I've recently adopted a cat from a vet. It's about 3 months old and have spent his entire life in a cage. I let my cat to roam free in my apartment when i'm in after work. Is the cat going to be unhappy if not allowed outside the house? I'll be moving to a landed property sometime in Oct and am thinking of letting it roam free then. Is it going to create some problems? I must say that i am worried about it getting run over by cars after seeing so many cat carcassess by the roadside. Would appreciate anyone's opinion.

I have always been a supporter of letting the cats out of the house as I think that they can go crazy. Funnily the 2 cats I lost to accidents weren't caused by the classic car accident. One was killed by my neighbour's car (he used to love sitting under neighbour's car and the neighbour, I suspect did it on purpose as he is an alert cat and the neighbour, well, he is the type who would keep pictures of his fav celeb under the stairs if you know what I mean). The second one was not killed by a car but I suspect a cat killer (refer to early posts for story) and body dumped in front of my house. If you're really afraid of kitty being killed, please keep him at home because there is no guarantee that he won't be killed by other factors as well (accidental poisoning, cat-hating neighbours). I have a neighbour who gave her cat away to her daughter who lives in an apartment because it was allergic to grass. It is happy to live there. My 10 sens' worth - desex them, they won't have a tendency of disappearing. From experiene, i find that (even desexed) female cats tend to be homelier and males tend to run out (naughty boy syndrome)

Yup, gaudy is quite right with the desexing post effects. Well anyway, personally, I'm all for cats being kept indoors.

I get a little paranoid if I can't locate any of them, so outdoors is a no no for me unless it is a "closed" outdoor kind of thing; where they can't get out of the house compound no matter what they do. This also means not being able to sneak into the neighbour's place. This paranoia of mine derives from exactly what gaudy has mentioned about accidents, intentional or not and one additional thing, cat-napping.

Cats in their natural self can be quite adventurous so if you really decide to let her roam outdoors, you'll have to be prepared for the unexpected. I know many owners of street cats let them out and the least they could do is to get their cats a collar tag with contact information. Most I know who adopted from SPCA or the vet keeps them indoors.

Apart from that, health reasons is something else to think about. Fights with other cats or dogs, sometimes despicable human interventions and communicable diseases among other animals outside. If the cat has been unfortunate to have gotten fleas from another cat, you're going to have lots of work to do around the house indoors then. I'm just going into extremes ok. Personally, if it is feasible I'd recommend that you try to design or create one small portion of your house for an outdoor enclosure. Here's an example.

:idea: http://www.paws.org/work/factsheet/...enclosures.html
:idea: http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/...renclosure.html

I may live in a condo but I've assumed total responsibility for the well being of my cats the day I got them so, that's why I say what I say. Just my opinion. :wink:

Oh, about the cat not being happy if not let outdoors, I've only got one thing to ask. What will it take to make them happier indoors then?

Re: What would it take to make them happy indoors.

Really it's difficult to answer such questions as I cannot read the cat's mind. I think especially for the kind of cat I keep (which are tabby cats) I think they are genetically more feral and therefore have the urge to explore outside. I let them live their lives as naturally as possible. And I think that it is not what humans perceive as happiness they seek but I think their lives are ruled more by their natural instinct.

As for the artificially created breeds like Persians etc, they are much much more domesticated and therefore more apt to stay in the house.

Right now I have a mumcat and her 2 kittens. I am planning to keep one kit and the other has been booked by another cat-loving friend. I think I will keep both of them in the house from now on since my poor kitty last time was killed by some psycho. However, if they choose to be outside, I will not stop them.

Thanks woozy for the website. It's clearly given me some ideas how to compromise on the indoors/oudoors thingy. However, i do agree with gaudy i.e. tabbys are more feral thus very happy to be exploring outdoors and a part of me is saying to let the kitty live as naturally as possible. But at the mo, he's strictly kept indoors!

I bought a harness for Monty last weekend, tried putting him in it but he really stuggled to get that thing off him. Any tips? Can't wait to take him out for some fresh air.

Since i'm really green at this, what do you guys do if you want to go on holidays? Is there any 'cat-hotel' in Msia? And how much do they charge?

p/s Monty is really manic! He likes to nibble on toes..anyone has similar exprience?

Gaudy, u must be a verrryy proud grandma!

Hi,

Enclosures really are for those who are want to get their outdoor cats converted to be an indoor cat. Not really necessary if you're going to give it absolute freedom. You'll see a lot of these in US suburbs, the rural areas well, they let their cats and all other animals roam about.

Haha, yeah I have problems with the harness too. This one no tips, not once have I seen any of them not trying to free themselves. :roll:

Cat treats for a job well done maybe?

I think the pet shops or vet do boarding for about RM20-RM25 per day. Cheaper if you're negotiating for an extended period. Not sure about the prices now though, gotta check it out.

Hi All!

Glad to see more and more people in this cat forum and great contributions too. Ok, I know of one cat boarder in TTDI (next to the KFC in Tun Mohd Fuad area) which charges RM15 a day. I have already checked the place out and the cages are big and there are lots of nice cats in there. I presume the cat owners are quite fussy. It's not smelly or anything. Best would be to go there physically yourself. The owners of the place also hung toys on the cages to entertain them so that's a nice touch. BTW, they don't board dogs there so there's no stress for our feline friends.

I buy my food for kitties there (very well stocked for dog, cat and hamster owners) and the owners are nice guys. I get a RM3 discount for my Science Diet there. They even leave a bowl of biscuits outside their shop for stray kitties to munch on. These guys earned points with me!!!

Also, you can always get friends to catsit (which I did before) but before boarding them,make sure you've got all their shots up to date and if possible a shot against cat flu (it's pricey but worth it as you don't know what the other cats could be suffering from)

Heh heh my mumcat is now trying to bring her babies into the house. One of them has opened it's eyes already. So ugly but so cute!!!! They're also growing at a very rapid rate!

Ya!! Tmn. Tun. I'm totally agreeable to gaudy's "point system".

That's where I got Buffy when she was about 2 months old. Nice place, has almost anything and everything you could possibly need.

i keep my cat indoors now because when i first adopted her from the SPCA, we used to let her wander abuot. unfortunately she got sporosites and mange and attacked by strays.

Now Melski stays at home with my 3 dogs and i think her main entertainedment is harassing the dogs ops: and stalking the goldfish. while i know she would be happier being able to roam, we are happier is20f she can stay alive. the infections she caught are fatal if untreated and highly contagious. she has to spend a month in quarantine in my house because my dogs could've been infected too.

Gosh Alicia, must be pretty "rough" neighbourhood for your cat. I sincerely hope she's doing better now. So, how do you manage her urge to go outdoors now? I can imagine the look on her face asking to go out.

I think you're making the right decision of keeping her indoors, looking at the harsh realities she's been exposed to. Some neighborhoods can be tough for them even when they're minding their own business.