Letting Them Roam: A Conundrum For Cat Owners

Cats are rather unique pets. Unlike dogs, they like their freedom and independence. Unlike small animals in cages, they can get it too. It’s perfectly acceptable to let your cat out before you head off to work and let them back in when they return to the back door. Or, you can think about letting them out in the evening just before you go to bed. As long as you don’t mind being woken up at some point by a meowing cat hoping to get back in to curl up at the foot of your duvet. However, there are a few things you need to think about before you let your cat wander off in the wild world.

How Old?

There’s no set age when a cat should and shouldn’t wander out away from the home. However, you do need to wait a few weeks before a kitten can go outside at all. Otherwise, it could be at risk of contracting infections and diseases that may be fatal.

As far as wandering away from the house, you should wait until your cat reaches a suitable size that it won’t be in danger wandering away from home. As such, you may want to hold off for at least a few months before you let your cat hop onto the garden fence and disappear for a few hours.

What About A Cat Door?

You might be keen to get a cat door if you are going to let your furry feline friend wander. However, aside from the potential security issue, there is another factor that you may want to consider. You might not want to let your cat freely leave and enter whenever it likes. Now you can lock the cat door, but even then you will definitely leave it open for the cat to come back, possibly so you don’t have to get up in the night to let it in. That’s understandable. But this also allows your cat to come in without you checking it.

Remember, cats are natural hunters, and they will often bring their prey home with them. So unless you want to find a dead bird somewhere in your bedroom in the morning, it’s perhaps best to avoid the cat door completely.

Are They Protected?

You can’t protect fully protect a cat when it wanders. It could get hurt on the road or even get in a fight with another cat. Checking for injuries when your cat comes back is something that you should be doing daily. However, there are other forms of protecting to think about. Remember, you won’t know or be able to control where your cat goes once it leaves the house. So, Revolution flea and tick treatment or a similar product will be essential. This will stop your cat bringing pests into your home after their travels.

Are You Prepared?

Once your cat leaves, there’s no knowing when or if it will come back. You hope it will and cats are more loyal than most people think. But they can get lost, hurt or simply chose to live in the wild. As such, you always need to be prepared for long durations where you cat isn’t there if you let them wander. Though, most will come back for their evening meal.

We hope you find this advice helpful when struggling with the decision of letting your cat roam freely.

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