Outdoor Only Cats - How Can I Keep Them Safe?

[haythewxgeek]

Not sure if this fits in this category, but... When my kittens are old enough, the kittens and their mom will be moving outside. We live in the country with VERY little traffic (one car goes down the road approx every hour in the daytime). Every neighbor has several outdoor cats. We do have coyotes as we live by a cornfield/woods, but we've only seen a coyote in our yard once, we only hear them. We have a garden, deck, wood pile, and also alot of land to run on. My question is, what are ways to help protect outdoor cats, and give them a long, happy life? I thought about a habicat/catio for overnight, or building houses out of Rubbermaid bins. Any ideas?

 

[Timmer]

My opinion is you can't keep them safe. Especially with coyotes around. Doesn't matter if they come into the yard or not. If your cats are in a cage outside and something menacing like a coyote comes up to it, it might turn out badly. I would think your cats would be better off on their own so they could run at least or climb something. A hawk could get the kittens during the day.
Then there are diseases out there, too. Make sure you get them vaccinated and neutered or spayed.
I would also worry about someone catching them and taking them in or, doing bad things to them.

 

[Feral Cat Mom]

Like Timmer said it probably would be safer to let them be on their own and get them vaccinated and spayed and neutered. That way they will stay closer to home. I have outdoor cats myself and live in the country too. Not to be discouraging but unfortunately from experience I have found there are many fatal dangers to outdoor cats. 3 of my kittens didn't make to 1 year. But on a positive note I do have 4 that have been safe for 2 years now. As they get older they will become smarter. I am trying to get some of mine inside though so I would recommend that for you too.

 

[haythewxgeek]

Yes we will vaccinate and fix them. We can't have animals in the house for long because of allergies.

We know everyone around here (except for one shady neighbor, but he has outdoor cats himself) and I dont think anyone would steal a cat.

But you think they'd be better off running free than a wooden cat enclosure?

 

[maggiedemi]

I would make them come in for the night at dinnertime. That's what I did for Demi before I brought him inside for good. He lived outside for the first 7 months of his life. When I was a kid, all our cats disappeared one by one, but we didn't bring them in at night. 6 disappeared and 1 was run over by a truck.

 

[di and bob]

Coyotes would be the main threat at your place, a big cat friendly dog would take care of that. I have a outside male that is going on 11 now, and have fed several neighbor cats that are outside cats for 6 years. The busy street here kills many, only the smart ones survive, If they survive the first two years they seem to make it. I would just make sure they have a safe place to get to,and heated huts in the winter, (outdoor heated pet mats) they would be fine then.

 

[ArtNJ]

They sell little cat houses on Amazon, but those are to help with cold weather, not coyotes. I don't think there is anything you could build where they could get in but a coyote could not.

 

[haythewxgeek]

I thought a habicat or catio was basically a closed up shed for cats. Do they have openings?

My family builds things and my dad could build a catio

 

[haythewxgeek]

We have one lab mut and two dachshunds (for now) but they are in cages, although they go wild everytime anything comes near.

 

[LTS3]

A large outdoor enclosure would work best. If you place it right next to the house, you can open a window or create a small cat door through the wall to allow the cats to come and go as they please. You can find plenty of ideas and instructions online. Here are some:

Catio Ideas - Purrfect Love
Catio | Houzz
“catios” Or Outdoor Enclosures Ideas
Has anyone built a catio?