We are “cat people” who are currently catless. In a way, that is convenient because we spend a lot of time in the summer at a vacation home and we need someone to always look after our cats while we are gone.
Our cats have always been and always will be indoor/outdoor cats.
The missus has raised the question of whether we could get a cat and take it back and forth between the two homes. The idea is that it will be ok being outside in two different environments. I don’t think so.
I think that cats, unlike dogs which bond to people, are territorial and bond to territory. I think that shifting a cat between two different territories will confuse it terribly and it is likely to wonder off, especially in the territory where it is least bonded to, if it can even bond to two different places.
I think the cat would handle two different territories just fine. Their territorial management is pretty complicated, including time multiplexing (territory boundaries move around on a daily cycle). It also seems to me that indoors and outdoors are already two more-or-less unconnected territories, from the cat’s point of view.
One thing that might be prudent would be to make the first couple of visits to the new location brief, and keep the cat indoors while you are there. That way he can figure out it’s temporary and he will get back to his first territory. Otherwise, he might think the only way to return home is by setting out on his own.
It may affect them a little bit, they may actually begin spraying if they’re feeling territorial. Like the person above me said, you may want to get them used to the new environment first.
I had a Burmese cat who went lots of places with me, including visiting my parent’s property for holidays. I started taking him when he was quite young, and even after a long gap between visits, he have a look around, seem to say to himself “oh yeah, this joint”, and head off for his favourite spot in the garden.
Some of my other cats did the same thing with ease as well, and a friend of mine regularly transported her cat between her two homes, and the cat appeared quite happy. I’m sure there are any number of cats who do the same thing in a relaxed fashion.
I think you would need to start the two location thing when the cats were kittens, get them used to the idea of going in the car, being in different places, etc. By and large cats don’t chage locations very well, in the same way dogs do, although that might be because people tend not to take their cats places.
I also suspect that the cat’s temperament will be important, my Burmese was a very laid-back, relaxed and tolerant sort of cat, very people oriented. It might be harder with a nervous or anxious cat, since they seem to handle change with great trepidation.
My Aunt and Uncle bring their cat from home (near Toronto) to their cottage (near Ottawa on the Quebec side) with a stop at my grandmother’s apartment for an overnight. The cat has no problems adapting to any of the places.
YMMV of course, maybe she’s just a strange cat. Mine is scared of going outside.