Outdoors? Never Again. 
Misty was a silver gray tabby cat that enjoyed her home but also loved to be outside when the fancy took her. She always came home when the weather was ...

Tired of forcing my cat inside 
I adopted a sweet cat that was left behind by the previous owner who moved. They just left her on her own with the house window open so she could go in ...

The Peace Makers 
Last August there were 5 kittens living behind my business. They would sometimes play under and around pine trees that are behind my building.

One of ...

The box cat 
Almost all of my cats have been indoor at night and outdoor during the day. 7 cats total, 1 that was hit by a car and 1 that had to be left behind when ...

3rd Way Is Best. 
Over the past 40 years or so we've have three cats who were inside at night/ free to roam with open cat door available during the day. (All were neutered ...

Adopted an Indoor Cat 
Previously we had a cat in the family for 17 years who lived both indoors and out, passed of natural causes.

I had thought long and hard about getting ...

My lost cat, I'll always love you....... 
My cat has being missing for the past 3 weeks.His name was Fluffy, and i miss him a lot. He was an outdoor cat. Since he was a male, he had to leave, male ...

5 indoor/outdoor cats. 
I think it mainly depends on where you live. It's probably not a smart idea to let your cats outside if you're in the middle of a big city. I don't think ...

4 Outdoor Cats 
Each night for a week a mother cat brought her four kittens to our doorstep and hid back in the shadows while we provided her kittens with food and water....

Wildlife and outdoor cats don't mix 
I believe all cats should permanently be kept inside. I am a licensed wildlife rehabilitator yet I have four cats that I share my life with at this time....

Where's Tilly 
My dear old mother now almost 85 told me a story about a cat that had wandered onto their porch apartment one day as a very young, cold, and wet hungry ...

Mittens last climb 
My daughters had a small feral female cat that wandered in one day during a family barbecue. Although I didn't want a cat it was hard to say no to my two ...

Fidget at 2 years old 
I originally posted my story as a dilemma about whether to keep my kitten, Fidget indoors or let him be an outdoor cat as well. My vet had said that ...

Debating 
I have had 2 cats, both adopted from shelters and both indoor/outdoor cats. The first was with me for several years, was hit by a car, survived (but with ...

Four cats that are happy inside 
I have four very contented, fit and able, well adjusted happy indoor cats. I also have a couple of close neighbors who seem to think fit to tell me repeatedly ...

Indoor/Outdoor Cats 
All of my family's cats are indoor/outdoor. We live in a very secluded area where we are surrounded by about 300 acres of farmland.

All of the cats ...

Pancakes 
Pancakes is 16 years old. He has been going outside during the day for as long as I can remember.

I grew up with this cat and I will tell you this:...

Safe and Happy Inside 
I have an all-indoor cat, and for me, that's the only way I would ever have a cat. There are just far too many dangers outside UNLESS you have a cat-safe ...

My cats are outdoor cats... 
...but my neighbors complain about them all the time. It breaks my heart that my cats can't roam -- they are no more trouble than other wildlife, but because ...

Not all cats are alike. 
The entire two cats that we have owned have cried to be outdoors. We let them out. One has been taken by a coyote. However, there are breeds that really ...

Safe outdoor cat 
We have a cat called lucky who we've had since he was a kitten and now he is 5 years old and has lived outdoors for his whole life.

We live on a quiet ...

Outdoors and loving it! 
Sampson is now just over five years old and has been able to go in and out since about 7 months old.

I believe that he is a much happier, more lively ...

My life line of outdoor cats.  
Hi i am a person who gone through almost 50 cats in my life so i know what i am talking about.

The story starts with my cats always being outdoors ...

Please read this. 
First my cat Oreo is an indoor cat and we have a wonderful relationship he sleeps with me goes on vacation with me waits by the door for me when i come ...

IZZIE 
I DID NOT WANT ANOTHER CAT BECAUSE FOR 30 YEARS I WOULD NOT GO AWAY FOR VACATIONS. I AM NOT SORRY THAT WHEN MY CAT HAD TO BE PUT TO SLEEP THREE MONTHS ...

my cats made the choice for me! 
neighbors moved and left their 2 outdoor only cats with us. i tried to move them indoors,its safer.but my 2 indoor cats never learned to get along.i always ...

Does indoor mean unhappy? 
I have an indoor cat, and I really love him. All I want is for him to be happy. The problem is, he's declawed --and, aside from that, we live near plenty ...

Smokey 
I remember as a child going to the SPCA to adopt a kitten which I was able to pick out for my 11th or 12th Birthday. Brought him home (neutered) and took ...

Cats and roads do not mix nor do prisons :o) 
We got our cat who was half Persian and half something else from a cat home. He scratched you if you over-petted him and was left in the home for 9 months ...

Thank you!  
Thank you so much for this article. I have been struggling with the idea of putting my indoor cat outside. I talked to my vet and she made me feel horrible ...

My Cat Tyler is an Indoor Cat 
I recently (about 4 months ago) adopted an adult male cat we estimate to be about 9 years old. His name is Tyler. His original owner was a woman who worked ...

Don't Fence Me In! 
Last weekend we went to the home of my nephew and his wife for a family get together and a barbecue in their garden. My brother and his wife were there ...

Indoor or Outdoor, That's the Question.... 
Amica
Amica came to live with us just about a year ago. An American Shorthair mix in beautiful grey and black. She was not a true "feral" cat, but ...

Zeke the Hunter! 
We got Zeke 14 years ago as a wedding present. Zeke was a beautiful cat. He was a Siamese.

We lived in So Cal in Dana point in a canyon. At every opportunity ...

Tragedy of an outdoor cat 
I had two cats who were unfortunately declawed that lived outdoors. They were very happy basking in the sun chased mice and whatnot.

Then my mom's father ...

Jungle Cat - Muffy, the Panther 
I'm a grown man with a black male cat named Muffy. He is not burdened by the implications that mere humans put on his name, for he is, in his own mind,...

Outdoor Kitty 
Cats should be outside! My first 2 cats I owned, I declawed them and kept them inside. I felt guilty for their quality of life.

My current cat is an ...

Fenced in Kitties 
Over my lifetime I have had many cats. When I was a child, our cats ran free. Several were run over by cars.

When my husband and I lived in Colorado,...

Indoor Cat and Happy. 
I am a fanatical believer in keeping cats indoors. Yes, there is another point of view and I'm sure that those that let their cat out love their cats as ...

Mr. Bended Whisker 
About a month ago I was playing some videogames when I heard a meowing just outside my door, so I opened the door and there was this little fella of about ...

Our Indoor/Outdoor Tonkinese Kittens 
We have two beautiful Tonkinese kittens who are indoor cats with supervised outdoor play time. Before we bought them we did a lot of research about the ...

Tragedy hit us on Tuesday...might review our indoor/outdoor routine 
Hi,

We got two lovely kittens (2 brothers) 7 months ago, both turned 9 months on 28th November. We had both of them neutered, vaccinated etc as soon ...

Sometimes, YOU don't get to choose! 
Maybe it's because they were born outdoors and lived outside for their first 6 weeks, but I have never been able to convince my cats that they want to ...

Jack and cowboy - inside or outside cats? which one? This is my opinion 
Well my husband and I just bought two black cats from a shelter about a two months back. We were told by the shelter "You need to keep them as indoor cats....

Indoors only = stressed, mentally unstable cat!!!!! 
About 10 months ago, we got a kitten at the local animal shelter to 'replace' our 15 year old cat who had just recently passed away (and, who, by the way,...

Fess the cat was always outside. 
Fess would follow us to the end of the street, he would never try to cross with us or turn the corner with us if that was the way we were going. The us ...

He's Gonna be an Outdoor Kitty 
I didn't decide to get a cat. He just showed up, as a tiny kitten, mewing and meowing at the door. The vet said (at that time)that he wasn't a tiny kitten ...

My cats 
I much prefer outdoor cats, as I have two. my friends who have indoor cats are amazed at how gentle and relaxed my two cats are, because they are both ...

Outdoor Cat at Heart 
My first cat, Bootsie, was a stray when she came to us. She had good sense when it came to the road and traffic and loved being outdoors. One night when ...

my cats are outdoors by day and indoors by night 
I have had three cats of my own to date but my family have had cats all along, all of which were outdoor cats, and none came to any trouble apart from ...

Dangerous encounter, but still believe in the outdoors . . . 
I live in North Florida on a lake. I've always had indoor/outdoor cats, bringing them in at night to be on a screened porch, believing that their quality ...

Tragedy in kindness 
I always thought I should give my cat freedom. I imagined what it would be like to not have an expansive horizon as an adventurous feline. Of course,...

Both Sides for Bells 
In the twelve years that I've had my cat, Bells, he's experienced both lifestyles. To summarize, I feel he's healthier and happier with his outdoor time....

Max Loved The Outdoors. 
My emotions over this debate have recently resurfaced as I am searching for a new kitten to add to our family after losing 3 of my three twelve year old ...

The indoor/outdoor cat debate. 
I just wanted to thank you for your page devoted to the indoor/outdoor cat debate. It was refreshing to find a "voice" that echoed my viewpoint.

I'...

I wanted her to be an indoor cat! 
Nikki, my 3-year-old female cat, was perfectly content with living indoors as a kitten and was very loving and sweet. I wanted her to remain an "indoor ...

You won't believe this one.. 
All right let's start off with:
My passion for animals is unimaginable
I love them all; scaly, bald, furry, you name it.

So an adolescent cat shows ...

Reluctant Indoor Cat Owner. 
These are interesting questions.

I am on the whole a believer that cats are healthier if allowed access to The Great Outdoors, being allowed to bask ...

Outdoor/Indoor Cat--Still Undecided 
I live in the woods in Northern California with my relatively new husband of five years. He had two dogs when we first got together. He was a total dog ...

Where is Charcoal 
My Charcoal is 2 and a half. He is a beautiful uneutered male. He has always been so reliable, coming in at night when called, and going out in the morning ...

Outdoors for the better. 
I got my cat when I was 2 years old. He is 16 years old now. He has always liked being outdoors.

We used to live in a very rural area where he learned ...

More Outdoor and Indoor Cat Stories. 
More of your stories about your indoor and outdoor cats and why you made the choice.

Our sun loving outdoor cat. 
Our cat "Barnes" was not allowed out of the house until he was around two years old. In fact we did not intend to let the little terror out he managed ...

The Great Outdoors 
Our Milo is an 8 yr old rescue cat and we knew he was an outdoor cat before we got him. There's just no way we could confine him indoors without him going ...

Spangle Spock caught a baby robin 
I just caught Spangle with a baby robin in her mouth. The parents were calling it. I was very upset and I waited for her to come in with it.

She jumped ...

Struggling with New Kittie 
We just took in a cat that has been used to being an outdoor/indoor cat from a relative who could not provide continuous care.

As many of the other ...

Outdoor Cat Bella 
My cat found my family and I. She was a stray and one Sunday morning, my mom told me to come down stairs and there was a cat on our outdoor couch.

She ...

Inside Now Out 
I have several cats and lately one i have had for a few years is just behaving badly...not playing well with others and she is urinating on rugs. This ...

Cats are meant to be outdoors 
I grew up in England where nearly all cats are outdoor cats, meaning they come and go as they please.

Cats love to go outdoors and explore the jungle ...

Trix our cat goes outside. 
Trix goes outside pretty much when she wants to. We have never tried keeping her in the house and I doubt that we could.

She is not adventurous so mostly ...

have kitten, who escapes ..she does not want to stay indoors.. 
My kitten is 5 months old. She is crazy about the outdoors. Since I brought her home at two months..she has escaped numerous times. how do i let her ...

Bird in the Bed. 
It is just after 6 am. I am normally a very heavy sleeper and would usually still be snoring away for several hours on a Saturday morning. However, my ...