Letting cats outside.

redmel1621

Hi
I have two questions please.....
My two Kittens are now nearly 5 months old they are fully vaccinated, have been wormed and wear flea collars. I am just wondering at what age they should be let out, they are driving me mad every time the kids go into the garden the cats (especially the male, Mario) try to whizz out the door we stop them but then Mario just sits by the door wailing for ages..
We have let them in the garden but Mario very quickly worked out that if he scales the tree at the back of the garden, he can jump onto the fence.....
We are planning on getting them nuetered, well the girl first..... but i'm not too worried about that only don't want them to inter-breed (brother and sister)

The second question is, we also have two rabbits 3 mths old and i like to let roam free in the garden as much as possible, but only when i am out with them or can atch them regurlary out the window. A friend of mine said cats kill rabbits.....is this the case?

Sorry it is such a long one
Mel x

Tortieshell

You can let kittens outside a few weeks after their vaccinations so yes let them out!

Also cats dont interbreed so I wouldnt worry about that but if you dont want kittens then get her fixed asap.

Sorry I dont know anything about rabbits!

borderlakland

yes cats can and do kill rabbits.My cats always bring dead(wild) bunnies home.one of them(sadley killed earlier this year) brought a rabbit almost as big as herself home.so when you do let the kittens out make sure your bunnies are safely in their cage/run at all times.

spookylukey

Tortieshell wrote: »

Also cats dont interbreed so I wouldnt worry about that but if you dont want kittens then get her fixed asap.

I'm afraid that's not true, they can and do interbreed - cats don't realise that it's 'wrong' so as soon as they are sexually mature they will start to show an interest in each other.

I personally wouldn't let them out until they have both been spayed /neutered. Obviously you don't want kittens (and neither does she at such a young age) but you also have to bear in mind that the male will be going around impregnating any unspeyed cats in the area! He's also much more at risk of contracting the feline HIV equivalent (FIV) which is transmitted through mating and fighting which he'll be much more inclined to do un-neutered. The chances of him spraying urine in the house are greatly reduced if he's neutered at the earliest opportunity aswell.

If finances are an issue then the Cats Protection are able to issue vouchers for either all or part of the cost of neutering and spaying.

happymoneysaver79

borderlakland wrote: »

yes cats can and do kill rabbits.My cats always bring dead(wild) bunnies home.one of them(sadley killed earlier this year) brought a rabbit almost as big as herself home.so when you do let the kittens out make sure your bunnies are safely in their cage/run at all times.

Are you sure that these rabbits were not already dead? I had a free range rabbit in our garden for six years and there are about 12 -13 cats who regulrly visit our garden including my own three cats and there has never been a problem - but maybe that depends on the size of your rabbit?

Ps. I let my cats out after they had been nutured but they were quite young.

golly99

We have 2 rabbits and personally we don't risk leaving them out unattended - one of our neighbours has 2 cats and we wouldn't take the chance. They already live in a big shed and also have a big run so we just let them have a run round the garden when we can stay out and supervise. Don't have a cat, but a small dog who gets on with them.

redmel1621

Thank you for all your replies
Our nieghbour also has a cat so bunnies (12wks old) only go out when supervised (mostly) but I will make sure I am with them when our cats are out.
I didn't know anything about the cat protection vouchers this would be a great help if we could et some of these, I might be able to get them both nuetered then.....

Thank you
Mel x

borderlakland

happymoneysaver79 wrote: »

Are you sure that these rabbits were not already dead? I had a free range rabbit in our garden for six years and there are about 12 -13 cats who regulrly visit our garden including my own three cats and there has never been a problem - but maybe that depends on the size of your rabbit?

Ps. I let my cats out after they had been nutured but they were quite young.

the rabbits were def not dead as have seen our cats bring back live bunnies and horribly "play" with them.the noise they make is not nice.sorry if that is too much info for some people.:o .i would say you are lucky that you have had no trouble with your rabbit with so many cats about.i know its upto everyone to make their own choices but i would never leave a bunny(or any other small animal)unattended with a cat about.

happymoneysaver79

borderlakland wrote: »

the rabbits were def not dead as have seen our cats bring back live bunnies and horribly "play" with them.the noise they make is not nice.sorry if that is too much info for some people.:o .i would say you are lucky that you have had no trouble with your rabbit with so many cats about.i know its upto everyone to make their own choices but i would never leave a bunny(or any other small animal)unattended with a cat about.

If you saw your cats playing with these rabbits whilst they were alive could you not stop them? My cats used to bring back live birds and often I was able to catch the bird and let it go?

annaangeluk_2

My beautiful kitten, poppy, is almost 14 weeks and seems to show no interest in going outside.

She's not been vacinated or spayed yet (she will be though) but never seems try and go out of the door. One time someone came to the door, i picked her up and held her next to the open door while i was talking and she got quite agitated. it wasn't becasue she was being held because she loves that! (likes to be held like a baby and wrapped in a blanket!) It seemed to be the breeze that really worried her.

Is she more likely to happy as an indoor cat or will she get more confident as she gets older?

I'd like to keep her in but as she's an "only kitten" this doesn't seem fair but she is much smaller than an average 14 week kitten and her brothers and sisters are massive in comparison, so I wonder if she will always be too small to go out safely?.

STacey