Do you let your CAT outside?

[thackney]

...And we have a lot of rats eating out of garbage...

See, you need more cats outside....

;-)

[berdie]

I had a cat a couple of years ago that had been an outside feral cat.  She was a very smart kitty that lived outside for 10 years...and wouldn't have anything to do with inside. She raised a litter, I trapped her and got her and the kids fixed.

One day she decided she wanted to come inside...so I let her. She wanted to go back outside for a couple of days but then I couldn't boot her out. She was the most polite cat I have ever had. Never made a mess, destroyed anything or caused a problem. How she knew after living outside for 10+ years I'll never know.

The moral to this boring story is...I'm not sure they really want to be outside. Of course it was her decision...

[roamer_1]

We call those "Skunk doors".

LOL! "Coon door"
Mine gets shut and latched from the inside every night.
 

[roamer_1]

This may be true for rural Montana, but it's a whole different ballgame for suburban Boston. I"ve seen enough cats either dead or actually struck by cars to know that they don't understand the true speed of automobiles. And we have a lot of rats eating out of garbage around here, hence disease.

I will cede the point - Though I will point out that we have always had our house cats able to come and go to the outside - even in suburban Chicago in my youth...

If I lived in a rural area fine... although cats are preyed upon, successfully, but all sorts of predators like hawks, coyotes, etc.

That is true - it does happen - but not enough to impact feral cat populations, as an instance - which can breed to the point of real nuisance. Farm cats (to include house cats) live in a rather rarified environment, under the protection of hoomin beans (and their structures, and their dogs). It ain't the same. Charlie, the old tom that runs our barn, has been king-of-the-hill for nigh on a decade. He's fifteen by now or more... I don't think we've lost a barn cat in three to five years. It doesn't happen all that much.

[roamer_1]

See, you need more cats outside....

;-)

roving bands of terriers.

[roamer_1]

One day she decided she wanted to come inside...so I let her. She wanted to go back outside for a couple of days but then I couldn't boot her out. She was the most polite cat I have ever had. Never made a mess, destroyed anything or caused a problem. How she knew after living outside for 10+ years I'll never know.

The moral to this boring story is...I'm not sure they really want to be outside. Of course it was her decision...

Old Charlie, the chief tom at our barn is starting to show his age... He's been mighty for a long time, but he is getting close to where he can't handle the throne much longer. Left to the natural cat order of things, he'll either be killed or exiled by whichever tom finally beats him...

I am hoping he can get along with Chewy (my ozzie shepherd). If so I will take him on as a house cat and let him live out his years. He's never been in the house, but  won't have any problem with him, I'll dang near guarantee... And I won't need to keep a litter box either, as long as he stays bright. As he is, to a very old age, he will effectively police my cabin and grounds. He's a great cat.

[Cyber Liberty]

This is "Fred."  Not the oldest, but the biggest Alpha we have in our home:



Here he is "helping" Mrs. Liberty make the bed.