Hi...before i get to the point of this thread....let me explain the story and situation that lead to me asking this. Sorry but this is a long post...don't get bored lol.

I have 3 cats, Shelly, Heidi and Evie. I adopted Heidi just over 2yrs ago, she wasn't a confident cat at all. We kept her inside the house for a few weeks and then slowly bit by bit we started allowing her outside. It took her a while to eventually step foot outside and she'd stayed only for a minute or if no one was there she'd come back in. Either way she never strayed far from the garden. About 2/3months after letting her out, i noticed she wasn't around so i guessed she finally picked up courage to have a wonder..i called and eventually she returned. Week by week she became more and more confident of her surroundings and started going out longer and longer. I started to become worried when she'd dissapear for literally best part of day and then would suddenly wonder in like she'd gone few mins. Heidi ALWAYS came back be it few mins later of 12hrs later...she always returned. Then we started to notice that she was getting fed from elsewhere cause she'd come home..poo everywhere and was sick and you could see the undigested food that she brought up...polish sausages....indian food and so on. Someone was feeding her but whatever they were giving her it wasn't doing her stomach any good at all, but they obviously felt sorry for her cause Heidi was and is a very small slim cat and kinda raggdy giving the impression she is a stray (even though she has collar and tag), so they thought they were doing good by her, which i totally understand. Anyway one day last year in Sept when i woke to get ready for work i could see Heidi was in a very bad, bad way....she was on the brink of death...literally. I went work and my mum and dad took her vets where she stayed for several days. Turns out she has a condition sort of where she cannot digest food very well and certainly cannot digest cat food nor human food. And also she was dehydrated and her potassium levels were severly low. Thank god, the vets did their tricks and when we brought her home she was right as rain but she'd be on medication for life to help her absorb food and absorb the nutrients and vitamins. She was also put on a restricted diet for life...potatoes, rice, white fish and chicken and specially prescribed meat from the vets. Thats all she can eat and all she'd be able to eat. After coming back from the vets she kinda lost her confidence. She couldn't go out for the first 5days. Onc she was able to go out again she did but it took her another week or so to start wondering again like she did. In the meantime i put out leaflets to see if someone was feeding her and looking after her. Turns out there were a number of people feeding her cause they felt sorry for her and we found out exactly where she was going which turned out to be down my road to this little italian lady i know and if she's not here at home...she's there. She was feeding her and so were two or 3 other house were. Once they found out she was owned and that they shouldn't be feeding her..they stopped and they stopped letting her in their houses. But she still went down the ladies house and would sit in her garden...so we knew where she was at all times and we felt safe that if she wasn't here, then she'd be at that old ladies house. So we adopted a regime, when it was feeding time and she weren't here, me or my mum, dad or brother would walk down and pick her up and bring her home. And all went well after that...she was well and safe and we knew where she was.

Early this year i lost my cat Suschi, that shoke me up very much cause i knew Heidi would wonder. Shelly never dissapeared from the garden and at the time we hadn't adopted Evie yet. Anyway just after i adopted my new cat Evie, Heidi went missing. She went out one Wednesday night and we didn't find her til Friday morning and when we did find her she was soaked and shaking. I dunno where she was but she didn't look right. She was in the same condition as i found her before that morning although not as bad. So we went back to the vets,,,they did what they did and 2days later she came home. With Suschi gone (potentially due to a beating by some nutjob) and with Heidi gone missing EXACTLY 4weeks after putting Suschi down i got paranoid that someone was out to get us or my cats. And so at night we decided that ALL cats would stay in and during the day they can go out..but i still was scared, not so much with Shelly or Evie cause they don't go anywhere...but with Heidi being so vunerable. With her condition if she doesn't eat or take her medicine or is left out in this weather..she wouldn't last long at all, where most cats could last longer...she couldn't. So my dad got to work and what did he do...he blocked of ALL exists out of our garden..there was simply no way they could escape our garden. That way they still could go out...but they are very much safe. And at night they would stay in. That regime worked very well..Heidi was doing good and the other 2 didn't mind. Heidi of course being the one that likes to wonder out tried in vain to find an exit..but my dad did an amazing job and blocked it all of. She'd search and search til she gave up. She was finally settling down and started to get used to it.

But sadly yesterday afternoon Heidi escape out the front door about 3.15pm and i could find her til this morning around 8am. She went back to that old ladies house. Before this though for 2 days we decided to let Heidi out and see what happens..sure enough she wonder to that house but she always came back and so went she got out through the front door i wasn't in such a panic cause i knew she'd return. But when it got to feeding time yesterday and no sign..i panic. I searched through the night and nothing til this morning. This has reinforced that fact that i will not be letting her passed the garden out anymore. I dunno why we tried letting her out...maybe cause i felt sorry for her cause i knew she wanted to have a wonder. But after her missing again for a 2nd time, my dad said not to let her out anymore and as far as she could go was the garden.

What im trying to ask..is what would you do in this situation?? Cause part of me wants to let her out for a little bit until about 12.30pm then bring her in and keep her in the house/garden til feeding time in the evening where the garden becomes off limits til the next morning. But im sooooo scared she will wonder AGAIN and once again we discover her missing. I'm at my wits end and really feel to only let her in the garden and that's it. whats your advice?? Again sorry for the loooonnngggg post.

Either way i am terrified of letting her out again cause she loves to wonder and one day i'm not gonna be sooo lucky and plus my dad went to a lot of effort blocking all the exits in the garden.

I wouldn't let her out, it's not worth the risk and at least she's allowed in the garden.

First off sorry for letting you read through alll that but thanks for answering. I don't wanna nor does my family and she seems fine with be restricted to just the garden. I dunno why im even asking cause there's no way i wanna go through that again, nor do i want my Heidi getting hurt or go missing. There's no change in her, meaning she hasn't beceome aggressive which i thought she might do being confined to just the house and garden. Plus with her condition she's soooo at risk in bad weather. I'm thinking that if she escape through the front door again (which i highly doubt...i'm on guard 24-7) to put leaflets out NOW just in case. Stating that Heidi is on medicine and on a restricted diet so if you see her please dont feed her nor encourage her to enter your house. Also check your sheds just in case she gets locked in. I'd put something like that.

Also chances of an outdoor cat going missing is unlikely cause they are use to surroundings right???

Does she wear a collar? One of my friends cat's started putting on weight- cos she was being fed by loads of different people. She wrote a note on the collar saying "Do NOT Feed- Heaath Problems" and it soon stopped. The collar was one of the reflective ones, not sure if they are flea collars or not.

If it was me I'd keep her in the back garden. My parents have an elderly cat who everyone looks out for. She's got a few health probs (over active thyroid, arthritis etc) so we've told everyone who lives close by to let us know if they find her what the problems are and to let us know if she appears in distress. Might be worth letting people near by know about her.

I would be tempted to keep her in. Having lost two of my cats outside my house I took no chances with El. Though luckily he doesn't really like going out. Good luck my dear. I hope you have good news x

I went through the business of other people feeding one of my cats, and he nearly died as a result - he was developing an overactive thyroid and when he became really ill with vomiting etc. instead of taking him to a vet they took him to the local rescue - having left him overnight, expecting him to be dead in the morning.

The safest and best way to keep any cats in my view is with a cat-proof garden, which i now have. However it's not necessarily easy to achieve, nor cheap. Next best is indoor only.

Not only are the cats safe from people feeding them inappropriate food, but they are also safe from accidentally ingesting antifreeze, slug pellets and the like, from road accidents, from picking up FIV / FeLV from fighting and the other dangers that face outside cats.

I'd just keep her in the house/garden bit and put leaflets up too just to be sure.


However, i'd like to know, how can you have a cat-proof garden? My cat just jumps on the fence and back down on the other side...

Overhangs. The long side of my back garden is a tall brick wall , the other long side is the house, and most of one of the short sides is the neighbours a tall wood garage so no problems there but the wood fences and so on along the rest of it now out all have overhangs with green plastic garden netting which is stapled firmly along the bottom but losely attached to the ends of the supports. I saw one of the cats have a go - it rapidly changed it's mind. Some other people have put rollers where I have overhangs.

It's brilliant being able to let them out without worrying as I live very close to a road that's quite busy at times. I'm not sure it will stop a cat getting in though, which could be an issue if I get a breeding pedigree female - wouldn't want the local Jack the Lad knocking her up. Got the inspiration from the FAB web site.

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/fencing/info.html

Mine looks a bit like Kitty Colditz but the benefit far, far outweights the visual drawbacks.

Hi everyone. My Heidi had to go vets late Friday night...the condition she has makes her very ill at times and she nearly died. She's back home now.

How to cat-proof your garden...well as one said it's very difficult and very expensive to achieve. We have a huge garden but my dad has simply blocked off all exits, it's been like this for a month now and not one of cats has escaped. I certainly won't let her out now cause if she gets ill again ans she's out....she wouldn't survive and certainly wont be able to make it home cause she gets sooo weak.

It's not necessarily expensive to cat-proof a garden. Mine was relatively easy to do - I didn't have to put any new fences in - the whole lot would have been a bit over £100 for materials and a lot of time stood on a ladder swearing and cursing, especially when I accidentally fired a staple into my hand not where it should have been. I do have to keep an eye on it, but it's been a fantstic boon for my two indoor cats. The old cat was very hacked off that he couldn't get out any more, but it was necessary to stop him going to the other house so he could get pilled twice a day, every day.

Your lucky...my dad spent about £350 to do all the work. He cursed also...he kept saying i dont believe im doing this lol..but he loves Heidi, he thinks she's special...she is. If thats the price we pay to keep our cats safe...im all for it! Shelly and Evie don't seem to mind very much cause they never ventured far...but Heidi hated it alot but she's coming round. Now she'll sit outisde on top of our dustbin and looks at us as if to see...i hate you...i cant wonder lol.