Options
Cat owners - do you allow your cats out of the house freely, or keep them in?
I thought I would ask this question as it has been a common talking point in many cat related threads I've been on, with some people complaining that cats crap in their gardens, attack their other pets, kill wildlife, dig up plants and generally make a nuisance of themselves.
So as a cat owner, do you let your cat out to roam freely, or do you keep them in all the time, or just out into an enclosed garden they can't escape from.
What are your thoughts on this? What are the pros and cons? Are we as cat owners being sufficiently fair on others by letting our cats roam? Would we be being unfair on the cats to keep them cooped up all the time?
For info: it is quite legal under the Animals Act 1971 to allow a cat to roam.
I've added a poll.
So as a cat owner, do you let your cat out to roam freely, or do you keep them in all the time, or just out into an enclosed garden they can't escape from.
What are your thoughts on this? What are the pros and cons? Are we as cat owners being sufficiently fair on others by letting our cats roam? Would we be being unfair on the cats to keep them cooped up all the time?
For info: it is quite legal under the Animals Act 1971 to allow a cat to roam.
I've added a poll.
Do you let your cat roam freely? 99 votes
Yes, I let my cat/s out to roam freely whenever they want
66%
66 votes
No, I keep my cat/s in the house/flat all the time.
20%
20 votes
I do let them out, but only into an enclosed space.
13%
13 votes
0
Comments
In all our homes [3 since we got her] she has had access to outside space, it's quite limited here though, just a small patio / balcony.
Ideally of course I'd love her to be able to go out freely but I think she is a bit too long in the tooth for it now.
She is happy and healthy so I don't feel guilty.
As a teenager my family had a cat and it was just accepted as 'normal' then, in our neighbourhood at least, to let them roam. Which mine did too and sadly was knocked over and killed when he was just 18 months old. I swore then that I would never have another cat as I couldn't cope with the stress of not knowing where they might be. But when my daughter was young she was quite poorly and she desperately wanted a kitten so we relented. It never crossed our minds to keep him indoors but I vowed he would always have to be in at night as that's when most are killed or stolen or make a huge amount of noise.
He went on to live to be almost 20 and as a young'un I'm afraid he did go after birds and mice, although I'd chase him away if possible, but by the time he reached 8 he couldn't be bothered anymore and his latter years he spent almost entirely in our garden and no one else's. Another cat owner once laughed that my cat and hers had been fighting and making a heck of a noise one night. But I responded immediately saying it couldn't have been him as he was indoors with the cat flap locked. And we had three different dogs in his lifetime, plus looked after my parent's little old yorkie for a year, and our cat accepted all of them with exceptionally good grace. In fact I have a pic of my cat, one of our dogs and my parents' dog all lined up in a row eating their dinners side by side.
Some people also think that cats never mess in their own gardens. This is not the case. Our cat did go elsewhere at times when he was young it's true, but he more often than not went in our own. Many's the time I've had to reprimand our little dogs for digging them up and running indoors with them! When our cat was alive we had self -confessed cat hating neighbours either side of us who did, on two occasions, throw water over him and he never went in their gardens again. Now our puss has passed away we have a new neighbour one side of us who has two cats of their own who are free to roam. And they sit on our car, tootle around in both our gardens, sit on our front door mat, and poo constantly in our front borders. Now we just think of it as par for the course but I can appreciate how aggravating this can be. Having left our cat on two occasions at a cattery however I personally would not like to see them just have access to a run, but that's just my opinion. Luckily they do not interfere with our little dog and they both run like the wind when she appears.
So it really is a tough question to answer. I can certainly see both sides of the argument but as a lover of all animals I find it very hard to come down on one side or the other as though some cats can be a real menace, so can some dogs especially running loose on parks. One such dog ran out of my local park one day and killed a cat in my close who was happily sunbathing in her own front garden. Of course if the cat had have been in some sort of enclosure it wouldn't have happened, but at what price freedom? It made the papers as the owner of the cat frantically tried to rescue it and the dog bit her. The dog owner too was distraught. Basically, at the end of the day, I think all pet owners should act responsibly and do their utmost to stop their pets upsetting others.
We only let the cats out when we're at home. If Fudge has gone wandering and we need to go out, we make sure to call him in later on at night as we like to know where he is. They both use their litter trays and I've only ever seen Fudge poo outside twice, both times in our garden!
In an ideal world I would like a run but our garden isn't very big so it wouldn't be much of a run!
It's really odd - when I moved to this village in the depths of the Yorkshire Dales, I expected to see more cats not less.
I'm much the same as you when I let Lucy out. She does go out of the garden, but is rarely out of sight. Being a climber she is usually perched on some high point, such as mine or next door's garage roof, or my conservatory roof.
She will often come back in to use the litter tray, then wander back out again.
Once she comes back in at night, I lock the catflap if it's after about 9pm.
The area is quite safe with no busy roads so we let them out. If I lived next to a busy road it would be different.
My cat lost a leg when she was run over, many years ago, living in a different place. She would have died if the people in the car behind hadn't seen boy racers run her over, and got out and rushed her to the RSPCA.
She is now 20! That happened when she was a kitten. TBH if she was run over tomorrow I would be heartbroken but also... I know she would have lived a great life. When she was younger, she was out there climbing trees (yes - with 3 legs!), chasing mice and birds, and having adventures. She has had a whole quality of life that as an indoors cat she would never have got. I'd find comfort in that.
Only we use the road by us, so there's no danger there.
Initially I had an electronic cat flap that recognised my cat chips so only they could come in.
My door & windows were upgraded a couple of years back and I said i would pay for my electronic flap to be installed, but they just went ahead & installed a generic cat flap!
So far its been fine, my cats have staked out their own territory around my garden, though i keep my eye out, to see who's 'new on the block' (both animal & 'feral' human!)
Cats are semi feral creatures that need to get out, keeping them in like dogs is plain wrong. You have to accept this. It breaks my heart that one of my cats could get run over, but, at least the cat would've enjoyed a more natural life than being cooped up in some flat, just looking at seagulls from a window all day...
Once or twice a year (always summertime), my boy Gonzo goes on his 'pilgrimage' for nearly three days... Whenever this happens, after he doesn't come back by the next morning, i'm unfocused & get emotional thinking the worst, but- that's MY problem, not his, and he shouldn't be deprived of his freedom, just to make me feel happy. (ypu should see me when he does come back
However, there are always plenty of 'house cats' that rescue places have, so, all needs are catered for...;-)
Tell that to the rescues who insist some of their cats are kept in and the very fancy breeds who have to be kept in for their own good.
Rescues only insist cats with specific condictions be kept in - eg they are FIV+ or deaf/blind.
Why do "very fancy breeds" have to be kept in "for their own good"? The only reason I can think of is them being catnapped, and that can happen to any animal (even those "kept" in garden enclosures or indoors).
Very long haired cats don't do well outside it's almost cruel to send them out as they get caught in things so easily and need stuff teased out of their coats all the time.
We had a long haired persian cross from a rescue centre that was an outdoor cat and was forever coming in and out and she was fine. Also the rescue centre wouldn't let us have her unless she had access to a cat flap (and even came round for a home visit to check). We just used to comb her once a week, not to get any garden bits out her fur but because thats what the rescue centre said to do. It would have been more "cruel" to keep her locked inside.
Fine I don't believe it's cruel to keep them in and believe its cruel to let them wander we will have to agree to differ.
The major rescues insist that their young healthy cats have outdoor access. Those of us who have actually rescued cats know that all too well. When I lived in my flat, Cats Protection wouldn't consider giving me a kitten (which I wanted at that time) so I adopted my Tabitha through a small ad. I later fitted 2 cat flaps to give her outdoor access (with permission from the other leaseholders) because CP had made me feel so guilty and I had realised that my cat was not getting the kind of life she needed, particularly as I worked such long hours. She thrived and was so happy outdoors.
When Tabitha died, of natural causes, I approached the RSPCA and Cats Protection for cats. Both home visits mainly consisted of being checked for a safe outdoor environment.
It's wrong for some people to continuously state facts that are just not true.
I would rather be 'educated' by experts in cat welfare - vets, Cats Protection and the RSPCA - than a minority of, in my opinion, misguided anti-cat people on this forum, who don't like being referred to as ''cat-haters'' but seem to lack real understanding of cats.
You skew the facts in order to suit your personal agenda. Some rescue cats need to be kept indoors, yes, if they are disabled or nervous or have an infectious condition but you know full well that rescues promote, even insist on, outdoor access for their healthy young cats because you have been told that fact many times before. I have no problem with other people choosing to keep their own cats indoors either - but it's a freedom of choice that you seem to want to deny us.
I fail to understand why it could ever be extremely cruel to ''other people'' to let cats wander? Do you mean because of cat poo in the garden? Isn't that rather an extreme, unhealthy reaction from someone who professes to like cats? I'm sorry but everything you say points to you not liking cats very much....
I love cats that are kept well, kept out of other people's gardens same as I love dogs that are not a nuisance to other people, responsible animal owners don't allow their animals to cause anyone else grief.
I have two four months old Siamese kittens. I have not let them out yet. They are desperate to go outside but, the vet says not yet . But I shall let them out when they are bigger.