18 months and and 60 months. Both apartment cats since I got them in January. Northern New England, so they had no desire to go out until about 3 weeks ago. 2 weeks ago, I started letting them out, at first with me as their escort, now I let them do their thing w/o me. Both fixed, and both pretty attuned with the area, because even though it's urban, I only let them out at night. And they know the lay of the land just by looking out the windows. They are both survivors. Both adopted, the older one could prolly survive in the wild right now. Total warrior. The other is not quite the warrior, but he's about 3 times as smart, and he's half Maine Coon. So he has a unique look, BUT, he's very sure of himself around people, which is great... until a local dope fiend decides to steal him. That's my fear, not vehicle traffic but other people scooping them up. I don't make them wear collars, because I think they are a hazard. Breakaway collars never last long. So these boys are out in my city neighborhood w/o ID tags, and they're both gorgeous. They cry and cry to be let out, who am I to deny their right as free cats? They are so happy out there!
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I Have 2 Rambunctious Boys
- Thread starter catguy81
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Seeing as it seems you are aware of the dangers for free-roaming cats (life expectancy of only 4 years, compared to an indoor cat's 20), but still want your cats to be able to explore the outdoors, I'd like to suggest to you that you explore safe alternatives, either by building a catio or harness training.
I recommend that you read all 36 pages of this thread: Should I Still Be Hoping My Missing Cat Will Come Home?. Then ask "Who am I to deny their right as free cats?"
They aren't wearing collars, so no one who finds one of them has any way to get in touch with you, and, in fact, they appear to be adoptable. And that's the optimistic scenario. If you want to lose your cats, this is how to do it.
My suggestions are:
They aren't wearing collars, so no one who finds one of them has any way to get in touch with you, and, in fact, they appear to be adoptable. And that's the optimistic scenario. If you want to lose your cats, this is how to do it.
My suggestions are:
- Find a collar that you're comfortable putting on them, and include tags with your phone number.
- Get them chipped.
- New rule -- the cats go outside only when you can go along.
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Night is the worst time to let them out. That's when the wild animals like coyotes come out. All my outdoor cats as a child just disappeared one day. You never know when and you never know what happened to them. I still wonder if they died because they were sick or if a coyote got them. The only one that I know what happened to was the one who got hit by a truck. 6 cats just disappeared, 1 hit by truck. Not good odds!
I second the catio or harness if they really want out that badly. Don't over-estimate their ability to stay out of traffic. My Ezlo came to us as a young cat who was indoor/outdoor and very "street smart." We had him with us 2 years when he was killed by a car this past February. Growing up our cats were always indoor/outdoor and yes some of them just disappeared but we always told ourselves that they "ran away" and someone else probably had them. But more likely they had perished.
I adopted my two kitties, Link and Navi, shortly after Ezlo passed and they will be indoor only. I don't care how much they may want to go outside.
I adopted my two kitties, Link and Navi, shortly after Ezlo passed and they will be indoor only. I don't care how much they may want to go outside.
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Me too! And in the past 5 years over 20 of the adult feral cats from the colony I care for have either been killed on the road, been so badly injured in their run-ins with other animals that they had to be PTS or have disappeared without trace.
Letting them out alone at night is really just asking for trouble.
