A question about Cats
 

As some of you might know i have moved last week , and i was wondering when i should let my cat out side on his own. I have let him out a couple of times and he has gone and sniffed a few things and ran back in so i think he sees this as his new home, so do you think its safe to put a cat flap in?

2 weeks

Never! The average life span of a house cat is 18 years. The average span of an outside cat is 18 months. You do the math. ;)

Becky

I'm with Becky here - I was convinced by my vet many years ago to keep my cats as house pets.

On the other hand - if you have a cat that is used to the outdoors - you might have a problem trying to convert him to only being indoors. Jess is right about the 2 weeks if you are going to let him out though.

The cat that the vet convinced me to keep inside was a stray that was about 1 year old. I did change her habits but she was always trying to run out the door when it opened. An open window was an invitation to try to fly through the screen etc. She lived until she was 15 but she was always wanting to escape. It's a problem.

Kathleen

It's true about cats that had access to outdoors wanting to get back outside. But I had a friend who took in a stray who got a surprise. She was worried about her cat trying to rush outside but instead realized that the cat adapted quite easily to the inside life. she had problems getting the furball up off the couch at times.

Anyhow there are things that you can do to make the adjusment easier. If I can find that issue of Cat Fancy, I will post them if you like.

I don't let my cats outside either (Not that Pookie wants to go outside...) but I live in the city and there are just too many cars.

One of our house cats is just plain stupid - If you've got the door open he'll try and get out but when we actually put him outside, he's scared to death and runs back in before you can blink! Curiosity won't kill this cat - he's too much of a wuss! :lol:

My cats don't go out, but my parents cats do. When we got them as kittens, we waited about 3 weeks, just so they could get used to the house and know all the smells and stuff. Gradually we would let them out, first carrying them around and letting them smell everything but in the safeness of our arms. I would definitely wait a couple of weeks.

Tash

Well i think its fine to let a cat out :s

Well Rusty,

One of my cats is nuts and wont stay in at all. Even when we move house within 6 hrs the cat is climbing up the walls to get out.

So if you need to let the cat out make sure you are with Hobbs first, dont feed him so he will readily come home for food. Put some of his used cat litter in the garden so he knows its his marked territory. Show him this.

Let him go and explore ie next door whenever, after 10/15 mins call him back for food time, so he can find his way home via your voice .

Ive always done it this way and never lost a cat yet.

Dawn

My cats go out whenever they want it. They are always coming when I call them. We breathe the same breath, they lay with me when I read and sleep, and contributes a lot of their's energy to my life. We are connecting on very possible way.

Nat