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

Shepherd1

My cats are indoor cats through choice I nearly always have my door open with dog and daughter going in and out all the time but the cats just don't go out. They will occasionally go out but only if the dog cage is open and they can sit in it, I am quite happy for them to be indoor cats because they are really tiny.

Fire_Fox

crayola wrote: »

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.

Why did you adopt cats if you didn't want any of the associated hassles? You can purchase or make window protection so that the windows can be opened without risk of the cat escaping. Or you can shut the cat in one part of the flat whilst you air the other: it's not rocket science.

How many square feet is your flat? Can you seriously not get rid of anything or rearrange the furniture to make space for the requisite one tray per cat plus one? Is every room crammed floor to ceiling with human essentials? If so take inspiration from IKEA hackers and make something multi-functional.

As others have said you should provide even indoor-outdoor cats with a tray, they should have access to a safe toileting facility at all times. Whether they are unwell and need to go urgently, a neighbours bully cat is guarding the cat flap, the battery ran out or the catch broke and they are locked in. If you hate the tray that much, train your cat to use the toilet.

Skint_Catt

We let our little female out for the first time yesterday (accompanied round the garden) after her second lot of injections (just 12 weeks) though the vet suggested we keep her indoors until 6 months as she's so small :eek:

Emmylou_2

Ours went out at about 5 months - after they'd been snipped and chipped. It worked quite well because they were born in October, we got them on NYE and they went out in the middle of March. At first it was supervised, and once we knew they came back (!) they were allowed more freedom.

We have a window that is open all the time so there's access all day. And we often have the kits from either side in ours too. We're obviously the party house.

Ilona

I agree with keeping a litter tray indoors, you need to look at what comes out of the back end to make sure all is well. I get my cats in at night, can't understand those who think it's ok to leave them out. Dont take a chance on letting an un neutered cat run free. A female will get pregnant and a male will roam the streets fighting other toms for their territory.
Ilona

Kimberley

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Why did you adopt cats if you didn't want any of the associated hassles? You can purchase or make window protection so that the windows can be opened without risk of the cat escaping.

Thank you Firefox, i've been looking for something like these for ages

Owain_Moneysaver

mine went out from quite a young age - when he was still slow enough to be caught if he tried an escape move - but supervised.

I think it's better for them to get used to the outside world when they're still young enough to want to stay close to surrogate mum and a bit cautious about strange things.

mellymeep

Lily first went out around 8 months, however that was because she was an indoor cat for the first 6 months of her life while we lived in the city centre. We had her injections done and got her spayed before.