I am thinking of letting my indoor cat of 7 years have some time outside on his own. Is there any steps I should take when doing this?
No one was rude. We care about what happens to the OPs cat. Your outside cat may be savvy to the dangers of outside but the cat in question is a senior cat (yes seven is considered senior) who has been an inside cat all his life.Originally Posted by Jack31
Such harsh words. All cats die, outside life isn't a death sentence. My outside cat looks both ways before going in the street. She knows her name and runs to me when called.
Yes there are risks, there are risks inside our homes too.
OP if you would like to have a serious unopinionated rude conversation about transitiong, PM me.
Thank youOriginally Posted by otto
No one was rude. We care about what happens to the OPs cat. Your outside cat may be savvy to the dangers of outside but the cat in question is a senior cat (yes seven is considered senior) who has been an inside cat all his life.
Creepyowl was given good advice about ways to allow their kitty outside time in a safe protected way.
I passed four dead cats today. My work is itinerant. I was on local roads today, all day, some city, some country, and saw four dead cats. They were all from last night or today, because I was on the same roads yesterday.
And I stopped each time to make sure they were dead, because if they weren't I would have picked them up and taken them to the vet on call this weekend. They were all dead, so I moved the ones who were in the middle of the road to the side of the road, then sat in my car and cried.
And I wondered...was someone on a tear last night, looking for cats to kill? That happens. People hate cats and will go to great lengths to injure them. If it was deliberate pausing to look both ways would have done none of those cats any good.
Whether the deaths were deliberate or accidents, they all could have been prevented.
"All cats die"? Sure they do but I prefer my cats to die loved, in my arms, after a long happy life, not brutally on a cold dark road.
A 2 year old child and a 7 year old cat are very different things. At about 10 weeks a cat is able to survive without it's mother. A 2 year old can't.Originally Posted by farleyv
Letting your cat outside is like putting a 2 year old child out on his own. Would you do that??
Isn't that the truth. When I was 8 years old my parents had a cat named Ally, they let him outside thinking he had street smarts and everything was always fine, so it would always be fine. Our cat was captured, tortured, and had his legs and hip broken in several places. The vet said it looked like someone or a group of someone's took a bike and ran it over and over him. Our poor cat was able to crawl home and he was a horrendous site. I won't ever forget it.Originally Posted by otto
People hate cats and will go to great lengths to injure them.
Yes, the statistics are out there, that inside cats live a much much longer life than outside cats... But I think that the biggest problem with your cat, specifically, is that he has been an inside cat for his whole life - for 7 years... Now, for HIM, it is too late and way too risky... We have seen here at TCS inside plenty of cats that escaped and died in a matter of a days or even hours... It is really bad and dangerous. Take a look at the session called Rainbow Bridge, and you can see it there...Originally Posted by Creepyowl
That is a horrific story. Its too bad there are people like that out there.
I did come to this site for some insight to the idea.
Depends. You said A 2 year old child, not mine, right? Is the hypothetical baby really fussy and annoying? =pOriginally Posted by farleyv
Letting your cat outside is like putting a 2 year old child out on his own. Would you do that??
NOT ADVANTIXOriginally Posted by Ducman69
Depends. You said A 2 year old child, not mine, right? Is the hypothetical baby really fussy and annoying? =p
I agree, an enclosure with a nice cat door is the best way to go. Most convenient at my house would be to hook the enclosure up next to a window, and put the entrance through there. Cats are territorial creatures of habit anyway, so probably feel safer and more relaxed that way regardless.
Hook em up with some Advantix though as preventative since they can get fleas and what not more easily outdoors.
Advantage9 is what I use, sorry, editing post now.Originally Posted by otto
I'm sure you meant Advantage, but please, be careful when posting info like this.