can a 1 year old indoor cat become an outdoor cat?

[tweenyb]

Hi all you answerbankers I have an 11 month old kitty who due to where we have been living has been an indoors only cat.
We are moving next month and we will have a cat flap in our new door and I wondered if its ok for her to now be an outdoors cat.
all advice on the process and pros and cons are greatly welcome

Cheers

T xx

[rowanwitch]

she will benefit from outdoor time with her humans at first but if our 17 year old indoor cats can do outdoors I am sure she will love it... be prepared for presents frogs, mice, all sorts.... and for a few battles as she establishes territory. If you are concerned building a run for her for a few months might help but I don't think you will need it If she hasn't been chipped I recommend you do that first and give her a collar with a bell to protect your local birds don't forget you will also need to stay on top of flea treatments and worming as well as her jabs.... I think that is everything...

Oh and you might need to get an extra sun lounger as she will probably hijack yours at every opportunity

[DrFilth]

when you move to a new property i would keep her in for at least a couple of weeks.
let her get used to her new home and then see how she gets on going out.

[kia cat]

Yes. I was worried as mine was about two and had never been outside. She was as happy as anything when I moved from London down to the Country [lol]. Ignore the butter on paws unless you want a greasy floor.

Worms were her favourite gift. The magnetic cat flap stopped any callers! She managed to amused herself when I next moved to a larger place, by waiting until my puppy stuck his nose [inside] at the cat flap and slapping it from the outside.

[RATTER15]

Please dont put a collar on a cat, I have found two dead cats , one dead on the ground, probably starved to death because it couldnt get untangled from a bush and one hanging on a tree by their collar, both had elastic collars on, supposed to be safer!

[Panic Button]

She will love it!

There will be a few almighty fights with other cats over territory, but these will settle.

I agree with Helen, try to establish a recogiseable noise, like a rattling tin of dry cat food, to help her locate home if she gets a bit lost.

[Greedyfly]

I have been pondering this for about 3 months. I have just moved with a year old kitty also, and although I really didnt want to let him out I had to. He sat at the window looking so miserable, even though I play with him and entertain him as much as possible. I had to let him out, although we didnt let him out until after 6 weeks of being at the new home. And he has changed for the good since going out. He went missing for a night the first week but since then he comes home regualr and seems much happier. When we started letting him out we sprinkled his cat litter around the yard so he knew it was his and stayed in the yard with him whilst he was there for the first few times. But then after that he learned to use the flap and was away. With regards to collars, I always have a collar on him but they are the snap release ones with the safety catch, I always test them to make sure they are loose. He has lost two collars in the first week of going out - must have got caught up somewhere, but at least it shows they work, but since he has kept this one. He is a tom cat and has been neutured and so far not one fight, there are alot of cats where I live. But to be honest he hardly leaves our yard, just sits out there watching the world go by. I thin kthe litter helps too - the other cats seem to stay away now.

[redcrx]

shouldnt be a problem at that age, make sure shes microchipped if no collar.
Just keep her in for a week of so and then just allow her to go out the cat flap and explore .

my 14 year old cat nearly lost her life when she was accidentally let out by builders. She was found 4 days later and hadnt had shelter or food and was just hours (if that) away from dying.

[ummmm]

Let her out. For the first month or so of me letting my cat out he didn't leave the garden. He slowly ventured into the neighbours...now he's a dirty run around.

Make sure you get flea treatment and worming treatment from your vets. And has she been spayed?

I wouldn't worry too much about other cats, unless the cats round here are just overly friendly they all seem to play together. The other night mine was meowing at the door...I looked out the window and he had 2 other cats sitting on the door step with him.

[karenmac60]

I had 2 cats who were a year old and had always been indoor, and one kitten. I moved to a house where they could get out and they were all fine with it - but the 2 indoor never went very far, preferring to stay in the garden most of the time, while the younger one would disappear on 3 day adventures and bring home all sorts.

[tweenyb]

awww thank you all its so reassuring to read about your cats being let out.
Our kitty has been microchipped and i will get her one of those catch release collars at the weekend. we wont have a garden at the front of our flat but at the rear there are communal gardens so im sure she will have lotsa places to play and make friends.

thanks again

t xxx

[boxtops]

Hi tweeny, yes your cat will get used to the great outdoors and will love it. I had two housecats at one time as we lived in a flat, and when we got a garden, they soon got used to the idea. Stay with her for a bit for the early days, make sure she has a cosy place to come back to indoors - easy to tempt her back in with her dinner! Make sure she's up to date with her jabs as she will meet other cats, also her flea and worm treatment as others have said. She will need a place to wee - she'll probably poo in someone else's garden if I know cats - we put a bit of litter in a suitable place and kept changing it until ours got the hang of performing outside. You say she is microchipped so she really doesn't need a collar - I had a similar experience to the others, my Rover nearly hung himself on his collar when he got it caught on a window latch, and that was supposed to easy-release. None of my three have collars now, we do get the odd bird brought in (and loads of mice at the moment) but I would rather they did the natural thing and caught the odd bird than they hung themselves. My biggest problem was persuading one cat to use the cat door at all, rather than stand at the door maiowing - but we got there in the end. Good luck to you all - let us know how kitty gets on - she will love sitting out in the sunshine, batting at the odd butterflies!

[tweenyb]

well we move next weekend so will keep her in for a week or so then slowly get her outside in short bursts for awhile then leave her to it.... dont think shell have a problem with a cat flap as she has a litter tray with a hood and cat flap so fingers crossed - will update on progress :0)

thank you all once again for your advice and input

[kia cat]

good luck with your move. Have you got a plan for keeping her contained on the day? Maybe overnighting at the kennels or a friends something, so that she doesn't scarper before you set off? I'm sure all will be well, cats seem to adapt to new surroundings quicker than us. Take care

[tweenyb]

hi all, well we are moved in and settled (as much as i can be without being able to find my mp3 players charger lol) and the cat is happy in her surroundings.

on the day of the move she went to my mums where she happily goes once a week normally when i go for physio.
we plugged in a fellaway pheramone plug as soon as we arrived to help her stay calm and comfortable, thi has really helpd.

Last week 7 days after moning in we let her out in the front yard for a bit and my husband also took her round to the communal back yard. She was nervy at first but soon wandered off sniffing everything in sight.
as the weekend came and went she grew bolder and braver going further afield and even chased a bull terrier (we also apologised to the dogs owner).

this last 4 days she has been coming and going through the window but we are keeping her in at night for now.

we will be getting a cat flap next month so all is going well

thank you all so so very much for your help and advice you are all super stars

thanks xxxx