should I let my cat outside?

stir_crazy

eminemfan001 wrote: »

Our garden is inclosed so the only way out is through a gate but im pretty sure she could sneak through it. She gets biscuits left down all day for her to nibble on and a pouch of wet food in the morning (recomended by cats protection!) so if I was to let her out should I keep her food up the night before so she will be hungry before I let her go? Going to try and let her out on my next day off so I can spemd the day catching her if I need to!

Hope I amswered everyones questions!

I would feed her the night before but not give her breakfast so that she's enticed to come back. If you do want to give her breakfast though, you could always use treats to get her to come back.

You could also walk round the garden with her if she's the type of cat who follows you round. My cat is an indoor cat but enjoys the occasional half an hour sitting in the garden, more so when my OH or I am out with him so he can sit with us or wander around. The first few times I let him out I walked round the perimenter of of the graden with him, so he knows that this is his area and doesn't go far (and comes back if we shake the treat bag loud enough). It won't work for all cats but its worth a shot. It worked with my last cat too.

krlyr

You could always do a bit of catproofing in the garden so you can be sure she can't get to the busy road. There's a range of systems available but you can DIY it for quite cheap. One really simple one I've seen is just attaching string along the top of fences - raised slightly over the fence, basically so the cat tries to grab the string but is put off by the wobbliness of it. Others include rollers that don't allow the cat to get a grip, fence toppers at an inwards incline, rubbery 'spikes' that the cat finds uncomfortable, etc., or a compromise of building a 'cat run' outside that the cat can come and go in, for some fresh air and grass underfoot, without freeroam outdoors (so avoiding the dangers outdoor cats are normally exposed to)

scaredy_cat

you could get a harness and a lead and walk her out in the garden.

zzzLazyDaisy

It is worth teaching your cat to come for food.

When I feed my cat his wet food, which he goes mad for, I tap his metal dish with the spoon and call 'food' (admittedly in a slightly high pitched silly voice).

He quickly recognised this and now if I need to find him, I just stand at the door rattling his dish (or even a saucepan) and calling to him - he's back like a shot.