Do You Let Your Cats Outside?

Erin80

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Wondering who does and who doesn’t, and why?
Ours are indoor.
 

kittyluv387

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This is always a hot topic. I'm in the US so no. More importantly I live in a busy city type area so the chances of them getting run over are very very high. And also, some people are evil! My cats are friendly and I wouldn't trust other people to treat them right.
 

Maria Bayote

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I am in the Middle East, so definitely it is a no.

I have seen cats intentionally being driven over here, hit or thrown rocks at by children, etc. And summers here are really cruel. All of my cats have been rescued off from the streets. My Barley was skin and bones when we got him, and suffering from ring worms and dental issues. It was even winter during that time when we got him. I don't know if he had survived if it was during the summer instead and nobody noticed him.
 

Kairi

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No, and no plans to. I grew up with nothing but outdoor cats who came and went as they pleased and saw all of the terrible things that could and would happen to them.
 

FeebysOwner

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No for me too. I live in the US - Florida to be exact. Our neighborhoods have outdoor cats all over the place - some not neutered/spayed, raccoons/possums/armadillos wandering at night, coyotes that have been displaced from over-construction in the area, occasional lazy neighbors who let their dogs walk themselves, kids who think harassing cats is fun, and drivers who can't read speed/stop signs.

Feeby has her own outside area - a screened patio inside a fenced yard. So, we have an occasional stray cat come by, but because no food is left outside, they are few and far between - thankfully.
 

Jem

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Nope. Indoor only. We live in an area where we have several different types of wild animals who would love a kitty as a meal. Not to mention unleashed dogs, other strays and traffic.
I will admit that with our last group of cats, we would sometimes bring them out with us if we were sitting on the deck or BBQing (fenced in back yard and never in the winter) where we could supervise them, but they were so trained to be indoors (AKA: sissy pants!;)) that they never wandered more than 10 feet from the door and at the first sound of a loud vehicle (we live near the bush, so lots of dirt bikes, quads and big trucks in our neighborhood) they were sitting at the door waiting to be let in.
Our current group of kitties, which we only adopted in December, have not been outdoors yet (since bringing them home), I may harness them and bring them out, one at a time, to see how they are outside, but so far they are perfectly happy looking out the windows, they've never even tried to escape out the door when we come in and out.
 

GemsGem

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No, mine are all indoor. My cats are way to friendly with people & there are way too many cat haters about.
But, I do have a large ‘catio’ attached to the back of my house. The cats have 24 hour access via a cat flap to it. So, they can have as much fresh air as they want in complete safety :)
 

basschick

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indoors only since the early 1980s.

every cat i had who was an indoor/outdoor cat was killed by cars, once a bulldozer, once poisoned by a human. except for my first cat, in the early '60s, who died of a respiratory illness that the vet said probably caught from another cat. my friend had a cat who was killed by dogs and another who was killed by coyotes.

and then there are all those cat fights leading to injury and infections. ticks. humans amusing themselves by hurting cats. my dad's cat was killed by a pickup truck that went way up over the curb in order to deliberately run him down.
 

corvidae

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The only way Jem will ever be outside is on a harness and leash. I don’t feel letting cats outside is a responsible or compassionate choice for the cat or the ecosystem the cat is being unleashed upon, for all the reasons others have mentioned above.
 

Stinky15

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Wondering who does and who doesn’t, and why?
Ours are indoor.
Mine is indoor/outdoor. He has his own door and comes and goes as he pleases. I have watched him cross the street and he always looks for cars coming. He does not use the litter box on the house unless weather is really bad for an extended period. I somewhat worry about possibly a Fox getting him but they are few and far between. The main danger are idiot neighbors who walk their dogs without a leash. I have had to "discourage" people from the behaviour on multiple occasions.
 

tabbytom

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I live in an apartment building and there are only four homes on our floor. I let my boy out every morning to the corridor under my close supervision.

Usually, there are no one out there and no wild animals. As soon as my boy hears a sound or someone comes out from one of the homes, he'll scurry back home.
 

basschick

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I live in an apartment building and there are only four homes on our floor. I let my boy out every morning to the corridor under my close supervision.

Usually, there are no one out there and no wild animals. As soon as my boy hears a sound or someone comes out from one of the homes, he'll scurry back home.
my son used to do that with his cat, mew. he would explore and play in the hall, but if he heard a door open, zoom! he'd fly back to the apartment.
 

tabbytom

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but if he heard a door open, zoom! he'd fly back to the apartment.
Guess this is pretty good instinct and at least they are safer this way.

But sometimes, my boy have his guts all the way up and he would enter into my neighbor's house :lol:
 

basschick

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Guess this is pretty good instinct and at least they are safer this way.

But sometimes, my boy have his guts all the way up and he would enter into my neighbor's house :lol:
mew would peek into an open door, but i don't think he ever entered.

i used to have a chow chow who loved going for rides. three or four times, he escaped the yard and jumped into strangers' cars while they were in them. in his mind, he was a cute little puppy, but that was not the impression of the people whose cars he jumped into, who always ran out of their cars - and i can't really blame them!
 
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