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Indoor cat wants to be an outdoor cat.

buck

buck

Lifer
Ok, my SO's cat has been indoors since we got her as a kitten. We recently moved in to a house and the damn thing cries to go outside. We supervise her outside right now, and when we bring her back in, she meows constantly (she stops if we let her back out).
She now waits by the door and sits in the window all the time looking at another outside cat, and eagerly awaits her next time out there.

She has her claws, she is spayed, she is a little fat, but is it safe to let her outside? She has freaked out when confronted by the outdoor cat, but the other cat wasn't mean to her at all.

I know there are a lot of cat people out there, so hopefully someone else has been in this situation.
 
Originally posted by: joesmoke
i found that the transition to "outside" made my gf's cats more friendly and relaxed.
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Did you just one day let her outside and shut the door? Do we leave food out there for her or wait for her to cry to get back inside? My vote would be for no food outside, the little fatty needs to lose a few lbs.
 
Originally posted by: MotF Bane
1) Put a pit bull in your yard.
2) Let kitten into yard.
3) ????
4) Profit!
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If by kitten you mean 4 year old cat with a big belly and saggy titties, then ok....

😉
 
I remember in college when one of my roommates got a cat. For the first year, Homie was an indoor cat and one day, my roommate exposed him to the outdoors. From that day on, Homie would bolt for the door if someone opened it or jump from the 2nd floor porch to get outdoors.

He was actually a pretty cool cat. He liked to play fetch with an aluminum foil ball.
 
if she has her claws she's at least capable of defending herself or fleeing a threat.

however, if you live on a busy street i'd discourage it.

I had two cats when I was in school that my mother would not let be exclusive indoor cats...and finding two different cats in the street isn't a fun discovery.

We lived on a fairly busy street, but I also think some people are just malicious, sadistic sick fucks and will purposely aim for animals.

 
Originally posted by: buck
Originally posted by: joesmoke
i found that the transition to "outside" made my gf's cats more friendly and relaxed.
Click to expand...

Did you just one day let her outside and shut the door? Do we leave food out there for her or wait for her to cry to get back inside? My vote would be for no food outside, the little fatty needs to lose a few lbs.
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well it was a result of us moving in together and me having a new leather couch 🙂

initially we just stuck them out there with food/water and a cardboard box w/ blankets for each of them. took one of them about 5 mins to figure things out, took the other one about a week.

later in the year as it started to get rainy my father and I (well... mostly him) built them each a stilted house.
 
Originally posted by: G Wizard
if she has her claws she's at least capable of defending herself or fleeing a threat.

however, if you live on a busy street i'd discourage it.

I had two cats when I was in school that my mother would not let be exclusive indoor cats...and finding two different cats in the street isn't a fun discovery.

We lived on a fairly busy street, but I also think some people are just malicious, sadistic sick fucks and will purposely aim for animals.
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No busy roads near us, mostly well to do hippies.
 
Originally posted by: lxskllr
Outside cats get injured/killed at a very high rate. I wouldn't allow any of my cats to go outside.
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I have had outdoor cats for 15ish years now. Only one time was the cat injured, and that was when she got into a fight with another one. So its not like your cats going to get killed as soon as you let it outside.
 
Originally posted by: tasmanian
Originally posted by: lxskllr
Outside cats get injured/killed at a very high rate. I wouldn't allow any of my cats to go outside.
Click to expand...

I have had outdoor cats for 15ish years now. Only one time was the cat injured, and that was when she got into a fight with another one. So its not like your cats going to get killed as soon as you let it outside.
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I'm sure there's plenty of old cats. I also see tons flattened in the road, and torn apart by dogs and other cats.
 
Originally posted by: tasmanian
Originally posted by: lxskllr
Outside cats get injured/killed at a very high rate. I wouldn't allow any of my cats to go outside.
Click to expand...

I have had outdoor cats for 15ish years now. Only one time was the cat injured, and that was when she got into a fight with another one. So its not like your cats going to get killed as soon as you let it outside.
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werd

Our former inside cat has no front claws and has been going outsie for a few years now. Busy street, other cats, blah blah blah and she's been fine.

No food or water outside. She runs to the front door when she sees someone come home, she comes inside, eats and then meows after she's bored lounging around and wants to go outside again.
 
If it isn't scared to go out, let it. As long as you don't have a high traffic area and the cat is safe from dogs, outside, should be fine. I wouldn't allow it to be outside overnight. But during the day while someone is there, sure.
Cats that spend their life indoors really do end up fat and lazy.

I have only outdoor cats and they are always playing running around the yard and seem generally happy.
 
I've never allowed mine outside, due to the higher risk of death/injury to them (with the attendant vet bills to patch them up) but also, being in the south, I didn't want the cats to bring in fleas and ticks into the house. I've lived through a flea infestation before and it is NOT pleasant.

So they get to sniff the outside air via an open screened window but that's it 🙂
 
Well, its settled, time to put its collar and tag back on and let the little fucker be "Sammy the Explorer".
 
If you live in an acceptable environment for the cat to go out, then go for it. Be careful about the collar though, cats with a collar tend to get hung up in dense shrubbery and the like.

 
Some friends adopted a young stray... he was skinny, malnourished, and had a messed up lower jaw. I don't know how long he was stray for, because he is extremely friendly. After they first took him in, he would follow one person around the house just to make sure he wouldn't be alone. He has since become less needy, but the one thing I was surprised by was that he doesn't cry to be let outside. I think the experience of living outdoors full time was traumatic enough for him to figure out that it is much better to live indoors where it is warm and dry and where food is readily available. Cats that are raised from kittens by people never go through this, and therefore don't know how good they have it.
 
I have lost two cats. One ran away (and returned 3 years later!) the other eaten by a dog. The dog bite was very costly and the cat still didn't make it. Due to extra heart ache and cost I won't let a cat outside again.

Originally posted by: rgwalt
Some friends adopted a young stray... he was skinny, malnourished, and had a messed up lower jaw. I don't know how long he was stray for, because he is extremely friendly. After they first took him in, he would follow one person around the house just to make sure he wouldn't be alone. He has since become less needy, but the one thing I was surprised by was that he doesn't cry to be let outside. I think the experience of living outdoors full time was traumatic enough for him to figure out that it is much better to live indoors where it is warm and dry and where food is readily available. Cats that are raised from kittens by people never go through this, and therefore don't know how good they have it.
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I almost took a cat home yesterday. If my place currently allowed cats he would have been mine. Very skinny and hungry looking and a little skittish but still let me pet him and was very friendly. He was hanging out at a truck stop in the middle of no-where.
 
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