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Our first cat would go outside anytime he wanted to, but since we move some years ago there are coyotes, red and gray foxes, raccoons, and o'possums all over the place. Any of those would have a cat for an appetizer, so our last few have been indoor ones all the time. We currently only have one, and she's never been outside except to go to the vet.
An interesting story ... when we moved, our old house was about 20 miles away. We'd let the cat out at the new house, but he turned up missing. One day, after about 2 months, I heard meowing at the front door, so I looked and there he was! He looked like hell (all beat up, scratched, tired) but he was there, and lived several more years. My neighbor at the old house said he'd seen him down there, so he must have left our new house, went "home" to the old one, then decided that we'd really moved, so came home to the new one. And he had a rough time of it. There's no telling what he went through on his journeys.
Our first cat would go outside anytime he wanted to, but since we move some years ago there are coyotes, red and gray foxes, raccoons, and o'possums all over the place. Any of those would have a cat for an appetizer, so our last few have been indoor ones all the time. We currently only have one, and she's never been outside except to go to the vet.
An interesting story ... when we moved, our old house was about 20 miles away. We'd let the cat out at the new house, but he turned up missing. One day, after about 2 months, I heard meowing at the front door, so I looked and there he was! He looked like hell (all beat up, scratched, tired) but he was there, and lived several more years. My neighbor at the old house said he'd seen him down there, so he must have left our new house, went "home" to the old one, then decided that we'd really moved, so came home to the new one. And he had a rough time of it. There's no telling what he went through on his journeys.
Cats have an incredible ability to know how to find their way back to their original territory even if they've never been out of that area before.
That's why it's very important not to let a cat outdoors if you move or adopt a new cat for several weeks, until the cat feels he belongs in the new area.
There was/is a cat at my work now that was born there outside and has never been anywhere else. Someone adopted it and took it home several miles away. The cat showed up at work out of the blue 2 weeks later, skinny but otherwise fine. It had to have crossed a freeway to do that.
I just had this convo with a neighbor who had to keep her 10 year old indoor/outdoor cat in for a month while he recovered from a health issue. She's been told, pressured actually, by others to keep him in from now on for his own sake but she said he wasn't happy and it was stressful trying to keep him from darting out when she opened the doors. I told her that IMO if a cat wants to be out and it's up to us to accept the possibility of a shorter life.
I've only ever had indoor/outdoor cats. I'm lucky to live in a nice area for that, in a quiet residential neighborhood on a court with other cats that come out to play, and occasionally fight. I do worry about them going out of the court and across the street because many cats have been hit by cars there, including one of mine when he was only a year old and bold. He recovered and now he's 18. 90% of the time he lives in one of the bedrooms, on a bed, being spoiled, but I KNOW he still sneaks across that street occasionally when he has a burst of energy. There's good mice hunting there and sometimes he can't resist his nature.
My cats go out occasionally and I go with them. Living on a few acres, they usually just run spurts for exercise, chase leaves, watch birds, check out their surroundings. Then they come back in and are regulated rest of day to screened porch.
The running, you can tell, is exciting for them and gives the type of exercise not available indoors.
When I had cats, they were all indoor/outdoor cats. We got them as kittens at the same time we got 2 puppies, and they all hung out together in the very large enclosed yard. They never left the yard. They all came in by dusk and hung out together in the den.
I just had this convo with a neighbor who had to keep her 10 year old indoor/outdoor cat in for a month while he recovered from a health issue. She's been told, pressured actually, by others to keep him in from now on for his own sake but she said he wasn't happy and it was stressful trying to keep him from darting out when she opened the doors. I told her that IMO if a cat wants to be out and it's up to us to accept the possibility of a shorter life.
I've only ever had indoor/outdoor cats. I'm lucky to live in a nice area for that, in a quiet residential neighborhood on a court with other cats that come out to play, and occasionally fight. I do worry about them going out of the court and across the street because many cats have been hit by cars there, including one of mine when he was only a year old and bold. He recovered and now he's 18. 90% of the time he lives in one of the bedrooms, on a bed, being spoiled, but I KNOW he still sneaks across that street occasionally when he has a burst of energy. There's good mice hunting there and sometimes he can't resist his nature.
When I was very young, I think still in elementary school, we came home one night to find my cat laying on the side of the road. He was limp and I assumed dead, hit by a car. We took him inside, put him in his box thinking we'd bury him in the morning, but he was up walking around the house when we woke up! He lived for many years after that. I suppose cats really do have multiple lives, 9 or not.
Several years ago, I installed a kitty door in the back entrance that gives them access to the garden and both critters just love to be out there. The downside is that one of them has destroyed the fabric on several of the patio chairs.
I'll replace them eventually with unupholstered seats.
Ours are strictly indoor cats. We do have a huge lanai that is totally screened in, and that is their catnasium, they spend most of the day out there, getting sun and watching birds and people walking by. There are too many things around here that could hurt or kill them, so they never go outside.
My cats go out occasionally and I go with them. Living on a few acres, they usually just run spurts for exercise, chase leaves, watch birds, check out their surroundings. Then they come back in and are regulated rest of day to screened porch.
The running, you can tell, is exciting for them and gives the type of exercise not available indoors.
Very true! My cats sprint across the backyard chasing leaves and each other. They are definitely more active when outside, I think it's pretty beneficial to their health to get more physical activity.
I once had an indoor cat who's health didn't improve until I started letting him go outdoors for a few hours a day. Yes, it's a risk to be outdoors but so is everything in life.
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Do you ever let your indoor cats go outside?
