Thread: Outdoors or not?

Hi Nicola, We have a year old male, Simba and we too live in the middle of the country surrounded by fields and a quite country no through road to the front. We let Simba out but not at night. To begin with we didn't let him out until he was about 6 months old and firstly it was just for a little while being supervised. Over time we realised he never seemed to want to go far and pretty much stayed in the garden. We discouraged him from going to far by bringing him back if he went to far. He does sometimes wonder in the field. Now the evenings are getting shorter he usually goes out in the morning and comes in at lunch time and then sleeps. He doesn't go out again as it is often dark when he wakes up. Take it slowly and see how he is. When we started with Simba it was summer so much easier to sit out there with him for long periods.

I too have always had moggies which have gone outside and sometimes i think that there are situations where the risk of injury by cars and risk of theft may be low enough to allow the MCs out (areas with few cars and people for example!). At the moment I feel like I live too near a road and in a much too built up area to let sylvester and dudley out. We've had sylvester for about a month and a half and to be honest he doesn't show any interest in going out at all. The weather here at the moment is awful but I can imagine allowing some supervised time in the garden on the harness in the summer. Although, I'm a little bit worried he might get the taste for the outdoors if I do that.

Hi there, we were in the same situation when we got Larry and Monty. We'd always had moggies before who were allowed outside, in fact, they were supposed to go outside to use the garden. We had to get used to the idea that pedigree cats shouldn't necessarily be allowed to roam the area and establish a territory in the neighbourhood, like a moggie would. Our breeder said do let them outside if you can, but enclose your garden first, to keep them safe. We are in a city suburb, on the corner of a residential road, so cars do come round looking for a parking space, although they are going quite slowly because of the corner. So the traffic is one thing, but they could get nicked, being unusual-looking cats, and so good-natured that they might wander into someone's house.

I think a cat should be allowed outside if at all possible, and you have to strike a balance between allowing them that freedom and keeping them safe. We enclosed our entire garden using netting from Homebase, attached to poles, attached to the perimeter wall and trees. We built a couple of tree platforms for them and they absolultely love it out there. We still only let them outside if we are 'in' and keeping any eye on them. We don't let them out in the dark either, although they do escape sometimes at teatime, now that it's dark it's not that easy to get them back inside! I know some of our friends think this is unnecessary and don't really understand why they can't just roam like our previous cats. One has even nicknamed our garden 'catcatraz' and the cats 'the inmates'. But it is a fair compromise.

Sylvester will get a taste for the outdoors once you let him out, it's only natural, and it will be a whole new exciting world for him. I would recommend that you enclose a section of your garden if at all possible, for your peace of mind. A harness is OK but he's not free to do his thing when he's in a harness. It will be lovely in the summer when you're in the garden a lot yourself, if the lads can join you.

He is outside but can climb over any fence.In the beginning he staid around the house.Now he starts exploring the fields but I am afraid he won't be able to find us back.I try actually to get him back under control.A Coon will very fast been stolen if some one sees him.

Originally Posted by deovolens

He is outside but can climb over any fence.In the beginning he staid around the house.Now he starts exploring the fields but I am afraid he won't be able to find us back.I try actually to get him back under control.A Coon will very fast been stolen if some one sees him.

Simba has worried us a few times by disappearing from view, usually he was just sleeping not far away but I decided from quite early on to train him to come to his name because quite frankly it's near on impossible to find a cat that doesn't want to be found. We started by giving him his favourate treats everytime he came but now he just gets a cuddle and if he is out in the field somewhere I go out and call his name and he comes running

I always worried about him going to far and getting lost, he is not the brightest of sparks so we never let him go too far but once they know their area it's fine. As for stealing we live in a very small village - I know most my neighbours and we have no through traffic so that is very unlikely and I've never heard of any pet being stolen from here in the 20 odd years I've lived here. But you have to decide what your neighbourhood is like and how likely that is.

Rascal



convinced me that it was OK for cats to go outside.

She was wrong.