Yeah and I'd like to mention one more thing, for those living in apartments or high rise buildings, don't allow your animal to hang out at the balcony without supervision. I know of someone who's cat jumped over the railings and died of internal injuries. It's better to be careful and watch out for your loved ones who don't know any better.

I live in an apartment 5th floor, had a mixed persian for 11 yrs, cat always in the balcony and she seem to enjoy the view very much no problem so far, now got a new kitten 5 mths old and he too love to sibuk watch ppl from the balcony and this time makes me nervous as he's new, i just hope I dont see him doing the superman stunt.

More nervous when theres bird that land on the rail...he look so prepared to leap!

Hi Skareb,
Indeed u wud need to b careful on this. Kittens r really active n curious at the same time. They really got no sense of danger. My 1st 2 cats, Wesley n Casper do not hv the tendency to jump on my balcony ledge. (oh ya.. i lived at the 17th floor btw). Ever since I got Speed, 6 months old, he really worries me. He loves to jump on high places n therefore i had to built a fence over the ledge n put some fake creepy plants just by bottom of the fence so that it looks like an obstacle for him to try to grab, hang on n even jump. so far Speed had not try to jump but juz lazying n sun bathing at the balcony n hopefully he stays that way.

Another that u wud consider is that, if u hv the xtra money n at the same time make ur balcony looks good, u cud hire someone to make a platform with a slightly higher back support using steel (or chrome) just outside the balcony ledge whereby u can put potted plants. I had seen this done by my neighbour n indeed it looks very nice. something for u to consider.

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CFA Ambassador
Certified Ringmaster for CFA Feline Agility

"A man of kindness to his beast is kind... A brutal action shows a brutal mind... Remember, He gave thee speech and formed him mute... He can’t complain, but God’s all-seeing eye... Behold the cruelty and hears his cry... He was designed thy servant not thy drudge... Remember thy Creator is thy judge..."

Spaeking of cats lazing on the balcony..ever since i moved to this new house, i let my cats play on the balcony..mula2 tu i supervise jugak, after a while i see that no attempts are being made about being superman/girl, i let them play on their own. But last night, i made the msitake of not getting them in after sunset..at about 10 something, i noticed melly was missing..panggil dari atas balcony, i suddenly saw a black and white object running around in the garden...and there was melly! She must have launcehd herself from the balcony! Or tak tau la camna boleh end up on the ground. We checked her, no injuries that i can see of..(still actively asking for massages)

So this morning we have two very frustrated cats because dah tak boleh pergi keluar balcony. I don't know whether Melly fell of by accident bec. she does like to sit near the ledge at the other side of the tembok....or she saw something interesting on the ground e.g. mice...since they are most indoors except for supervised walks, what i'm afraid of is that once they found freedom, they don't want to come back!

Like my female also laa...
When we let kitchen door open..she will climb up to the railing and do ballet there.......nasib baik tak jatuh...
And than got one kakak at next block saw her and she become panic...and scream but we cant hear her...huwaaaaa..
I duno how my female cat can do balancing at small railing....

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MyHeritage Cattery
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Breed Munchkin & American Curl
TICA & CFA register cattery

Ok, lets make things simple....Here's my advise and explanation:

If You Love Your Cat,
Keep It Indoors Because:

Cars kill millions of cats each year.

Outdoor cats are exposed to serious and often fatal infectious diseases such as feline leukemia and rabies.

Parasites such as fleas, ticks and intestinal worms pose a health threat to your cat. Some of these can be transmitted to humans.

Cats outdoors are often chased by dogs or other cats, and killed, injured or hopelessly lost.

Cats are often shot at, poisoned, trapped or tortured by neighbors annoyed by cats using their gardens as a litterbox or hunting birds and other small animals.

other wild animals are known to regularly kill and eat house cats.

Cats that spend time outdoors require more medical treatment and their lifespan is much shorter.

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Around here the Cats are in charge!

Cheerios!
Sayangku81 aka Emma

Kitty Meowww...

What Part of Meow don't you understand?
http://asmaradanacattery.multiply.com/

Before i got my 4 British Shorthair cats I use to have normal housecats.The housecats has the freedom to roam about the neighbourhood until one day after I came back from groceries shopping my neighbour informed me that she saw my catbeing knocked down by a car and later when she came out with a plastic my cat was gone,dont know where it has been brought.I was so devastated.Then after a month the second cat didnt came home one night and the next morning I saw her all frozen and lay dead in my garden.2 cats dead in 2mths time were too much for me to bear.

So i've decided to take in 4 British Shorthair and kept them inside and they're all safe and happy.I've also noticed that breed cats tend to like more to be indoors then outdoors,im speaking on my experiences only as ive owned normal and breed cats.My breed cat has harness on them and they seem to enjoy walking around with a harness on just like a dog but that is also because i've trained them from very young.

My neighbour's cat passed away in front of my eyes just last week.I saw her playing by the roadside while i was at my garden doing some cleaning and suddendly she was lying in the middle of the road rolling agrresively.i thought she was playing by herself..so i con't to do my things.After about 1min I took a quick glance at her and found her lying with blood spatted out around her mouth and poo.immediately i went to look at her and suspected poisoning cz i didn see any tyre marks or whatsoevr.Ibrought the cat body to the side of the road and inform the owner later.poor owner just went shopping for a bag and cat food and now the cat is dead.

so I think its best we keep our cats inside and make our home cat proof and safe for them and lotsa activities for them to keep them busy from thinking of going out.By walking them on the harness will be also a better idea then to let them roam free and might sometimes end up dead.

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Catlicious

i hv 4 DSH and i keep them indoors although they like to go outdoors esp the males. females are more obedience ...

anyway, i know dat it's good to keep them indoors but sometimes i kesian them as i can c from their expressions (esp the males) dat they want to go out!

so far i hv not succumbed to their pitiful faces & attempts to sneak out as i know in my heart dat it's best for them to be inside, safe & sound.

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Dogs have masters, Cats have staff

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CFA Ambassador
Certified Ringmaster for CFA Feline Agility

"A man of kindness to his beast is kind... A brutal action shows a brutal mind... Remember, He gave thee speech and formed him mute... He can’t complain, but God’s all-seeing eye... Behold the cruelty and hears his cry... He was designed thy servant not thy drudge... Remember thy Creator is thy judge..."

Hi Horatio,

Im explaining how it is in our home.My domestic cats can't wait to get out once i opened the door but my BSH couldnt care less at all in fact they will just come and greet me when I'm back n go on their own activities.They wiil also just go out in the balcony in the mornings and evening for a short while and then get back in the house and rather stay indoors all the time.I'm just curious why the differences besides as u said if they've been trained wether to be indoors or not which I have not trained them to be anyhow.But i feel its much for safer for them to be indoors

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Catlicious