Looking to possibly help out a shelter cat in need, but not looking for a permanently indoor cat. Even fastidious people with indoor cats have houses that smell vaguely of litterbox odors no matter how hard they try to keep after it, and I really don’t want that or to deal with a litterbox.
Thinking that cat could come and go during the day I wanted it indoors, but would get put out at night, except on cold nights.
Is there a hardy breed that makes a good outdoor cat or do indoor/outdoor cats go feral eventually? Is this whole indoor/outdoor cat idea impractical and should I just bag the idea unless I commit to having a strictly indoor cat?
Indoor/outdoor cats rarely go feral, since they do have an association with humans. I don’t know of any particular breed, but a female or neutered male is less likely to roam, and a long-haired winter breed such as a Norwegian forest cat is more likely to handle cold winters.
But please, a cat is much healthier and has a greater chance of living a long life if you keep it permanently indoors. Please reconsider having a cat if you can’t keep it permanently indoors. (A litter box in the garage with a cat door on the inside garage door leading to it means less litter box smell.)
On what do you base that DeadlyAccurate?
(that cats are healthier and live longer when kept permanently indoors)
Is mental health included in that statement? Personally, I can’t think of anything crueller than keeping a cat permanently indoors (with the exception of overbreeding for traits and declawing).
My cats have been moggies the lot, generally farm cats, and have had no problem living outdoors. Come in and get some food in the morning, out again when everyone goes to work, meets me from the opposite direction as I come home from school (amazing that cats can tell the time!) and came in for the evening.
Everyone goes off to bed and the cat is put out. If the weather is severly shitty then the cat gets to stay in as a treat, and it had some sort of half-assed wooden house out the bottom of the garden that it could sleep in if it felt like. It seemed to prefer under the car or in a hedge tho. Depending on the amount of dogs, cats, other wildlife in your area ymmv. It may also depend on the weather. Ireland gets very wet and cold, but actual snow is rare, and we only had a couple of other cats and dogs as neighbours. Sure the cats would get in fights occasionally, but they also got laid a lot Neutering is a must tho, especially for your Tom, it will keep him closer to home and make him less terratorial.
An indoor cat will likey outlive an outdoor counterpart because it it won’t have nasty things happen to it such as: freezing to death, getting eaten by a predator, coming into contact with some other diseased animal, getting in a fight, etc.
I don’t think most indoor cats pine away for the outdoors. Mine never wants to go outside. You leave the door open and she just takes a look at the outside world and figures, “Hey, it’s better in here.”
Most cats will be fine as indoor/outdoor cats if raised that way and you live in a good area for it. If you are getting one from a shelter I would advise getting one that has lived indoor/outdoor before. Some cats that have never been outside are scared of it and it would be cruel to make them stay outside. Also, make sure you don’t get a de-clawed cat. It isn’t as safe for them to be outside.
The shelter never asked me my baby was going to be outside when I adopted her. They were only concerned about me getting her fixed.
I have a litter box in my house but the almost never uses it. She prefers to go outside. You really can’t smell the litter box if you clean it every day, put some baking soda in it and buy good litter. Also, consider a box with a lid. Most people I have known with smelly houses buy cheep kitty litter. If your cat doesn’t use it much you can afford the nicer stuff.
Do you want me to keep going? I think Google pulled up about 200,000 links.
I’ve never met an indoor-only cat that was miserable, but I’ve met several outdoor-only and indoor/outdoor cats that were. When my parents moved to the city, their cats became indoor-only. They never try to go out. Cats are hedonistic creatures. If they have ready access to clean food and water, a comfortable place to sleep and someone to pet them, they will almost never try to go outdoors.
My cat was miserable as an indoor-only cat and she made sure we were miserable too. She spent the better part of the day trying to claw her way outside. She wouldn’t sleep at night and did her best to make sure I couldn’t sleep either. She tried to get out every time the door was opened.
After I started letting her outside she became the perfect cat. She plays outside during the day. In the evening she curls up in my lap and purrs while I watch TV. She sleeps all night usually. And in the morning she goes back outside to play again.
Maine Coon cats and Norwegian Forest Cats are good outdoor cats, being as they are large and longhaired. Note also that both breeds are affectionate and are valued for being friendly with dogs, if you happen to have a dog.
I’d have to agree that cats are best kept inside, but if you must have them outside, a big cat is better able to defend himself and is better insulated from the cold.
Be warned, however, that in my experience Maine Coons are voracious hunters, so if you don’t like dead animals on the back porch, rethink your plan.
DeadlyAccurate, obviously I conceed the fact that cats most likely live longer if you keep them indoors, I didn’t really mean to object to that. I was just reacting to the concept of being against cats being allowed outdoors. Without getting pit-bound on this, suffice to say I am astounded.
Um, common sense? It is pretty obvious to me that an indoor car won’t ever have to deal with the elements, moving cars, bigger cats, and everything else that comes with being outside all the time. You’ll live longer if you don’t have to live outside too.
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Is mental health included in that statement? Personally, I can’t think of anything crueller than keeping a cat permanently indoors (with the exception of overbreeding for traits and declawing).
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How about forcing one to live out in the snow every year? All of my cats have always lived inside, and were perfectly happy and affectionate.
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My cats have been moggies the lot, generally farm cats, and have had no problem living outdoors. Come in and get some food in the morning, out again when everyone goes to work, meets me from the opposite direction as I come home from school (amazing that cats can tell the time!) and came in for the evening.
Everyone goes off to bed and the cat is put out. If the weather is severly shitty then the cat gets to stay in as a treat, and it had some sort of half-assed wooden house out the bottom of the garden that it could sleep in if it felt like. It seemed to prefer under the car or in a hedge tho. Depending on the amount of dogs, cats, other wildlife in your area ymmv. It may also depend on the weather. Ireland gets very wet and cold, but actual snow is rare, and we only had a couple of other cats and dogs as neighbours. Sure the cats would get in fights occasionally, but they also got laid a lot Neutering is a must tho, especially for your Tom, it will keep him closer to home and make him less terratorial. **
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Sounds like a great cat life, but I have to assume you live in a rural area where you (and the cats) have that luxury.
The indoor/outdoor cat is one of those religious arguments (e.g. gun control/SUVs suck) that crop up periodically because there’s no definitive answer although people feel very strongly about their own position. I seem to recall reading that people in Great Britain are stupefied by the idea of an indoor-only moggie. In contrast, here in the US, keeping cats indoors seems to have become the politically correct thing to do and you can get vilified on bulletin boards if you mention that you let your cat go outside. (My personal feeling is that it’s because as a nation we don’t deal too well with the harsh realities of nature, red in tooth and claw. )
Guin, another mark of a “religious” debate is that people get terribly offended if you even seem to imply that their choice is not the One True Way. It’s at this point that reasonable people suddenly notice that their drink needs refilling and sidle away. If you don’t mind, I’m going to go top up my Merlot.
Neutering is a must tho, especially for your Tom, it will keep him closer to home and make him less terratorial.