Should I raise my kitten to be a Outdoor or Indoor Cat?
Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at
7:08 pm
Im getting a kitten soon and i dont know if I want it to be a outdoor or indoor cat. Im rescuing it just for foster care and then putting it back up for adoption when its ready. I dont know if people like Outdoor or Indoor cats more.
Filed under: Cat Furniture
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Well, first of all, think. Would your kitten be safe outdoors? Do you live next to a busy road? Do you live in the city? If you live in the city or next to a busy road, I wouldn’t have her as an outdoor cat.
But if you live in a safe environment, then I would let her outdoors. It is all your choice. You could have her as an indoor/outdoor. If you want to have her as an outdoor cat, then I would start by taking her outside with a harness, and eventually let her out.
Good luck!
I would say both, my tiger cat is both an indoor and an outdoor cat and it suits me just fine.
If its for foster care, I would keep it inside because then it has a chance of running away from home.
We have several cats in our neighborhood who have decided my flower bed is their sandbox.
Do your neighbors a favor, and raise your cat indoors.
Indoor cats live longer and don’t bother your neighbors.
I would keep it indoors, it will be harder for the adoptive parents to make an outdoor cat indoor-only than it will to make an indoor cat indoor/outdoor.
If it is a kitten i would say indoor. You have to think about it as being outdoors. Will it be safe? Have shelter if it rains? Does it have all its shots and vaccines? Including leukemia and AIDS. Most people, specially if they are adopting, will want an indoor pet.
indoor. outdoor cats drag in mud and ticks and i feel bad for them when they are stuck outside because you dont hear them up againt the door.
You will need to keep it indoors at first anyway, preferably until it’s fixed and vaccinated. Depending how soon after that you intend to put it up for adoption will probably help you decide, (that, and looking at Your neighborhood). If you are fostering for a rescue then they may have guidelines on whether they like the cats indoors or outdoors. Bear in mind if its
indoors it will learn to be more people friendly which can be a good point for potential owners.
both if you have a safe enclosed cat chain link things,,,dont let them gofree mine got ran over
Indoor, for several reasons: the most obvious is that cats allowed to roam freely stand a much higher chance of fatal injury, be it by chemicals, other predators, or cars. Others include things like the cat’s health (if a cat is indoors only, it stands far less chance of picking up diseases), never having to worry about "losing" the cat (unless it’s that rare case where it gets out accidentally), and much less in vet bills because of things like injuries from fights or contagious diseases or the number of shots recommended for roaming cats. (Some are still suggested for indoor cats, but not nearly as many.)
OK if your Cat is to stay with you for a few weeks, I would recommend you keep them in, with a litter tray.
Reason is Cats are territorial and they like to investigate their new environment, it is common that they may just disappear for a few hours sometimes days (if it is a Tom like mine we lost him for 8 days once and came back really thin and ate and slept for about 3 days solid).
The Vet said this is normal for a Tom, he was getting new territory, called roaming, ever male cat does it Castrated or not apparently.
It’s always important to keep a new Cat indoors for a week or so because they need to investigate their new home and feel safe.
So if your aim is to re-home the kitten with a hopefully long term new owner then keep them in, when the Cat is settled in the new home then the owner can let the Cat out and discover their new surroundings.
Is the kitten coming from a rescue centre to you before it moves to a new long term home? If so they should tell you the cats habits.
Thank you for fostering, there isn’t many who do it these days and it is a really kind act to our feline friends!
Indoors & GOOD for you for helping them!
I don’t understand this question, because if you’re rescuing it as a foster parent, I’d doubt there’s a cat rescue group in the country who would adopt a cat to someone who’d let it outside. Individuals have varying opinions on it, but rescue groups do not and they won’t adopt to someone who says the cat will be an outside kitty. (Exceptions maybe in extremely rural areas, like the middle of Montana or something).
And they have very valid reasons for this. Just put cat or kitty and the word "missing" in the search bar and you’ll see what I mean. There’s too many things that can happen to outdoor cats and none of them are good.
If this is foster care just keep the cat indoors. Let the new owner decide what the cat will be. Once a cat has been allowed out it can develop behavioural issues if it suddenly finds itself as an indoor cat.