will my indoor cat runaway if he's given unsupervised access to the outdoors...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Angela
  • Start date Start date
A

Angela

Guest
...in his hew home? there are indoor/outdoor cats where we're moving and they leave a window open for the cats to come and go as they please. my little guy hasn't had this kind of freedom before. will he make a run for it?
 
He won't necessarily run away but he will be in serious danger and at risk from:

-Getting hit by cars, trucks, motorcycles, buses
-Getting picked up and sold to a test lab (They could care less about collars, they just take them off)
-Getting picked up and fed to fighting dogs as bait. (again they could care less about collars)
-Licking antifreeze of the driveway (its extremely toxic)
-Eating rat poison
-Licking pesticides off of someones lawn.
-Getting in brutal fights with neighborhood stray cats
-Getting torn apart by stray dogs
-Getting torn apart by coyotes, large birds of prey, wolves, foxes, or whatever wildlife happens to be in the area.
-Catching FIV or FeLV or FIP from strays and ferals. (Feline Aids, Feline Leukemia) ALL are FATAL and INCURABLE. (FeLV is transmitted nose to nose or mouth to mouth, it does NOT require blood to blood contact).
-Roaming to far and getting lost
-Getting stolen by someone else who wants to keep him.
-Climbing up a tree in an attempt to escape an attack, getting stuck and starving to death because you can't find him.
-Getting Tapeworms, Hookworms, Heartworm, Fleas, Mange
-Getting shot at, lit on fire, brutalized and tortured, thrown over a bridge etc..by cruel teenagers and other humans.
-Getting caught outside in a rain storm, hail, sleet, earth quake etc..

I can go on and on.

Cats are NOT wild animals, they are domesticated and have been for over FOUR thousand years. They don't need to be free roaming anymore then our rats, ferrets, birds, hamsters and dogs do. It is do DANGEROUS.

And if your skeptical about that list, every one of them was taken from a list posted by a veterinarian, and EVERY one of them happened to outside cats she saw on a daily basis.

Cats allowed to free roam have a life span of 2-5 years. Are you seriously willing to risk your cats life like that?

Make them close the window and if they insist on letting their cats out, they can let them out the front door so your cat can stay inside where its safe.

Also you'll have to put him in his own room for the first week as you can't just plunk him down in front of the new animals. Cats get very stressed out when they move and he needs time to adjust to his new home without dealing with fending off new animals. Put a new blanket in with him and get his scent on it, then give it to the other animals and get there scent on it and then give it back to your boy to get them familiar with eachothers scents.

If I was you I'd also insist that these two outdoor cats were tested for Worms, Heartworm, Ticks, FeLV, FIV and Fleas before exposing a healthy indoor cat to them. It is very easy for outdoor cats to get all of those when then free roaming and I would NOT risk the health of your cat like that as it is your responsibility to keep him healthy. (Unless your absolutely certain they get their yearly vaccines I'd also insist the be tested for feline distemper). You may want the dog tested for worms, fleas, ticks and heart worm as well.

I would NOT expose my cats to new animals unless I was positive they were clear of anything that could infect or harm them.

Good Luck
 
YES this has happened to me three times and it horrible your cat is so used to his old home that the secound you let him out he will try to get back to it..
 
I'd say from exspirence myself as well he very may well make a dash for it. On halloween I left the door open ajar and my Bombay made a dash for it. Soon as I noticed she was not in the house my heart stopped and I screamed her name out the door and she ran straight back in the house from out of are apartments celler. Rofl. If it does happen not saying scream your cats name but its a good try if all else fails. Theres a chance he/she may return.
 
Running Away: Most likely your cat won't 'run away.' Your cat will probably go out to explore, but it could get lost and go missing for a few days. When any animal goes outdoors, there are more issues to deal with.

Other Dangers: Once your cat steps outside, a world of dangers open up for him. There are cars, dogs, other cats, and (something you may not think about) weather. Your cat could be injured or even killed by each and every one of those. Even if the other cats get along with your cat in his own environment, it is possible that when they are all out on the street, certain circumstances could cause them to fight. Not to mention that fright might cause them to get lost anyways.

I would personally recommend not letting your cat outdoors, but if you plan on it, make sure that he is tagged AND micro chipped. If the tags fell off or got caught on something, microchips could easily identify your cat as being your cat. A microchip could literally save your cat's life. Anyway, back to your question, I would say that it is likely that your cat will run away, but not to get away from you. Only to get away from new and unfamiliar things.
 
DO NOT let him go outside for any reason. There are coyotes and foxes that will rip him to shreds. They can smell an animal for miles. Besides other obvious reasons for not letting him go outside. Yes he will run and get lost.
 
from experience the answer is yea because my cat almost always makes a run when i open the balcony door. we have to always be chasing after him cause we don't want anything bad to happen to him but he usually comes back like this one time my mom didn't know he went outside so she shut the door and when we hear this cry it was kitty waiting for someone to open the door. also even if you lock him inside a room, cats are always curious for adventure and being inside all the time is really boring, so they like to go outside.
 
Each cat is different. When your cat first moves in they will need to close the window, and let the cat in and out manually. After a few weeks you might want to see if your cat has any interest in the outside world. Some cats have no interest at all and will stay in no matter what. If your cat is interested in the outside then you should have supervised time outside until the cat is comfortable and knows the way back home. Then they can open the window again and let the cat go back and forth as needed. Also closing the window can help the other cat with the transition, if the cat can get out it might run away because of the change in the household.
 
Back
Top