By its nature (which is what you're hooked on), yes it is as a species.

Your cat (and mine) have been conditioned by their surroundings to be awake during the day.

And that's the whole point.

You still have to cage up the back garden though don't you? Otherwise they wander, and get run over by cars at some point.

Unless you are allowing your cat to wander free, don't kid yourself into thinking you are 'allowing' it any more than a bit of fresh air.

My son's cat loved being outside in our last home but now the colder and wetter weather is here, he will prefer being indoors.

He is a good mouser and used to show us his day's catch.

No, our garden has walls that are pretty high. There are no roads out the back and in the front, the cat doesn't go across the road, she stays in our garden or the neighbours garden and mostly just sits on our car

So much for the wandering instinct then

She is too lazy... sometimes she goes into the gardens close by but never too far

Frodo's a house cat. mainly. We do let him out but he never wants to go. He gets as far as the front doorstep then legs it back inside. He's just far too lazy to venture into the big wide world, but the opportunity is always there for him to go out if he wants. He very rarely does

Arwyn was a foster cat for the first 2 months and part of the foster agreement was that we kept him indoors. I wouldn't have let him out anyway because he was in such a sorry physical state and unneutered. I expected him to be a nightmare having been a stray and so used to being outdoors, but he's never showed any desire to get outside at all.

Now he's adopted, healthy and neutered we'll probably start letting him out for short periods of time soon. He doesn't seem to have been adversly affected by staying inside though. He's got loads of toys and a mega scratch post thingy to keep him amused.

Exactly my point.

Cats don't bother wandering unless they have to.

Generally that means that they've either been locked out, or they're looking for a mate.

Please don't think I was criticising the way you look after your pet. The ones I have a problem with are those who shut a cat out and don't get them sterilised. That's when the trouble, the aggression, the ill-health and the feral tendencies start.

I assume that you would never lock the cat out when you go to work -- it'd be locked in if anything, right?

BTW I would also recommend to any cat owner to have two of them if possible. Contrary to popular belief, cats do crave company (on their terms) and having two is another great way to keep them close to home.

Having one is fine but they will need more mental stimulation in this case.

When ours were younger they'd spend most of their alert time playing with each other. Now that they're older (both about 11 years old) they've settled and can't be bothered most of the time, but all cats get that way as they age.

I would love to let them out but have had 3 cats too many lost on the two busy roads near my house and couldn't live with myself if it happened again.

I have 2 girls (always had boys before) that don't go out, and seem quite content. But they get lots of playtime with both me and each other, and don't need to go out to escape each other because they get on very well.

If I could afford to, I'd either move somewhere with no busy roads, or build them a huge outdoor area they couldn't escape from. But I can't!

It's all they've ever known as well.

I have three indoor/outdoor and one semi-wild outdoor cat I could never catch to socialise her fully. She allows petting but not picking up. if she strays into the house and the door blows shut she becomes very distressed will try to jump through the closed window. Of the indoor ones, Betty and Mr P are let out for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the evening all year round, the garden is big, about 1/3 of an acre and there's plenty of places for adventure.

In the Summer if Tux, who is the "top cat" is left indoors all day he becomes aggressive to the other two, despite him being neutered-he is a scrapper and will probably always be so. I leave him out between 10am and 6pm. In the winter he doesn't mind being indoors til the evening. I lost Ellie a few months ago to car but had posted elsewhere i think she was upset at Betty's arrival and wandered onto the road that night. I feel guilty but at least she had a couple of years of love with us. all of these cats were originally wild-not feral-but offspring of domesticated cats who were abandoned or strayed.

I agree totally with you, before we had the cat flap, we would leave her locked in, just in case she got hungry or rained or worse that she was being attacked, now she has the cat flap, she comes and goes as she pleases. She has been spayed when she was younger as I don't think it's fair on the cat to have litters. Thankfully there isn't too many cats around our way so she is rarely getting into scraps!

my kittens (well they are almost one so won't be kittens for much longer!!) are indoor cats but they like to venture out every so often usually when the sun is shining but they will only stay in the garden and come back after 30 mins or so though but more often than not they stay in the house but they love sitting in the garage i always worry they will be cold but i put a bed in there and they stay there for ages but will come into the lounge to cuddle up with me and my hubby in the evening!!

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences!

Our cat Poppy, was mainly and indoor cat, she especially loved the sun and hated the rain and would stay in. She didn't venture far, only on top of the shed, in the field opposite, (at the front of the house)which is seperated from us by a quiet small lane. We have lots of foliage out the back and this is where she is buried now, in her favourite place, where she spent alot of time catching spiders and moths!

We never shut her out in the day. If we were here, she'd stay around us, if we weren't then food water and a tray was ready for her indoors! (which she never used after her first taste of the foliage!)

I think there were two issues...1) she was being bullied by another female cat from two doors down, which she used to run like hell from! This cat used to come into our garden and terrorize her, until big bad me went out and shoo'ed the bully off! 2) She began to be a hunter and brought mice home from the field opposite, as presents for us! She seemed to be very proud of these skills and I had to take her to the vets more regularly to have flea and worm treatment.

With these two things when she went way down the lane and entered the main road, she was either being chased by bully cat or she had depleted the field of mice and decided to venture to other places to look for them?

In any way, we've lost her and we're at a bit of a crossroads here now. We are definately going to take any kittens out on harnesses when they're neutered and had the injections and make sure the road is a no no....don't know if this will work, it's worth a try, we think.

The other thing I think is that all cats have very different personalities like humans.
My mam's cat lived to 19 and was an out cat.
My cat I had when I was 20 (am 40 now) was climbing the walls to be an out cat, so I gave her to my close work colleague who had her as an out cat near a busy road for 18 years.

So I think the solution is to give half and half like we did with Poppy, although we may change our minds!

Thanks 3SM

i have had 2 indoor cats 1) sparky we had sparky from a very young kitten as we were both out at work and we lived in a very dodgy neighbourhood in a 6th floor flat (one neighbours cat had his tail removed by a cat hater with a pair of garden shears) sparky was an indoor lady we fed her well she had no inclination to venture out she slept where and when she wanted i fed her when she told me to if you picked her up she would disembowel you pmt like no cat i knew she would try to mate with visitors feet or chew them off she was a real character and lived 16 yrs our 2nd cat was called oscar(ossie) he was a darling runt of his litter disowned by mum and had severe cat flu at 13 weeks that he had obviously had for a while instinct said don't buy a cat with cat flu but seeing him was awww how much did you say the couple had no money 2 kids and ossie needed treatment they obviously could not or would not afford so i brought him home assured it was not cat flu by now my partner was ill so home 24/7 he would layin her arms on his back like a baby he loved the car litter tray on floor laid on the seat but if we stopped at lights he was up looking boy did we get some looks then about 8 months ago ossie got his cat flu back with a veangeance i used baby wipes on his little nose and then he started having tummy issues due to the air he took in whilst eating due to his nose constantly blocked the 2nd time it happened he couldn't get over it and we had to let him go that was 3 weeks ago do i regret ossie no and i would do the short 3 and a half years he had all over again he laid with me at night head butting me til i kissed him goodnight on top of his head he was a grand little fella he only weighed 3 kgs at best our next cat/s if and when will be indoor cats too to be loved cherished and car trained is it cruel no its not if you want outdoor cats fine i don't i live spitting distance of the main leicester-peterborough rd so its too dangerous and my cat/s will be as loved and as cherished as ossie was i made a website for him for my oh as she has agoraphobia heres a link thanks for listening http://www.mypetspages.com/mysite/4431

I've got two cats. One goes out and the other doesn't. The first I've had for years and let her out because she was already used to going outdoors (she was a rescue cat). I felt I should give her the opportunity to go outside because it was what she was used to. She loves going out and will scratch at the door and howl when she isn't allowed to. I don't like her to be out overnight and always try and get her in for bedtime. Not always possible, but I do worry when she won't come back in.

The second cat I've had since kitten age, so she's never been used to going out. I got another kitten a few years ago and at first kept her in. In the end I thought I'd give her the chance to go out and explore, thinking perhaps I was being cruel. I regret this now. Although she did love going out once she'd realised there was a big world out there beyond the four walls she'd been used to, she ended up getting poisoned and died before her 2nd birthday.

I can understand the arguments for and against letting cats out. But as I've experienced both ways now, I know that the indoor cats don't cry to go out as they've never been used to it. So for any future cats I probably would keep them inside. The second cat who has never been outside doesn't show much inclination to go out because she's not used to it.

I'm so sorry, there are so many evil people out there who would like nothing better to poison a cat because they've pooped in their garden etc. I also know there are lots of plants out there that pose a devestating impact on cats too, but usually, like us they stay away from poison.

I totally understand what you're saying

I am in tears, I willl look at your site when I can muster up the courage to do so...it's the headbutting and when you kiss their little head that is hurting, because I can understand perfectly.
Last edited by 3 Second Memory : 04-10-2008 at 22:23

Thanks! It was definitely a case of "curiosity killed the cat" because she would try eating anything. My oldest cat wasn't affected because she's much more fussy. Even turns her nose up at cat food half the time!

But it was awful to hold her after I realised she was ill (didn't know at first it was poison) and know she was dying. I wouldn't want to go through that again. I'd keep my oldest in, but I risk letting her out because she loves it outside and would be upset to be permanently prevented. And she is more "street smart" than my other cat was. Not that that's a guarrantee, but although I hesitated at first, I felt it would be too cruel to deny her now she is used to being outdoorsy.

I can understand all of that about wanting to go outdoors, it's like their instinct takes over and it's difficult to control. Our lovely Poppy loved it outside, but wouldn't venture further than the front garden and opposite field as a rule.

I'm so sorry again. I think we have to take the risk for the need of the individual cat and I think they have the most wonderful life, choosing what they want to do and then if terrible things happen to them like your cat poisoned and mine run over, then at least we can be glad that they had the most great life while they were with us.

I'd be so sorry if I'd kept a cat in against her will and then her be so miserable and just there indoors to entertain us. We choose to have cats to adhere to their needs and to let them enjoy what they want to, cuddling and headbutting us is such a lovely thing for us, but NOT to keep them indoors if they feel they don't want to be there!

Hope your ok!

We have two bengal cats that we've had since they were both kittens. Before these two, we had another bengal cat named Eddy, and sadly, he was killed on the 60 mph road we live by. As Bengals are notorious for being curious adventurers, we thought it was best to keep them as indoor cats. They do have a large pen they go in outside. So I guess they have the best of both worlds. It's what they've been used to as kittens.

There's also a lot of nasty stories about cats being catnapped, and seeing as our cats are very very friendly and trusting, we thought it was best to keep them indoors/in the pen.

I think that's an excellent idea, see as Bengals are definatley adventurers. As long as they are having excercise , then that will make them happy.

I'm planning to take out my kittens/cats (when they are neutered and have had the proper injections) out for a walk on a harness and then see where we go from there.

We have been in talks with the three of us! With a heavy heart because of losing our Poppy a few weeks ago, we've decided to have 2 cats.

It was a hard decision but we were feeling so sad and lost. No cat would ever replace our Poppy, but we have to stop being sad and give these little kittens a chance at a life that Poppy had. We are going to see them on Tuesday

Our cat is a burmese, from a long line of show cats. They were all house cats and I expected Tinky would be too. She came to us aged 18mths as a house cat, and saw our dog going into the garden....so used to wait by the back door and try to get outside whenever the door was opened.

So we started letting her out. The very first time she was allowed out she pounced on and pinned a bird to the ground

Now she's a well developed natural born killer who's free to come and go and she pleases. I think she'd be very miserable if we'd kept her in - much as I hate all the dead animals she brings home but all cats are different

My cat's an indoor ragdoll cat, and she's never really been outside. I do walk her round the garden on a lead sometimes, though. She's not used to being outside and doesn't really show any signs of wanting to go out. To be honest, I'd be worried about letting her out now. I'd be terrified about her getting run over or even stolen.