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

We don’t have a she’d which is why I’m looking at buying some kind of outdoor accommodation for them. Maybe I should just buy a shed, it would probably be cheaper and be of use to us a family too 🤣

I have two Maine coons. They have a 4.30am built in alarm clock so they are confined downstairs overnight. Fortunately there is a door between the hall/stairs and the rest of the livingroom and kitchen/dinet. They have a cat flap. They have a litter tray but I can’t recall the last time they used it. I can’t hear them and if they want to go out they use the flap. If you aren’t there to open the door they’ll use it.
I wouldn’t shut them out all night. I’d figure out how they can have more space downstairs.
@elaeocarpusmy cats snooze as much outside as in!

Lol yes just get a shed!

We have a 3 storey house so they have lots of room, but we can’t confine them to one specific room as it led to behavioural problems (I mentioned it above) so we have no option but to let them roam free 😬

It sounds like being creative to install a cat flap in the back of the house would be worthwhile.
(Assuming the issue is that you can't shut them off from the stairs and still have access to the the front door cat flap?)
Then you can close a door leaving them downstairs, too far to disturb the bedrooms, with outdoor access.
Cat flaps can be installed in walls and windows.

We had a large fertile male until two weeks ago. He pestered neutered queens violently including ours. One hot summer night I still had the back door open. Our girl ran in and the randy Tom chased her around the kitchen. Another time she came in through the bedroom window while we were asleep in the middle of the night, he followed, was chaos in the dark.

Two weeks ago someone in the burbs shot him. Now the owner has a go fund me to raise money to get someone to dob in the air gun owner.

We have got bedrooms on all 3 floors 😬😬

(and no doorways that close off the hallways and stairways etc) etc.

Our only options are:

1. to confine them in one room so they can’t go running up and down the stairs all night / cry to be let outside

2. allow them to roam free and accept we are going to be woken throughout the night due to their playing and crying

3. Have a cat flap put in the back of the house so they can get outside to the back garden but with the chance they’ll still cry when they want to go out and we’ll still be woken throughout the night with their running up and down the stairs.

4. Buy outdoor accommodation for them and keep them outdoors overnight.

Blimey - the stress our pets cause us!

The things we go through for animals we love 🤣

I guess just let them out then. If they have to stay out all night they'll survive. My family keep weird hours so someone is usually awake up until about 7am. Then by about 8 another one wakes up. So cats can be let in/out most of the time.

Don't feel bad about leaving them outside if you're asleep. If they hate it that much they'll come back in when you call them before you go to bed.

They primarily hunt at night so they're better out than in really in warmer months. In terms of their natural inclinations and stimulation.

This is what I ended up buying for my two cats a good 5 years ago: https://www.katden.co.uk/ At a push, when they are being bloody minded, they'll both fit in a single kennel.

Tricky!

I think if I were you I would first do the cat flap out to the back garden. It might solve the problem.

If it doesn't, then you have a different problem - making them use the cat flap. I think that might be an easier fix than crying at the back door. E.g. prop cat flap open, wear ear plugs and ignore until they get their shit together.

And also don't ever open the back door for them at all once a cat flap is installed, so they lose the association altogether.

My cat to a T.
Also he has about 4 different homes so who am l to keep him prisoner in this one, ie the one that pays all the vet bills and for food and insurance?!

When I was growing up our cats always roamed free at night. They would Miaow about 7am to be let in.

however we were fairly rural and road traffic would never have been a major concern. Def no trackers or anything like that in the 80s

If you ignore them for a few nights (close your bedroom door/ear plugs and white noise) they will learn that no one gets up to open the back door at night.

I don't have a cat flap but if my cat wants to go out at bedtime I let him, and always have done. He's almost 14. He sometimes stays out all night in the winter, but when spring comes he loves it, at the moment he miaows to go outside when I go to bed at least 4 times a week.

When it's high summer he'll go out every night. I don't have any specific place for him, I used to have a kennel with a pillow in but he never used it, he hides in bushes and roams around, he's always tired in the morning so has obviously been awake all night.

Put them out. Your sleep/health is more important.
Ours have a cat flap into the garage with a bed. We did also purchase quite an expensive wooden cat "hutch" but they were not interested at all and refused to go in. So just a warning that your cats also may not be interested.

Another idea (if you have the energy) might be to encourage them through the cat flap when they miaow at night. Pop some treats on the other side. Or go outside yourself and then coax them through. I think they would soon learn.

Cats are a pita is all I can say. But I love mine.

Well after an absolute horrific night the decision is made : overnight outdoors accommodation it is!

Off topic but I fostered a pair of cats. I live in a bungalow and one lived mainly in my bedroom and the other in the living room.

When we took them to their forever home they did not seem impressed, until one discovered the stairs

Much galloping and mewing to each other were observed.

I didn't even know keeping them in was a thing - the cat is my husband's domain really - but ours can go out of she likes. I'd far rather she led a happy catty life with the associated risks than had to stay in. I'm surprised traffic is considered such a rush as there is virtually none here at night. I've absolutely no doubt the road is a far bigger risk during the day.

When I contacted the Rescue Centre they put my address into Google Maps so they could assess my street and surrounding streets to decide if it was a safe place for the cats to go to. As I live in such a quiet crescent with no main roads nearby it wasn’t a problem whereas my friend who lives on a busier road (but not a main road by any stretch of the imagination) she was told she could only have cats if she signed a contract to agree to keep them as indoor cats.

She declined as she feels quite passionately that cats should be allowed to have access to the outdoors.

I have just spent hours looking for outdoor Catty houses and ordered two (so they have the option of either cuddling up together in one, or having their own space and having one each) and they are arriving later today. They are a good size, elevated off the floor, durable, insulated, have a safety exit, and have really good reviews (78% giving them a 5* rating with the rest being a 4 or or 3 star rating).

So we will see how it goes.

But we can’t have another night like last night, me and DH have barely had any sleep since 3.30am.

Thankfully as it’s Bank Holiday my DH hasn’t got to go to work so we are going to take it in turns to look after the children whilst the other has a nap.

Have you discounted another cat flap being installed? Be warned though, cats then bring prey in dead and alive. Nothing says good morning than stepping in a rodent’s guts, having one placed on your pillow, or worst, having them chase a mouse around a room! One memorable time years ago I was putting my hand down back of sofa (boyfriend then used to have hole in pocket and £1 coins would leak out into back of sofa) my hand came up with a mouse skeleton, obvs cats had got bored with it and dropped it there. My screams were akin to a horror movie!

Sounds good. Are you a bit worried they won’t want to come inside then? Whole point of a cat to me is for cuddles.

We don’t have cats but regularly see three different ones on our overnight wildlife cameras. I suppose it’s extra time for them to come and crap in other people’s gardens.

No, I’m not worried about this.

If it happens then we’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it.

At the minute they spend most of their daytime indoors, occasionally going out for short periods of about an hour, but generally they want to be in the house with us so I’m hoping it continues.

It seems that at about 10pm they then decide it’s time to turn to outdoor cats and that’s the problem.