Some advice/experiences please?

Does anyone have any thoughts on collars for cats? I have been reading that they are somewhat dangerous because they can get the cat hung up on things. I saw some collars in the store the other day that say saftey collars, because they have a clip on the collar that will break open if the cat puts enough pressure on them. Shouldnt a cat wear a collar at least for the rabies tag, and an ID tag?

And this is a question about letting your cats out at night. How many of you do, and if you dont...why? My mom was saying that the cats we had when I was young used to go out every night, and come back in the morning around the time she woke up. She never needed a litter box, because the cat got used to going outside, and would let her know during the day if it needed to go out. Also, would you make your cat wear a collar if it was outside some of the time? Or would it be too dangerous for the cat to have one on?

I know that right now my kitties are too young to consider going outside, plus they need to be fixed, but if they seem to want to go out when they get older, Im not sure what Im going to let them do. We have several neighbors with cats, and they seem to hang aroung thier houses pretty well during the day, and it seems to be a relatively safe area for them to be. No one has had a cat runover, or stolen.

THanks for any advice or opinions! Its helpful to hear from others who have already had to deal with issues

 

the collars - I had a cat I used to let outside with a collar...she would always come out without it. If you want your cats to go outside you'd be better off microchipping them when you have them spayed. All they need to do is get the collar caught on a branch in the woods and it's gone. Also if they do go outside and happen to get their paw or lower jaw caught on the collar they are in trouble and you won't be able to help them.

No...my cats do not go outside and I won't have another outside cat again. Things were different when your mother was younger. There was less violence in the world (we always had outside cats). Now there are just too many dangers in the outside world for cats. People can be cruel to animals, there are fast cars, poisons, animals whose owners don't get them vaccinated against diseases, dogs, wildlife...the list goes on and on.

I had a cat, Sessy, for 9 years and I haven't seen her in 2-1/2 years now. I have no idea what happened to her. I imagine she became some wild animals meal and the thought breaks my heart. No more outside cats for me - I wouldn't subject any cats to the horror Sessy probably faced.

If you do let your cats outside night time is the worse for them.

 

Mary it's also possible that someone swiped your Sessy. If I see a cute friendly cat outside in my yard, I'd swipe it and keep it.

Microchipping is the way to go and break away collars are safer for cats. My Vene (RIP) used to go outdoors until she was hit by a car. She was great at losing all types of collars. Milo, on the other hand retained his collars when going outdoors. Nowadays, all 4 of my cats are purely indoors only. I'd train them on a leash but I don't have the patience. Halaroo has great tips and so do Chessmind and others here.

 

I don't have any experience with cats and collars. I did consider it for Kyrre, but it just doesn't feel right. Like you said: they might get caught in something. I'm going with the microchip. And maybe one of those ear stamps, something visible

I really don't mean to be rude, but isn't that a little dramatic? I know that it's a bigger risk that something will happen to an outdoor cat, and that they, in average, live shorter lives then indoor cats. But i think it all depends on where you live, and what kind of neighborhood you have.
I admire everybody who have indoor cats, i don't know if i would be patient enough for that. But i would certainly keep my cat inside if i believed the chances of something bad happening to him were big!

 

nighttime is the worse around here at least - it's when most predators are out and about. I know there are many out during the day too but here the risk is mostly at night....whatever got Sessy had chased her up onto the rafters of our cathedral ceiling proch one afternoon. She had to have either climbed the walls (I'm not kidding) or up the screened windows as there would have been no other way - no jumping cause the rafters across must be 10' up. I discovered her during my lunch stop at home and brought her inside trying to figure out how the hell she got up there (I had to use a tall stepladder to get her down). That was the last time I held her :cry: I let her out when I got home from work and never saw her again. I think whatever chased her onto the porch waited around for her.

My neighbors have all lost cats at night here. For some reason they would make their cats stay in during the day and let them out all night.

Sessy wouldn't have let anyone take her...she was very shy of strangers.

I won't let my dog run around loose to be all over the place, so I won't let my cats either

 

I don't put collers on my cats they don't really need them. The only time they go outside is around 4 and stay out until 7 . None of them wonder off the property and all come in at 7 perfect and if ones missing we look for them and their usually busying playing with something or napping. Out here we don't ever dream of putting our cats out at night because theres too many dangers like stray dogs, neighbors dogs ( which killed my cat Tango a while ago), the rare bear, fox's, sick people, and cars. Just to much out there against them especially with no street lights out here no one could see one of our cats out in the road. Also after the first snow of the year the cats stay inside all day everyday until spring.

Its really upto you what you do

 

I'm so sorry to hear about Sessy :cry: I dont know what i would do if something like that happened to Kyrre...

But like CockatielCrazy said 2BlackCats: it's up to you :wink:

 

Thanks for input guys. Like I said, they are too young, and havent been spayed or neutered.....We'll probably just play it by ear. I am relatively sure that our neighborhood is pretty cat friendly. (Not that something couldnt happen of course). Who knows they may be pretty content to stay indoors, its just that most of the people I have asked around here say that they let the cats out during some portion of the day. And one of my friends has a cat that insisited it be let out, it would not behave, and pestered the poop out of her, until one day, it zipped out past her when she was coming in from the outside. The cat has been much better inside the house, and when the cat comes home for the day, it snoozes and eats, and will snuggle as long as she wants her to. It seems that her cat gets out and stretches her legs, and when she comes home she relaxes.

I dunno, I guess we'll decide when the time comes. Thanks for the mention of microchipping!! Its a great idea that had not crossed my mind!

 

Hi, i just wanted to add my 2 cents in here. I worked at the animal control shelter in my county for awhile and i'd have to say that microchipping is the best way to go. Your cats can't take off the microchip. But i also have to say that i feel its better to be safe and double up or even triple on identification. More than once at the shelter i had taken a dog or cat down the Animal Euthanasia room to be PTS and at the last second found a microchip even though the animal had already been previously checked for one and none was found. Not everybody puts the chips in the same place(commonly between the shoulders) and you have to factor in human error or mechanical error on the scanner. My Vianne wears a collar with 2 ID tags and she has a microchip. Also keep in mind that if some average person picks up your stray cat, they may not think to take the cat to be checked for a chip, so they would want to see ID tags to contact you or they may keep the cat or who knows what else.
Collars- My cat wears a safety collar even though she is an indoor cat. There's always that slim chance she could slip out my front door one day and hopefully not get very far before a neighbor or someone picks her up and calls the number on her ID tag and i get my kitty back. Not saying i'd sit around and not look for her, but I like to cover all my bases. A properly fitted collar should prevent things like a stuck jaw or paw. And i'd say definitely go with a safety collar because even a house cat could get it caught on something in the home.
Sending kitty outside- I agree with other people about outside dangers and preferring an indoor cat. I know everyone's living area is different but there are dangers that you can't control if they are out at night while you're sleeping, such as ingesting a poisonous plant and then your kitty gets sick and you can't treat em cuz you don't know whats wrong, picking up parasites and other yuckies they will track back into the house, killing wildlife or getting killed by wildlife and some other good points that were already mentioned like a car not seeing them in the dark. Sometimes i find they are even hard to see during the day. There are so many reasons to keep them in. When i do let my cat outside, i have her on a leash and harness or in a carrier. That way she can enjoy the fresh air, but i'm right there with her while she enjoying the experience and i can keep her safe and out of trouble. Also, you posted before about your kittens being feral, so if you did allow them to roam free outside, i wouldn't do it anytime soon or i doubt it would help you in trying to tame them. All things to think about, just use your best judgement with the most benefit to your kitties in mind.

 

none of my cats ever went out..and dont seem to want to go out..when i open the door to come in or go out..they alrways seem to run the other way..

 

that has always been my experience. all of my life, i have been around cats. two when i was growing up, two during college and after, otis for nineteen years, and my two/three right now. NONE have ever gone out. they love my house. mikey looks out the windows all day long....until it get dark. he runs from window to window, but his favorite is in the kitchen. he never cries to go out...none of them do (or did...in the past). i have strong opinions about letting cats outdoors. i dont judge anyone for it, but...arent there enough risks...healthwise...than to invite more risks? i dont think cats "have" to go outside for any reason. after hearing stories on this forum of awful things happening...i just would never take that risk. nobody ever thinks it will happen to their cat. can you imagine how you would feel??

here in phoenix...there are coyotes that come into our neighborhoods...residential areas all the time. bats...dogs...other cats with possible diseases...badgers, raccoons, rabid animals... :shock:

no...not for me...ever. [-X

:m19: and just a thought. when you adopt an animal from the rescue shelter...you have to promise that your cat will be indoor. why do you think they have that policy?? for no good reason?? just because??? think about it. rescue shelters that specialize in the area of protecting animals...dont recommend they go outdoors. i think that says something. unless my rescue shelter is one of a kind. and if it is the only one that asks you to contract to keep them indoors...that is sad...in my opinion, because i think they all should. but i suspect they already do.

sorry. this is just a topic that gets me sort of emotional.

 

I just want to say that i am very much against letting cats roam free outside. I dont look down on anyone for it but because I cant constantly watch my fur-baby outside roaming the streets it would make me to stressed out if he was outside roaming the streets. I feel towards my cat the way I think i would feel emotionally if I had a child, he is my child and I wouldnt want my child to roam the streets...HOWEVER...I have always lived in very busy areas and I raised my kitty to be indoors and now he goes out on the balcony supervised but he wont go down the stairs or go towards the streets so I raised him to be a little mommas boy. My parents live in San Diego California and its not a relly super busy area but there are Coyotes and they eat the local strays and outdoor kitties at night so you gotta know your area and if its safe in a sense that there are a lot of predators out to get small animals like cats at night.

:qm4:

 

ditto shimmerystar...you must have posted right when i was...your post was there when mine went through...glad to know other people share my feelings. :wink:

 

This is an interesting discussion, as far as collars go I don't think they are a good idea, microchiping is the way to go.
It suprises me how many people here have indoor cats, I'm in the UK and know lots of people with cats and none of them are indoor cats, in fact I don't know (or know of ) anyone who has an indoor cat!

This isn't the case here, my mum adopted a cat from a recuse shelter last year and didn't have to make any promises about her being indoor only.

I guess its different here, we don't really have any wild animals that would kill a cat, there are foxes and if you live in the countryside there are badgers but they are pretty rare, obviously we have cars which are always a danger to cats and there is also the risk of people who can be cruel to animals, but when my boyfriend and I were picking our home we concidered our cats safety too, we chose somewhere where there are no main roads and little traffic in a good area.
If we lived in a country where they were at great risk from preditors I would probably feel different about letting them out especially at nighttime

I totally argree with this statement, I love my cats especially my Rags, if anything happened to them I would be devistated, I'm aware that statisticly indoor cats live longer than indoor/outdoor cats, I don't mind I would rather my cats could experience laying in the grass in the summer, playing with the snow in the winter and chaseing mice and birds around because its in there nature to do these things (however my lot aren't very good at catching anything but they love to chase), also my cats seem very road aware they very rarely cross the road in front of our house (the only road nearby) and if they do, they do actually look around first beleive it or not.

Personally I have no experience with indoor only cats so I can't say that they are missing out on anything perhaps they really don't miss what theyv'e never had, I don't know.

Being as your two kittens were feral I would be careful letting them outside, like I said in your other post we had 2 feral kittens one of them escaped before he'd really been domesticated and he ended up living ferel we never got him back indoors (he would just roam around in the countryside and come back to steal food every now and again).

Seems like the indoor / outdoor debate is a tough one its down to your own feelings on the matter, I found this website that details both sides of the arguement well ...

http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/petswelfare/cats/indoor.html

 

ginger...i sure like that picture on the webpage!!!


ITS A BENGAL!!!

interesting article. and yes...i think its different in different countries, and city living is different than country living. but in this country, there are alot of animals out at night.

my sister lives in illinois, and two of her three cats go out. they live on the outskirts of the city. i dont ever judge her for it. i dont even have strong feelings that they shouldnt go out...i just would never ever think about it for my own cats.

 

lol :lol: lynn- I wondered if any of you 'Bengal spotters' would notice that!

I think if there were a lot of dangerous animals out at night here, I would shut my cats in, otherwise I'd be jumping out of bed everytime I heard anything happening outside!

 

lols...

well...me being as obsessive as i am...and all the problems i had with max's health (chronic diarrhea)...thinking he was gonna die every time i turned around...from dehydration, constantly vigilant....i am now a certified overprotective "meowmy". i cant imagine how i would be if my cat were outside. the other night...max was playing with his feather toy...and he must have gotten a feather up his nose. welll...he started sneezing...and it was like a sneezing attack!!! and seriously...i thought "oh my God...is he going to die? why is he doing that? " i followed him around all night...just watching to make sure he was okay. :shock:

lols...

 

That was a really good link. I'm not against cats getting fresh air at all. My big thing is that if you decide to let them out, go with them and have the situation under some control. I know its seen differently in other countries as cruel to not let them out. My very best friend lives in Germany and she has 2 cats that she allows outside. But she also has a large enclosed garden area in her backyard where she releases them and someone is usually outside with them. There are so many variables in everyones situation, so i think the most important thing is a balance of some sort without extremes on either side and overall safety in mind. I don't believe a cat should be out unsupervised any more than a dog should. And i would get upset if someone's pet cat was constantly coming onto my property and leaving signs of having been there. I think its also being considerate of your neighbors to supervise their outdoor activities. The woman that lives across the street from my dad has about 20 cats that she allows to come and go as they please. At night you can always hear them screaming and fighting under my old bedroom window. They use to wake me up all the time. My dad is also highly allergic to them and they are excessively friendly to human and are always trying to slip through his front door and rub on your legs, which is really bad for him since he is highly allergic. That link did have some great points tho about making sure your indoor cats activities are well designed for their indoor lifestyle and bringing out the fact that each cat has a different personality and different needs as far as freedom vs. confinement.