, then kicked out at night when they went to bed. At a weekend and school holidays, we didn’t see it during the day as much - and in covid not at all. Basically, if you kick a cat out over night, you might find it goes to another house for food and to sleep. But you say you have a cat flap, so if you put the cat out, it can get back in. You could set it to “in only” so once it comes back in, you know it’s safe in the house til the morning?

I lock cat flat at 8pm so my cats stay in overnight but curl up on sofa with a blanket to lie upon. They have cat baskets but for so e reason use them during the day but take over sofa at night. Cats get run over at night by cats.

Yes mine does. She had a difficult past and was free to roam at night for years so it was impossible to keep her in. I've only had her two years as after a short period with my now deceased mum she came to me. Unfortunately I'm not allowed a cat flap and live in a flat. I started letting her out and got into a bad pattern with it. I've made it work but I wouldn't get another cat unless I lived somewhere with a cat flap or had a house. A cat in a flat with no flap isn't conducive to good sleep. Only consolation is I'm a terrible sleeper anyway.

I have a loft conversion OP, so also two lots of stairs. Can you seperate them at night in a downstairs room?

My cat is now eight, also a rescue that arrived as a kitten. He is still a PITA at night.

Ours have a cat flap and can go in and out at will. The only problem is that if they get up to anything exciting in the night they have to come and tell us about it. Loudly.

Sorry, I meant to write in downstairs rooms? Two lots of cat litter/water and food if you feed them at night of course, but that is what I would do.

Even on a good night, if out of the kitchen my lovely little kitty will start swiping things off surfaces/windowledges to get a reaction early breakfast at 4am. I just can't go there.

They come from a very traumatic background and one of the cats gets very distressed if she is shut away from the other so separating them from each other just isn’t an option ☹️

I have a cat flap, my cat has free access all day, but is shut inside at night and has access to a litter tray. He usually wakes me up early to be let out (6am- ish) which can be annoying, but i accept it as part of the deal to keep him safe.

Years ago I had a cat who begged and begged to be let out at night. I relented during a very warm summer and within 4 weeks he had been hit by a car and killed. I couldn't let one out at night again for that reason.

Can you find a way to add a flap near the back door if it can't go in the back door? They can be fitted into walls or windows.

Mine can use the cat flap, she usually parties all night then comes in when she hears me in the kitchen in the morning.
i would put a cat flap in your shed and put a bed in there.