Outdoor cat owners: how soon did you let kitty out?

crayola

Hi all

My kitten is now reaching 14 weeks and I am itching to let him go outside! I think he is keen too - he's got himself into all sorts of scrapes around the house and seems pretty resilient and ready to face the world, so I am wondering whether to just let him out now that his vaccines are all up-to-date and (according to the vet) should be effective.

But I know that it is still 'early' by many people's standards and that most seem to keep kittens in at least until they've been neutered, if not longer or until they look 'full sized'.

So for those who have had cats since kittenhood, when did you first let them go outside?

viktory

I can't remember how old our cat was, but I know that she had been spayed and recovered and had all her innoculations. the vet felt ashe was quite small so advised us to leave it a bit longer than perhaps is usual. We also spent some time with her in the garden, on a harness and lead, so she could get used to the great outdoors safely. I would guess at about 6 months.

Ebe_Scrooge

Ours was out the moment she'd had all her jabs - we'd had a hard time keeping her indoors until then :-) Having had all the jabs is the main thing from a health point of view - it's up to you whether you keep it indoors until it's been "done", it won't harm the cat, as such, one way or the other.

balletshoes

Ours used to look wistfully out the windows for ages as a kitten, so as soon as he had had all his injections we took him out into the garden, on a lead (you can get kitty harnesses in Wilkos, pet shops etc). He's not what most folk here would class as an outdoor cat though I guess - we don't have a cat flap and so he is only outside when we're home. He's not been on a lead since he was about 3 months old, he's a year plus now, and happily runs about the garden chasing flies/butterflies, chewing grass and attempting to terrorise the guinea pigs .

Gingham_R

About 6 months for all mine too - spayed, jabs etc done, sure of where home is and big and strong.

And after only a couple of weeks, one of them hurt his paw badly enough for it to swell up to 2 or 3 times its normal size (not that that was a reason to keep him in longer, but it did mean that it wasn't a hugely traumatic event for him, which it would have been for a much younger kitten.)

bagginslover

6 months for ours. They were semi-feral when we adopted them though, so we waited until they were fully tame and loving, then had them spayed soon after. The spaying made them slightly mistrustful again (old habits I suppose) it only took a few more weeks afterwards to regain their trust, then they went out.

peachyprice

They were allowed out in the garden with us from around 12 weeks, as soon as their vacs were done. We didn't use a lead, they were allowed to wander around the garden freely and the big cats stayed with them to play. TBH they didn't try to leave the garden and they're all still real homies and at least four of them can usually be found hanging out there.

They weren't taught to use the cat flap until after they were neutered, so around 6 months. Luckily the cat flap is the opposite end of the house to the garden so they didn't really know what it was until they were showed it.

I certainly couldn't have kept them indoors until 6 months, we would have had to have spent the summer with the house shut up, just not practical with a dog and 3 children, for our cats it was far better that they were allowed to satisfy their wanderlust while we were there to watch over them than for them to be constantly trying to escape from inappropriate places.

viktory

peachyprice wrote: »

I certainly couldn't have kept them indoors until 6 months, we would have had to have spent the summer with the house shut up.

LOL, that triggered a memory of doing that very thing! We spent an entire summer with all the windows and doors closed. Hot, hot, hot!

Josky

6 months for me - as soon as they were recovered from neutering!

crayola

Thanks all, really interesting to hear your experiences. In our case the practicality thing is a huge issue too: particularly with it being summer. Our flat is warm even with the windows open, and we have had to keep most of them shut making it pretty unbearable for us and no doubt unpleasant for the cats, too.

Also - and there's no nice way to say this really - our flat is not ideal for having a kitty toilet installed. Although it's a large 3-bed. there simply isn't anywhere obvious for it to go other than a spot that is a little too close to the kitchen for comfort. We want rid of it asap.

Sagz_2

My 2 went out as soon as soon as they were over their spay op - so around 25 weeks.