Allowing My Cat To Play With Strays

[matt1991]

I just saw a sad video about a cat with rabies. and alot of cats get it from other strays ect. i let my cat play with these 2 cats who basically live at my house. but they sometimes claw at him but i cant keep him from wanting to go outside and play for hours a day. im curious of the chances of him catching a bad virus or disease due to this?

i dont let him go out at night generally. normally he cries like crazy to get out around 5 30 am each morning,, then i let him out then wake up around 11 to 12 and i let him back in. then he goes out from around 3 to 5. he had his rabies shots a year n half ago. hes 2 in a half now, and hasn't had any shots in awhile. i hope this wont be an issue because i know how badly he wants outside to play. it is hard to keep him inside when he really wants out.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

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Feline Infectious Peritonitis - and countless other diseases - are spread from cat to cat. Please don't ever allow a domestic cat outside unless he or she is on a harness and leash and carefully supervised, and never allow him or her contact with other cats. Our job as good stewards is to make a cat's life indoors safe and enjoyable; once a cat goes outside, safety can't be assured.
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[verna davies]

I would never allow my cats to mix with unknown cats, you never known what illnesses they have and having your cat innoculated against illnesses is no guarantee he wont catch it, it just cuts down the odds and would help him to fight it.

 

[Tink84]

I have just seen this thread and feel very sad indeed. I have a 17 month old long hair ginger boy and i got him at 14vweeks old. I'e very protective of him but my hubby an mil done nothing but talk at me and encourage me to let him outside so after months of fighting my corner and to no avail I did. He is only allowed out if I or my hubby are home and the back door can be left open for him to come and go......fast forward from fab when I first let him out to now......he has received a very nasty bite on his tail (you may have seen my post) and has had to have anti-biotics and an E collar on forv7 days so had to be kept inside.....he goes back the vet today to get checked over but I don' want to ever let him out again as I agree with this thread about not wanting him to mix with feral cats! Is it cruel to now kerp him as a house cat? X

 

[carebare]

There are various infectious diseases. The vaccines will help for some, so ensure he is up to date on all those including rabies. Administer flea medicine. Chances are he will come back with a wound or some sort of disease to treat from being outdoors. I know cats are impossible to keep inside but the chances are what they are.

 

[Tink84]

I agree carebare it' just a horrible thought and I wouldn' want to keep him in after him experiencing the great outdoors

 

[verna davies]

I have just seen this thread and feel very sad indeed. I have a 17 month old long hair ginger boy and i got him at 14vweeks old. I'e very protective of him but my hubby an mil done nothing but talk at me and encourage me to let him outside so after months of fighting my corner and to no avail I did. He is only allowed out if I or my hubby are home and the back door can be left open for him to come and go......fast forward from fab when I first let him out to now......he has received a very nasty bite on his tail (you may have seen my post) and has had to have anti-biotics and an E collar on forv7 days so had to be kept inside.....he goes back the vet today to get checked over but I don' want to ever let him out again as I agree with this thread about not wanting him to mix with feral cats! Is it cruel to now kerp him as a house cat? X

He will be fine as an indoor cat. It may take a little time for him to settle but as long as he has got plenty to keep him amused (cardboard boxes are great fun and tree houses) and you play with him everyday he should be quite happy

 

[matt1991]

is it possible to put a % on it to say what chance it could be that he catches something

the reason im asking is he goes insane when he wants out and i dont budge he screams starts trying to rip off curtains ect its hard for me to go outside with him all the time now i have a illness thats gonna last about a year and i just wana be in bed all day and the weather really makes it hard for me to go out with him past 2 pm when it starts getting colder

 

[carebare]

There is a lot of info online on outdoor vs indoor cats. Here is one source but I think they might include strays: "Cats who are kept indoors can reach the ripe old age of 17 or more years, whereas outdoor cats live an average of just two to five years..."

In my experience in suburban environments, our cats got ran over, murdered by neighbors/dogs, mutilated by neighbors, or disappeared. Sometimes they adopt a new family and we often ended up with new porch cats. A handful lived to a ripe age, mutilated or not, but many did not. Urban environs seem worse. Rural environments have a lot of stories of shootings, depredation, dogs, eating weird things, etc. My gut feeling is that chances are poor to live a long healthy life.

The vast majority of stray cats seem to need veterinary care so they are probably carrying something, and chances are it will be expensive to treat. Quite a few people deliberately poison stray/feral cats.

I used to strongly beleive that cats are made to be outdoor animals. But after I got so bonded to my cats, I am too scared to let them outside because I don't want to lose him like all those cats I knew growing up. I take him on walks. I tried taking him to the wilderness once, and he hated it. He is happy so long as he is with me. He is a velcro cat that constantly has to be with his human in all things.

 

[matt1991]

my boy is very loving to me. he wont sleep unless its with me, but he does love to get his outdoor fix to go out get in tall grass and pounce around pretending he is a lion in the homeland of Africa. but im afraid of him getting hurt or catching a disease. i see cats all the time now getting sick with things which i find crazy how cats can get so sick so easily yet live in the wild so well. i want him to live to be 30 if possible as long as hes healthy. but man keeping him inside is gonna be hard with him acting the way he does.

 

[verna davies]

Are you able to build a safe area outside for him such as a catio or fenced in area that he can be outside but not able to mix with strays. There are a lot of members that have done this successfully

 

[Tink84]

Matt I totally know how you feel my boy has just had to be treated because he received a nasty bite half way down did tail which caused quite a nasty absces and has had to have an E Collar on him. He has now been kept in for a week and a half.
Normally I let him out when I'm home at evenings and weekends and he lives it and when I bring him in he goes crazy scratch g at the door and reaching up for the handle but weirdly enough since he' had to be kept in due to his sore tail and e collar on he' not behaved like that (he will sit by the door looking out but that' the extent) so I wonder if he' actually frightened to go out but wants to.
I' just not sure I'm ready as this has made me aware of the issues and more which he can unfortunately encounter!
I too am in two minds wether to let him out ever again or keep him as a house cat. I just thought it was cruel doing that as I know cats like to explore, hunt, forrage in the dark etc. In saying that my cat comes in for the biggest 10.30pm and goes to bed lol but since not going out he' been waking me up at silly hours!!
I think you will know what is the right thing to do for you and your cat temperament and how to handle it e.g. our cat knows a routine that he only goes out when I'm home and comes in for food and bed at 10.30pm. He also uses the litter tray and comes in to sleep at different intervals! So I believe he is bonded with me and his home.

My worry now is if I let him out will he rebel (because I've had to keep him in) and run away in case i keep him in again!?

I' say give your boy a venture in the garden whilst standing out there with him and see how he reacts....you will know from that what to do....i did!

 

[Tink84]

Verna I want one of these but they are about £300+ if i had the money though id definitely buy one!

 

[verna davies]

I hope someone on the site can comes up with a solution. All we want are happy and safe cats. Not a lot to ask.

 

[di and bob]

The only way to have them safe outdoors is to have them in an enclosure. Building one yourself is fairly easy and would cost much less, there are many 'chicken coops' out there now that would be a good enclosure and has a place for them to go to sleep etc. Neutering/spaying a cat cuts down on 90% of the injuries and diseases they catch outside, make sure they are up to date on their vaccinations. We full well know the results of letting a domestic cat out, I have at least a dozen little graves on my property with abandoned strays (and two of our own) who crossed the busy road, we had distemper kill many a few years back, but our vaccinated cats came through fine. Even though we are in town, we have had coyotes spotted only a block from our place, deer come every night and racoons have killed one of our cats. Despite this, I know what you are going through, when my Chrissy was killed on the road 5 years ago we kept Casper in for a year. He was completely miserable. He NEVER let up, destroying things in the house and crying almost nonstop, for a year! We finally let him out after we found he himself really made the choice, for him a short happy life is better than a long miserable one. He is ten now, but it makes me sick every time I don't see him right away. We do have an old grizzled feral tom that was born on the place, he is ten now too. He should be a poster child for why you should have your cats neutered, he is torn, scarred extensively, has one eye and one ear missing and looks twenty! From now on, our cats need to be kept in the house from day one so they don't know what they are missing. It's kind of ironic, Casper a house cat, wants desperately outside, our outside cats came inside and won't leave! They are perfectly happy inside and don't even ask!

 

[talkingpeanut]

It’s too risky to let him play with strays. Not a risk I would take, no matter the percentage. You can’t guarantee that he’ll get along with any of these cats. Is he neutered?

 

[matt1991]

he wants me outside with him t chase him around like a dog its funny everytime i let him out he goes out and looks back at me waiting for my reaction but i havent been feeling very great lately especially due to weather to stay out long with him so if i got him another kitten hed probably not want to go outside since hed have a play mate

 

[matt1991]

It’s too risky to let him play with strays. Not a risk I would take, no matter the percentage. You can’t guarantee that he’ll get along with any of these cats. Is he neutered?

yeah hes been fixed it makes me mad cause i started feeding these 2 cats and now they dont leave my porch and sometimes my boy can play with one of them but randomly he walks past them and they attack him for no reason.

ill make a video soon and show you one of them has very weird behavior he just screams at me even when i give him his food lol non stop

 

[talkingpeanut]

Have you considered fixing the strays and doing some basic vaccinations? It would help them to coexist peacefully.

 

[orange&white]

The rabies vaccine from 1.5 years ago is still good. I would take him for fvrcp - FIV/FeLV vaccines if you'd like for him to be indoor/outdoor. I think the FeLV is separate from the fvrcp vax. Also, if the cats outside don't belong to anyone, I would take them to a vet or low-cost clinic and have them vaccinated for rabies/fvrcp/FIV/FeLV. Vets normally take a blood test for FIV/FeLV before giving the vaccinations, so you would know if any of the cats are sick or are disease carriers.

Only a tiny percentage of cats in the United States are infected with any of those diseases, but you don't want to end up in the 2-3% of cats who do get sick.

Unneutered male cats will fight over territory fight over any female in heat. Those deep bite wounds are the cause of most FIV disease. If you were to get all the cats spayed/neutered and vaccinated, you shouldn't have to worry much about diseases.