If you have a cat, do you let it go outside?

i agree with you 100% there are too many dangers to kitties outside

they are happier and healthier inside by far also

yeah I don't undersatnd how people can let their cats out either, they obviously just don't care as deeply about them as us real cat lovers! I could NEVER take a chance of letting kitties go out if there was even a slight chance of something awful happening to them!!

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p.s. that girl above me is crazzzzzy! I seen where she had written about how animals are dumb and useless, ughh! The nerve of some people, and then she tries to make it (who is obviously a caring animal lover) look like you have done something wrong because you simply took up for the animals she was putting down! wow, some people are seriously deluded!

Everyone knows that animal lovers are the kindest, most caring, and most compassionate people there is. This is a fact!♥

I think it depends on the personality of the cat. I have several cats, some are inside only, some are outside only, a couple come in and go out as they please. Pay attention to your cat while it is inside. Is it scared of loud noises or does it not react to them? Is it really hyper or really laid back? Is it scared of other people or is it friendly? The cat that is scared of noises, is hyper and is scared of other people may do well with being outside. And, of course, the opposite goes for the other type.

It probably also depends on the area you live in. Are there dogs or wild animals in the area? Do you live on a main highway where the cat could get hit by a car? I have had a couple of my outside cats just be gone one day and have never seen them again, but I'm certain my neighbor who disliked my cats had something to do with that. A few months ago, I actually heard one of my cats meowing loudly from his yard and went over to find my cat in a "Have A Heart" trap. There are a lot of things to consider before you decide what is best for your cat.

Frankly, I think not letting a cat out is mean. It's very obvious that from the time they are born and able to understand that out the front door is a whole big new world, that's all they want to explore. Of course letting a young kitten outside is not okay, but after a year or so I think it is perfectly acceptable for cats to go and explore the world around them. Of the three cats I have had through out my life, all have been allowed to go outside once they were a year old and came back every night to the comfort of my pillow. Of course there are dangers but, think of this, cats have lived for thousands of years with out the help of humans or the confinement of their homes. Give them the benefit of the doubt!

I've had three different homes in the 14 years my cat Lulu has been with me. She's been allowed out side from all of them but only because it's a controlled environment. The first condo was on the 22nd. floor, she loved to just sit on the balcony and watch the world go by. I would leave the door cracked for her every day it was nice weather. The 2nd place was a town house, she couldn't jump the fence on the patio because it was too high and I was careful not to leave anything by the fence that she could jump onto in order to be high enough to jump the fence. Again, she loved to sit out there and watch birds, etc. My new house has a small fence backyard and again, the fence is too high for her to jump but I only let her out when I'm out there. Cats often like to eat grass to settle their naturally unsettled stomacs so she goes out, eats some grass, sun bathes a bit, then goes back in and sits in the A/C by a window! But I would never let her just roam the neighborhood, too many dangers, cars, stray dogs and if you live in CA, coyotes!

okay first of all, keeping an animal inside its entire life is cruel and unusual. Thats like living in a zoo all the time.

YOU get to go outside into the world full of dangers every day, and yet you are allowed to make that choice.

I can understand if you live in NYC or something... then i might want to keep my cat indoors since most people live in highrises and the projects, where its not easy for a cat to get in and out.

Our cats go in and out all the time, and they are all nearing 10 years old. My husband had a cat for 23 years that was an indoor/out door cat. If a cat isnt intellegent enough to avoid the dangers of real life then it dies. Natural selection.

Iam glad iam not your cat.

transforming into up my cats were continuously indoor/outdoor cats. they might are available in to snuggle and eat, yet performed out aspect distinctive the day. My mothers and fathers had a brilliant backyard with timber and the cats would merely wander around the community. All of my mothers and fathers acquaintances knew our cats and performed with them as well. because that my mothers and fathers domicile replaced into in a suburb there wasn't extremely the potential for untamed animals that you locate in the county, or the rushing vehicles of a city. It replaced into kitty cat paradise. Now I stay in an area of living off a school campus. i'd never dream of letting my cat outside because of all the site visitors. i imagine it relies upon on the position you stay and what vaccinations your cat has had. Cats prefer to be outside yet some circumstances, like residing in a city, merely are not proper. that's continuously safer to save your cat interior, yet cats are happier at the same time as allowed somewhat better freedom.

Nope, I don't either. They came to live with me as tiny kittens and they have never been outside cats, so I don't feel like they know that they are missing anything by not being allowed out. Plus .. for the first few years of their lives, once a year on the coldest, windiest, wettest Chicago night, I would take them out and plop them in the snow. They would run back to the door. After a few wintery trips outside, they have decided that inside is the place to be and they don't even try to go out the door if someone opens it.

I had the best cat. I found him at the SPCA (or whatever it's called), and I raised him from a 6 week-old kitten. He thought I was his mother, and he used to follow me down the street for 3 blocks - nearly all the way to the train station.

Well, he went missing one day. I posted flyers all over the area. No luck. A month or two later, I overheard some people talking at a party about SAE frathouse, which was across the street from my apartment. Apparently, the new pledges had been made to sacrifice animals.

So yeah, there are dangers out there.

I have three cats. Two outdoor and one indoor. I think it depends on the cat. My first kitty, I took outside to get a smell around the house just in case she ever got out on accident. Well, from than on you could tell she wanted to be outside, meowing at the door etc...Second cat I got, I just started letting out with the first one. I never declawed either of them. The third cat I got, I had declawed, so she'll never be outside kitty, cuz she can't defend herself..and she's just like our little baby anyways..she's a little wuss. The other two..I would take out with me a few times till they got more comfortable. Now they will even go for walks with me around the block. Just walk and whistle and they keep right up w/ me...its too cute.

I wasnt going to at first and left him in for the longest time. He is the love of my life. I agree with the healthier but I dont agree witht the happier. Cats by nature are predators and enjoying roaming a little outside. Mine has never been gone for more than a couple of hours and I am ver strict about his diet and shots(upkeep) but I think keeping inside all the time would be like keeping a child in all the time....it just isnt right.

My cat demanded to go outside so much that I let him out a little every day. I generally kept him in all day when I was at work and just let him out for a little while morning and evening. Yesterday AM when I tried to get him in, he insisted on staying out. Early this morning I learned he had been killed when a car driving up our dead end street swerved to intentionally hit him. I will be confronting these people when I can. He was the best cat I ever had. Loyal, loving, male too. So keep your cat(s) indoors and give them a tall perch where they can look outside and "keep their home under surveillance." Signed, Grieving in CA.