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Dilemma about letting cat out
misty-mitts
Posts: 118 Forumite
We used to have several cats, but over time they got old and died, apart from one, who is 13. He was very lonely on his own, so three weeks ago we rehomed another of the same breed and age from a rescue organisation. He is settling in well, except...
From 2008 till now, Shadow was an indoor cat, living in a flat. Before that we don't know, but strongly suspect he was an outdoor cat, as he is mad, crazy to go out, scrabbling at the doors and windows every day, and pleading with us with his eyes. If he hears the porch door go, then he is at the front door ready to explode out at soon as it opens. A couple of times he has shot out through between our legs, no matter how careful we are. Problem is that he doesn't then just want to sunbathe - he wants to be off exploring! So far we have managed to catch him again, but as he gets more familiar with his surroundings, that is getting more difficult.
The other thing is that he is one smart cookie, and now he is on top form it won't take him long to figure out that our other cat goes out through the cat flap - and how to do the same. Once there are doors or windows open in the warm weather, we won't stand any chance of keeping him in, and if he is going to get out, it is best he knows how to get back in, so we feel we need to teach him about the cat flap anyway.
The other problem is that he is an extremely handsome, obviously pedigree cat, who doesn't look his age. Now whereas our existing cat is streetwise, both about traffic and about not going to people, or letting them go to him (he is even wary of us when he is out the front), Shadow isn't like that at all. He'll go to anyone. So we are afraid both of him getting lost/choosing to go looking for his previous owners rather than coming back, and of getting stolen.
What can we do? We can't lock the cat flap because of our first cat, and anyway, he WILL get out somehow or other at some point.
We can't cat-proof our huge garden. Too big, too expensive and complicated.
We've thought of trying to cat-proof just part of the garden, but it is still a mammoth task that we can't be sure we'd succeed at, needing to cover the cat flap, and both back doors. Foxes squeeze through under the exisitng fencing, so not only would we have to go up (and with some sort of roof), but also down into the soil. And what about all the bushes/trees in the way of all of this? Also the cat flap is in the only place it would go, but is pretty inaccessible to fence in, as it is on the side of the house where there is just a 18 inch to 2 foot gap between it and the next door house. He could still slip out of the front door too...
We've thought about a cat run, but I think he'd just be as frustrated at being confined in that, as he would be when stuck in the house. When would I put him out, when bring him in? It still wouldn't help if he dashed out when we or Floss is going through a door.
Finally we've thought of a harness and taking him out on that, but he jumps from level to level where we couldn't follow, walks over the pergola, weaves through the shrubbery... it wouldn't work, and again, wouldn't help if he got out accidentally.
We want to keep him in for a while longer, but in the end is there an alternative to just letting him have his freedom and hoping for the best?
From 2008 till now, Shadow was an indoor cat, living in a flat. Before that we don't know, but strongly suspect he was an outdoor cat, as he is mad, crazy to go out, scrabbling at the doors and windows every day, and pleading with us with his eyes. If he hears the porch door go, then he is at the front door ready to explode out at soon as it opens. A couple of times he has shot out through between our legs, no matter how careful we are. Problem is that he doesn't then just want to sunbathe - he wants to be off exploring! So far we have managed to catch him again, but as he gets more familiar with his surroundings, that is getting more difficult.
The other thing is that he is one smart cookie, and now he is on top form it won't take him long to figure out that our other cat goes out through the cat flap - and how to do the same. Once there are doors or windows open in the warm weather, we won't stand any chance of keeping him in, and if he is going to get out, it is best he knows how to get back in, so we feel we need to teach him about the cat flap anyway.
The other problem is that he is an extremely handsome, obviously pedigree cat, who doesn't look his age. Now whereas our existing cat is streetwise, both about traffic and about not going to people, or letting them go to him (he is even wary of us when he is out the front), Shadow isn't like that at all. He'll go to anyone. So we are afraid both of him getting lost/choosing to go looking for his previous owners rather than coming back, and of getting stolen.
What can we do? We can't lock the cat flap because of our first cat, and anyway, he WILL get out somehow or other at some point.
We can't cat-proof our huge garden. Too big, too expensive and complicated.
We've thought of trying to cat-proof just part of the garden, but it is still a mammoth task that we can't be sure we'd succeed at, needing to cover the cat flap, and both back doors. Foxes squeeze through under the exisitng fencing, so not only would we have to go up (and with some sort of roof), but also down into the soil. And what about all the bushes/trees in the way of all of this? Also the cat flap is in the only place it would go, but is pretty inaccessible to fence in, as it is on the side of the house where there is just a 18 inch to 2 foot gap between it and the next door house. He could still slip out of the front door too...
We've thought about a cat run, but I think he'd just be as frustrated at being confined in that, as he would be when stuck in the house. When would I put him out, when bring him in? It still wouldn't help if he dashed out when we or Floss is going through a door.
Finally we've thought of a harness and taking him out on that, but he jumps from level to level where we couldn't follow, walks over the pergola, weaves through the shrubbery... it wouldn't work, and again, wouldn't help if he got out accidentally.
We want to keep him in for a while longer, but in the end is there an alternative to just letting him have his freedom and hoping for the best?
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Comments
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I've got an indoor cat that was rehomed on the condition he stays an indoor cat. He has no fear and the previous owner used to find him sunbathing in the middle of a busy main road.
I bought him a harness (a strong dog harness as he managed to break out of two cat harnesses) and a ground spike with a cable, from Pets At Home. The spike is in the middle of the garden and I attach the harness to it. The cat can run around in a 12m diameter, which is all but a few odd corners of the garden, but I don't have to stand there with him and I know he's safe. I let him out for 1-2 hours per day, more at weekends. I just check on him every few minutes.
It's not a perfect solution but it is compromise.0 -
Oh dear - brilliant....:)
A photo of that please?0 -
What a good idea StaffieTerrier. Unfortunately it wouldn't work for us, as the garden is steeply tiered downwards, making it impossible to see him from the house, and we've shrubs and trees everywhere, so no clear space to tether him in. I'm glad your boy is pretty much sorted though.0
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In order to introduce my cats to the outside world I have tied a string on their collar and taken them out for a walk in the areas I am happy for them to go. Yes I am mad......0
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In my opinion there is not such thing as an indoor cat, but unfortunately some cats have to stay indoors because of health or other reason.
Unless there is a compelling reason why he can't go out, I would feel it's cruel to keep a cat indoors when he so obviously wants to go out.
My first cat was given to me when I lived in a third floor flat and could not go out, she was spending the whole time on the window sill.
When we moved to a house with a garden she was out whenever we let her.
What we believe happened is that she lived in an estate and probably go scared by other cats and/or bullied by children and stopped going out. It would have been very sad if she had spent the rest of her life indoors.
We now have a new cat, and we don't know her history and she could well be an indoor cat or a stray, but we are going to take her out, using a harness to start with so that she can get used to the new environment and we can assess her.
Maybe you can do the same, and see what happens. (make sure she is microchipped and at least for a while she wears a collar). Going outdoors carry risks, for pets and human beings alike, but we all have to go about our daily business.0 -
Thank you Springer, for your very sensible comments. I've been doing a lot of googling today, and it really seems like we just have to hope for the best and let him out. Even the RSPCA advice is that a cat used to going out should not be confined indoors unless for health reasons. It's a matter of providing for a cat's needs in the best way possible.
He's microchipped, vaccinated and has a collar with tag on, so as it was nice and sunny this afternoon, we tried letting him out. He loved every second of the hour and a half he was out, and it was heartwarming to see. We gardened out there, talking to him and keeping an eye on him all the time. There were a few hairy moments, but most of the time he was happy to sunbathe, interspersed with exploring, and is now safely in. Hope it goes as smoothly as that from here on in.
Thanks to all who have replied and offered advice and support.0 -
We had a Persian who we let out, we also had 3 moggies & worked so had a cat flap. At that time we didn't live near very busy roads just your average housing estate type. Our Persian, who wasn't the most agile of cats, rarely left our garden, choosing to stay close to home even though he was confident & loved people. At first I was worried he might be stolen but when it was clear he wasn't a roamer it was less of a concern.
We adopted 2 new cats in Feb. We kept them in for 7 weeks then introduced them to the garden on a harness. The more nervous cat loves the evening time & took herself into the wood at the bottom of our garden, she wouldn't return when it was time to come in for the night which had us searching with torches with no luck but within half hour of us going back in she came home & hasn't done it since.0 -
We have two cats, Patience, the elder comes in and sleeps on an armchair at night and is in and out most of the day but the younger, Scramble (my precious) heads out at night and appears bang on 6am the next morning which is okay in the summer when the downstairs windows are open but in the winter means one of us has to stagger downstairs to open a window for him :mad:0
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Get one of those quick release collars that have words on, put on there than he is older and neutered/ has health problems please do not feed/ some other unattractive statement.Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0
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Get one of those quick release collars that have words on, put on there than he is older and neutered/ has health problems please do not feed/ some other unattractive statement.
This type of thing FF? http://www.daintypaws.co.uk/, http://www.kittycollars.co.uk/personalised-cat-collars.htm0
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