Can house cat go outside

Can house cats go outside?

The short answer is yes, but you will face some risks that should be managed in order to not lose your lovely pet forever.

If your cat is not used to going out, they will be very curious, but also scared of all the new sounds, smells, animals and other things… I once read that such cats are like small kids who see something interesting and just start following it without even thinking about the way back. Your cat could become so curious that you end up looking for it for hours. It actually happened to us that we found our house cat about 100 metres away from our flat building doors. Such a situation could be exhausting, but still fine. More dangerous and shocking for your cat would be the scenario where you can’t even find your cat the same day. There’s a very real risk that if your cat stays outside overnight, it will never come back. The reason for that is because the shock will make your cat run away and stay sheltered for some time, this could cause your cat to easily forget her way back home and even to not respond to your voice. The next day, there will likely be further loud noises, cars, dogs and even more shocking inputs. Your cat will travel again making it even more difficult to find it’s way back. It’s worth continuing to look for it, but the odds of finding your cat become lower and lower, especially if  you live in a city.

So how can I prevent this happening to me and my cat?

I’ve seen people using a leash for their cats which looks like a good way to prevent your cat from running away in case of danger. Another way could be to use a collar or even a biometric chip. My cat however does not have any of these things. So I try to keep communication and attention on my cat in a way that he can easily get back to me when wanted. I also help direct his attention to safer areas and even specific activities (climbing a tree, playing outside…). I want to keep him within the little park in front of our building and do the maximum to avoid the bigger streets nearby with cars or even fences where he could go without me following him. I also try to use very similar if not the same paths for walking and playing. Discovering what is behind the edges happens but very carefully so he will always be relaxed and ready to know where we are and how to get back. Still most days he was very afraid of things outside and it was rather me encouraging him to keep going somewhere. I think that cats can smell a lot of territory signals that we have no idea about and this could cause them to follow something or to be afraid of something that we don’t even understand.

There were many lovely moments while being outside with my cat, like meeting another cat ‘gang’ (I think my cat felt a bit powerful having me as his back-up while staring into the eyes of 5 street cats), we found a cat family with newborns, hidden feeding places where nice humans left food for lonely street cats (of course with other cats watching and guarding this source for themselves). I taught my cat to run towards trees and basically how to climb 1-2 metres high. Just a few times, there were dogs (we usually hid ourselves so the situation didn’t escalate or go wrong. Most of the dogs had no idea we were there), but rarely the dogs or just something unknown made my cat run away. That led to me having to look for my cat for about 3hrs and making noises that he used to recognise me. Once that happened twice a week, I stopped going out with him. I was scared that something could really happen to him. He got used to the environment nearby and started going quite far away where I couldn’t really find him. He was no longer afraid to go into road with cars and finally…I almost couldn’t slept. It was not good for my day job.

What were the impulses that helped our cat to listen or recognise what he should do?

  • The sound of keys before we went back. I always made a quiet noise with my keys so that later on, I would just call my cat…make the noise and he would immediately know “Hey, we’re going back home now, I have to return”
  • Using a play stick to help direct his attention to the park and away from dangerous places, also to encourage him to climb a tree.
  • The sound of a cat food can was a powerful reason for him to “reply” by meowing during those times when he was lost and I had to call for him.
  • Just standard calling, he was used to being called at home and this helped when calling him outside.

So yes, your house cat can go outside, but remember it’s not a dog! I have my fingers crossed that won’t loose your cute pet.

 

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