Letting Cats Outside, Is It Okay?

Maine Coon Nation ^

[anton]

This is not even a question. It’s like asking “Should I let my 12 to 16 year old kids drink?

Sure they will enjoy it. And, they want to drink.

But, uh, No.

[Perdogg]

Is Moonie a chatty cat? ;)

[Sarajevo]

You must be thinking of Callie, the Siam~ Burm~"Ese" looking one. She's actually a 'fraidy cat. She runs form her own shadow. If there's bad weather outside, we usually have to find her and bring her inside. You have to sneak up on her to pet her. She came to us as a starving kitten and was nursed back to health.
Moonie (aka MoonFace)(the grey one) came to us as an unfixed Tom. Sometime in his life, he either survived being run over by a car, or was abused. His front paws were broken and when they healed, they fused so they don't bend, and his ribs feel like they were broken and also healed crooked. He was also a mean SOB. He wasn't allowed into the house for the longest time. One day, I was sitting on the back porch, and he crawled into my lap and started schmoozing. After that, we had him fixed and brought him in.
That was several years ago. Today, he's slowly succumbing to cancer, so we're keeping him comfortable until it's time for him to go to the litter -box in the sky.

[Ax]

I’m pretty sure our cat enjoys seeing/smelling the parade of fauna that transits our back yard at night: possums, skunks, coons, etc.

[Danette]

Do you trim the nails yourself? I like big cats with attitudes.

[TheOldLady]

Letting Cats Outside, Is It Okay?

Not unless you supervise them 100% of the time when they're out.

My Rocket liked to go outside, but I was staring at him the whole
time, and no farther than six feet away. He liked to harass the grinnies,
eat a little grass, and then he would go and stand by the garage man-
door until I let him inside again.

He could only get so much fresh air and sunshine through the screen.

Yeah, I spoiled him senseless. He was a good boy. I miss him more
than any other cat we ever had.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Pwned by bebeh kittehs!

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

When I was growing up in the country our cats were always outdoor. Dad didn’t regard them as pets; he wanted them around to keep the rodent population in check.

Today I live in the city and we have three cats, all of whom are indoor/outdoor. Apple usually will stay outside until she gets hungry. Patch, on the other hand, was a stray living in our yard until one day she decided to move in with us, and she will stay outside most of the day if she sees fit. She doesn’t range much further than the yards of our neighbors, at least not since we had her spayed.

And then there’s Monkey. She’ll go into the back yard, but never for more than an hour, and she spooks very easily.

[Slings and Arrows]

[Lady Jag]

It goes both ways.




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[Bulwyf]

Survival of the fittest, nature isn’t a kind thing. I always had let my cats out. I had to shoot them though, they were attacking my son for the third and last time. I tried humane society and advertised to give way free, but no takers. Now I just stick with the blue tick and black and tan coonhounds.

[gundog]

Maine Coons. Someone tried to give me one, once. I asked why they were giving it away. Apparently it had killed their neighbor’s dog.

[Churchillspirit]

My two are basically indoor cats although they do enjoy going into the yard from time to time.

One of them - the girl - loves to lie in the sun.

Neither show any inclination to wander away.

They are both 11 years old.

[Perdogg]

What did it do - lick the dog to death? ;)

[Marylander]

Rescuing feral or abandoned cats is a serious business, mostly thankless, but I thank you for it. Quite different, though, from our cats who come and go when they please and always know where their next good meal will come from.

[blam]

Domesticated cats kill 500 million birds a year in the US...some say the total is double that amount.

[gundog]

No idea. But I wasn’t up to introducing it to my animals.

[Twinkie]

Me,too. Our cat climbs the walls when she can’t go outside. It’s too cold here this morning; and she’s been cutting a fit to get outside. - She’s a hunter, a rip snorting little tree climber. She will answer to no name but “Brutus”. This is our reality.

[DuncanWaring]

Of course that last one’s a cat ... “polecat”.

[Sarajevo]

Yep, but it wasn’t one of mine! Must belong to the neighbor down the road. ;)