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How do catsters feel about indoor/outdoor cats that are altered and microchipped?
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Hope this is in the right section. Velcro keeps trying to make escapes whenever it's nice outside, even when she is not in heat. I'm debating whether or not when she gets spayed, vaccinated, and microchipped, she should be allowed outside. We don't live on a busy street and have never had any of our indoor/outdoor cats in the past have run-ins with dogs or wild animals, but there are other things that could happen to cats. Still, it seems cruel to keep her indoors all the time since she really likes to go outside and from what I've seen (we used to let her outside before she started coming into heat and she appeared not to be sick) she stays on our property and mostly hangs out in the tree we have in the front. Also, the sunlight would do her good vitamin D wise.
How do you catsters feel about indoor/outdoor cats?
This subject tends to get very heated since both sides are passionate about their views. I will simply state my *personal* feelings.
2 of our 3 cats are adult cat shelter adoptions. It is a condition of their 'adoption contract' that we signed (and that I take very seriously - I do not *breach* contracts.) that they be kept as indoor cats only.
The 3rd cat is our own 'street stray rescue' - There is no way I would let him back on the streets.
Intentional poisonings or other human cruelty, accidental poisonings (from lawn 'treatments' antifreeze, chemicals etc), dogs, other cats, wildlife, diseases and/or parasites and cars factor into my decision.
My cat is no match for these perils.
Add to that you must have your vet make regular fecal parasite exams (cats can pick up tapeworms from flea eggs and/or other worms from ingesting them in prey)
Anti-flea treatments, deworming medicines, veterinary visits these things are part of the expenses you must be willing to pay. I've been following your concerns about expenses with Velcro.
Since our cats are all indoor cats it is my responsibility to keep them stimulated to relieve boredom, relieve stress and pent-up energy.
All good points, I really want to keep her indoors because I'm paranoid, but at the same time I feel bad keeping her cooped up all day. She has toys, she gets plenty of attention, play time and lap time, but she still really seems to want to explore outdoors. I wish we could put up one of those cat-fences I've seen advertised, but there's a limit to how high fences can be; I think it's 8 feet in back, and 4 feet in front.
My two adults are indoor/outdoor. They were not allowed out until they had completed their vaccinations, were microchipped, and had been desexed. They recieve a monthly spot on flea preventor, and are wormed 3 monthly. We keep a close eye on their litter box to look for signs of an infestation.
Before allowing them out, we spoke with our neighbours. We live in a quiet street in a quiet suburb, and all the homes around us have cats or are cat friendly. We have also met the neighbourhood dogs (incidentally, they all live in homes with cats). It was important for me to establish this, and to know that our neighbours shared our concerns about radiator coolant and different poisons. We live on Army land and so have a gardener. He lets us know before hand when he will be coming so we can keep our pets inside, and does not use chemicals on the gardens. He ran anything he uses past the tenants so we could check it out ourselves, for pet owners and parents.
We keep Fui and Suey on a very strict feeding schedule, and don't let them outside after a certain time in the afternoon. We have found this has been effective in keeping them from staying out late at night. We check their tags regularly to make sure details are clear, and they get a tick check each evening.
There are a lot of considerations, but I feel that my two have a better quality of life being allowed outside. They have been allowed out for about 6 months now, and still stay close to our home. They have a lot of fun rolling around in the dirt, chasing bugs and climbing the trees. It's a personal decision, and you are going to have the best idea of the environment Velcro will be going into.
my four are all indoor cats, the only time they go out is if i am with them, except for one time when, lady flew over the fence chasing a squirrel, the all stay in the yard. none of mine seem, that they really want to take off, guess, they know they have it too good indoors. i go towards the indoor people, but, i do not know what i would do, if, they got hurt or killed, or never saw them again if, i let them out on there own. guess, i got to much emotion put in my four to take that chance. i vote indoors
Both of my cats are indoors. My cats seem very content with the idea of being indoors however they really enjoy when I open the windows and porch screen door for them to smell the outdoors. I also take my one cat out on the porch and hold him out there for a while. That might be an idea for you just so your cat can get some fresh air. Or possibly lease training your cat so that they are well supervised but can go for a walk now and then with you. That might be a good option.
We're indoor kitties here, for all the reasons stated before. But occasionally, our mom takes us outside in harnesses and leashes so that we can sit in the grass and get some fresh air but be supervised and protected.
If you live in a place with a yard, maybe building an enclosed cat run could also be an option?
We love going outside, but meowmy will only let us out when she puts on our collars and leash and holds onto the end of it.
Cocoa and I have always been indoor kitties, so we don't realize the dangers that are out there. I would chase a blowing leaf right out into the street if I didn't have meowmy holding onto the end of my leash.
Our sister Pretty, lived outdoors on her own before she found meowmy. She's not so crazy about going out anymore, I guess she knows how rough it can be out there for a homeless cat, but anyway, every once in awhile she will want to go out with meowmy just to walk through the garden.
Outdoors can be fun and adventurous, but I think your human should be with you at all times to make sure you stay safe.
Maybe your meowmy can try a collar or harness and leash on you and go outside with you.
Until I moved into an "appartment style" condo, most of my cats were indoor outdoor. (i wasn't responsible, back then, so i also had many kittens over those years). 10 years ago I moved to a very safe place, and my cats were "regulated" indoor /outdoor. That is, I only let them out in the day when I was in the house, and generally (as with kids) kept track of them every 15 minutes or so. As with an earlier poster, i found that unless i was outside with them, it was best to keep "wanderings" to mornings or they would think "out" is fun.
I never let them out at night (though i do have one escape artist that likes to sneek out on me once a year or so).
I think outside is great, if the neighboorhood is a safe (as another poster put it) "cat friendly" place. but not jsut as a "come and go" scinero.
You've all made such good points and given good pointers, thank you. I would never let a cat outside at night/early morning, or when kids are coming home or leaving for school (we've never had any problems with it before, but we used to have a cat who would try to follow kids to the elementary school). The only people we knew who had dogs that would let their dogs wander have moved multiple miles and even a town away; the only time I ever see dogs wandering around this neighborhood and closely surrounding neighborhoods are on the nicer days in spring and late summer.
I'm going to have to think about this for awhile, talk to neighbors and Velcro's vet as well. There's some good advantages and dis-advantages to both. The main reasons I considered letting her be an indoor/outdoor cat were the vitamin D from the sun, more excercise, and I think the cat litter in her box might be aggravating her upper-respiritory problems (we've tried getting "dust free" but they both still have dust, and she won't use the corn-cob based stuff we use for the bottom of the bird's cages or pellet type cat box filler).
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