Do you allow your cats outside?

[sirrahved]

Okay... this is NOT to start a fight... (if you wish to debate with someone PLEASE start a new thread in the doghouse or PM!) Do you allow your cats to go outside? Under what circumstances?

[Edwina's Secretary]

The E's are allowed outside in our enclosed backyard under the following conditions....

- harness on (at least Eddie and usually Edwina)
- adult supervision
- daylight hours.....

[catmandu]

With the Murders of Orange Blossom,Orangie and Scratchy,I will never allow my Cats outdoors.
I worry about Lucky/Nugget as he is older and I think daef.

[jenluckenbach]

Never. Not EVER.

[moosmom]

Although my cats are strictly indoors, I DO take MooShoo out for rides in the car, walks around the green (in a harness) and shopping at PetSmart. Other than that, they only sniff the fresh air from the open, secured windows.

[orangemm]

Since we adopted our boys, they have never set foot on grass or concrete!

[Laura's Babies]

Mine are never allowed outside and they express no interest in going out... not even Samantha who's former Mom swears she use to sit at the door and cry to go out. Samantha likes it a lot better inside. Giz knocked a screen out one day and fell out the window and ran streight to the front door and cried/screamed to get back in. Chester runs when someone opens the front door and Amy just has shown NO interest in the outside, other than looking from the window....

[The Cat Factory]

No, mine are not allowed outside.

[LeahMM]

Mine are never let outdoors. It is very unsafe outside.

[Donnaj4962]

My girls are only allowed outside under supervision. I live in an apartment complex, and NO ONE obeys the speed limit, so I am with them at all times! They mainly like to lay on the cement (warmth) and to gobble a piece of grass or two. Tabitha has been known to sneak out, and run to the side of the building, but I can always get to her right away.

I do, however, have a funny story to tell about my friends' cat, Punkin Patch Raptor. I was watching Punkin (5 months old) and his dog sister Roxie over the weekend, and both are allowed outside in their chain link fence enclosed yard. Well, Punkin must have missed his family so much that he decided to go look for them... and he squeezed between the fence and the gate and he was gone! Little guy is FFFAAASSSTTTT!

Of course, I kept thinking he would come home. I was getting quite worried after about 1/2 an hour when he was still MIA. So I took off through the neighborhood, calling his name. No Punkin. I had gone around to another street, was circling back, and was about 3 houses from his house, feeling heartbroken that I may have lost their precious little Punkin Patch Raptor. I looked behind me, and there he stood, on the sidewalk.... FOLLOWING ME EVER SO QUIETLY! Little stinker! I stopped, called him, and he came right to me! Needless to say, his outdoor privileges were removed for the remainder of the time that his family was away! Poor little one, he must have missed them so much, couldn't find them, and decided that since I had come looking for him, that maybe I was okay after all!

[smokey the elder]

I live on a very busy street. Mobius wouldn't go outside for all the 'nip in Catada.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

The ONLY time my cats are let outside is when I'm out there and they either have a harness on or are in their little pen. Even when they're in their pen, I will not let them out of my site. With Tubby & Peanut, I wasn't quite as strict about leaving them in the pen unattended because they were both old and were content to just lay and sniff the breezes. CJ, on the other hand, I don't trust, so if I have to go inside for any longer than a minute, he comes in with me, then back out with me.

I am just way too paranoid to let them out unattended, or even out without some sort of "confinement" such as a harness or pen - since we don't have an enclosed back yard.

[carole]

As I have explained many times it is normal practice in my country to let cats roam free, anything else is considered cruel, however i also have stated myself that i think keeping them inside with an outdoor enclosure is the best of both worlds and the dream i hold on to oneday, my kitties are indoor/outdoor but are NOT allowed out from the moment it starts to even look like getting dark.

[Vermontcat]

Samantha follows a couple of Edwina's rules when it is warm outside.
She is only allowed outside with supervision and daytime only.
She has a curfew and she sticks to it.
She is very good about sticking close to the house or close to family members when we are out in the yard.
In the winter, she is totally indoors. She hates the cold and the snow.

[lv4dogs]

My cats can go in or out whenever they want. Well I have no doggy door so they have to wait for me but still.
Would that be considered free roam?

I ONLY let them out because I live in a trailer park where the speed limit is 5-10 miles per hour & everyone obeys it too. We are also set back quite a ways from the main road & I never see my cats go too far away from my home. They are both microchipped too.
They were also both rescued from a complete outdoor lifestyle and I did try to to keep them inside for months & months & months. It never worked, they are so fast & sneaky & my door is set up in kind of a weird way.

Now if I notcied them walking closer to the main road or if I moved or any other possible danger came about they would be inside only cats.