Shall i keep her as an Indoor cat or outdoor cat?

[clarenmax]

My boy is an indoor only puss due to being FIV+, and he's absolutely fine with it, happy, healthy, and above all.....safe

As others have said already, you need to make sure that there is loads to stimulate her, lots of toys, lots of interaction with you, and yes, you've guessed it, an activity centre would be great lol!  Also, you could give consideration to getting her a friend for company, kittens are usually ok with accepting newcomers, so they could grow up together.

[Littlebobo]

I have lost two cats one i know for sure was from an RTA since this I have not allowed my cats outside ..I have 4 cats who live a perfectly happy life indoors..as long as you can provide a stimulating enough environment for them to ensure that they are happy they will be fine ..

It is so dangerous outside these days just not safe

[Gemma H (Akandra)]

I would go with your heart and keep her indoors.  I do the same as Sonya and my two only go out during the summer months (coz they haven't figure out the cat flap yet, lol) when one of us is home to check on them every 20 minutes and make sure they are still in the garden!  They are content.  You only work 3 days a week (from your other post) so kitty will be fine.  You just have to spend a bit more time with them, playing and cuddling (its a terrible sacrifice, I know).

Hestia, in an attempt to get us to feed her now and not in a few mins when we have dinner, has decided to try eating newspaper!  See, not affected by being indoors at all, perfectly normal...

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

lol - I really should read previous posts properly before replying!  Looks like we're unanimous on the activity centre idea!

You can also get window perches to go on window sills - not sure how much of a sill you'd need to attach them but they are like radiator beds only flat platforms instead to go on the window.

[sonya]

Looks like you me and Susanne 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

If you don't have window sills perhaps you could place a cat tree(s) near a window so that she can look out of the window from there.

[Gillian Harvey]

Great minds think alike Sonya! 

[Gillian Harvey]

Hi Kittycat,

do you have a garden belonging to your appartment? If so, would it be possible to fence it safely so she could enjoy the outdoors? I'm presuming that the windows she can't see out of are too high up for her to see out of? if so, can you get some tall cat scratching/activity posts and platforms that would enable her to reach the other windows to see out of - cats do enjoy looking out the windows, I know mine do. This company does some tall posts http://kalven.co.uk/

Those type of activity centres would be good to have anyway, if you decide you want her to stay inside, cats like to sit up high, and the Kalven posts are very sturdy, so the're good for climbing and playing on too.

[sonya]

My cats are mostly indoor cats ,Ozzy and Daisy do occasionally pop out into the garden but only when im there to make sure they come back in, im afraid im a bit more paranoid about them since my girl Toffee was PTS after an RTA.  Ebony is my rescue cat and she has been with us for about six weeks now and she has adapted really well from being a stray always outdoors to being an indoor cat, in fact  she has never set foot outside since we got her, being quite content to stay inside. 

If you do want your baby to see outside maybe you could get her one of those scratching posts with a platform on the top and put it next to a window so she can sit on there and watch the world go by.

[Ela]

Perhaps you will care to read my indoor/outdoor debate on my Cats Protection site www.chesterfieldcats.co.uk and then you may not feel so bad about keeping yours in. To be honest my cats spend much time sleeping and generally playing and don't bother looking out of the windows much although we have huge windows.

[kittykat]

I really want my new kitten to be an indoor cat because i'm scared about the dangers that face outdoor cats.

We have a decent sized 2 bed ground floor apartment.  But because of its weird layout (there basically aren't any proper window cills) theres only 1 small  windows that the cat will be able to look out of and that is just a wall basically.  Theres plenty of light coming in from other windows but she won't be able to see out of them. I'm really worried this is unfair on her. 

If i give her enough stimulation inside the apartment will she be ok without this?  Or will it affect her?  How much does your cat look out of the window? 

Should i allow her to be an outside cat because of this?

Thank you.