We had an indoor/outdoor cat. She loved to go out and hunt at night, cozied up inside during the day, after lining up her little mousies in the hall for our enjoyment. She could have lived outside, because she was a wary huntress, but we didn’t want that. It is dangerous. As it was, even tho she was pretty savvy, something hunted her one night. i found her pelt the next morning in her favorite meadowy hunting area. I think it was an owl, but could have been a coyote. Next cat I get — after the Border Collie dies, because he is a cat-predator in the worst sense of the word — will sleep inside.
Now I live in L.A. and my three are strictly indoor. Yes, I have to scoop every day. Yes, they shed. Yes, it's a half-hour of clean-up and care every single day. But it's still less time than the amount of happy-time (purring on my lap, staring up into my eyes, chasing the string, pouncing on the catnip rat, wrassling with each other for my entertainment.) And I know they are as safe as I can make them.
Jeez, sounds like you’re running the GOP of catteries—the guys are overweight, inside sissies, while the gal is outside, holding down the fort, both carrying her weight and rounding up the ‘Rats for you.
Kudos to your Tea Party kitty in the barn!
Cats have super sensitive senses. If they’ve lived indoors for their entire life the outdoors is a sensory overload to them. If you could allow them to go out in a screened outdoor porch whenever they want to, then they can slowly, safely acclimatize to the new world impacting their nose and ears. Don’t force them out. When my cat was small I only let her out when I could go with her as I had eagles, hawks and owls, any of which will kill small cats. There was also a dangerous neighbor’s dog. But once she showed me she was alert to the dangers and could shoot up a tree, I ceased worrying.
On the other hand, if they have no claws don’t ever let them out. They’re defenseless, except they’ll still try to use their non-existent claws for defense.
Just put them outside, the strong shall survive, the weak shall not!
*disclaimer*- make sure they have their claws.
The thing to know is, the average lifespan of an outdoor cat is very low. Something like a year or two. Obcviously there are exceptions, but the averages are bad.
Some cats are only happy outside and might prefer the tradeoff. But it would be cruel to force an indoor cat who doesn’t want to go out to change to outdoor life.
Don’t do it!
My outdoor cats cost me far more than my indoor cats. Between the fleas, ticks, and getting themselves killed, it’s horrid.
One of my outdoor cats is allergic to fleas. His skin and fur is falling out in patches. I can’t keep him in - he is a world class escape artist. Every time he gets out he brings a new flea load into the house, which he immediately spreads to all my indoor animals. He looks and feels horrid. He brings vermin in. Sometimes it’s dead, sometimes not. He brought in a dead rat once that my dog grabbed and ate, and she threw it up in my living room. Yuck.
My other outdoor cat got killed by a pit bull.
My indoor cat is sitting right now quietly on my lap. She has reached 17, and looks and feels nice.
Try and find a less stressful place to put the litterboxes. I love the tilty Omega Paws ones Amazon sells - I put them in the garage and find them much easier to use than the traditional ones. The motorized ones are a pain.
bfl
Domestic cats are food for wildlife.
My favorite cat was a 20-pound indoor/outdoor cat. He was sleeping under a tree in our yard when roaming dogs sneaked up on him and attacked him. He died in my arms at the vet’s office. The dogs had collars but we never found out who they belonged to. I still cry thinking about it.
Don’t switch them to being outdoor cats if you want to keep them safe.
You might as well kill them now, because trying to turn an indoor cat into an outdoor cat is a death sentence. Their survival skills and natural distrust for everything have been muted by years of domestication. It would be like dropping a suburban housewife into a dangerous slum alone, and telling her that she’s on her own, but you’ll drop off some food a couple times a day so she doesn’t starve.
yes, let them out!! My cats come in and out and no more litter box. Cats can defend themselves well, particularly if they’re not declawed.
You are going to let them come in and out, right?
We started feeding some strays a year ago. In that year, they have gone from 6 to 1. If you want your cats to live, keep them the way they were raised - there are very few outside cats that live to ripe old ages, especially if they started out as indoor cats and were spayed/neutered.
Well, with a domesticated cat being put outside where there is a population of foxes, I wouldn’t expect your cat to last long. Foxes will take cats and your cat doesn’t have outdoor skills. If the cat is too much, you would be better trying to adopt it out.
We have an indoor/outdoor cat, but she’s harness trained. She knows if she wants to go out, she has to stand still to have the harness and leash attached. We tether her to a stake in the yard, or to a door handle, but only when we can be watching her. We have coyotes, hawks, and owls in the area, even though we live in a suburban neighborhood. Even had a family of owls earlier this spring in one of our trees in the back yard. Her front paws are declawed, which was done after we realized nothing was stopping her from ripping up furniture, and the frame on our patio door has lots of deep scratches.
Thanks for the excellent feedback FRiends.
I feel like I will have to adapt for my indoor cat ~ which I believe is how it should be ~ because I know that I can.
My indoor cat may do very well and adapt to being an outsider. There is also an outside possibility that she may not, which, even if it is a small chance, I suppose I do not want to take.
My son will not touch a Wii after school until the cat turds are cleaned out and I also like the idea of the fresh box waiting in the wings.
Glad to see this thread, I am facing this decision right now. My previous cat wandered around this country neighborhood and ended up getting shot, crawled home alive, tried to save him for nine days (the vet and I) but in the end we couldn’t save him.
Now have two little ones. But my place is so small! One big room. I want them to go out sometime, I guess if I were out there with them, going for walks etc. it might be all right. They riot and gallop around and shoot up the curtains and are just full of it. I know they need to go outside but am in a quandary, I don’t want to lose them.