Expert: Jessica - 6/7/2010

Question
Hello!! First of all I´d like to thank you for taking the time to read my question. I adore cats, however I don´t have any at the moment, I am thinking to adopt one but I can´t make up my mind since I don´t think I´ll be able to stop the cat from going out. I used to live in an apartment and I had the sweetest cat I rescued from the street, he was with me for 1 year until I had to move out and went to live to a bungalow with a small garden and really big common areas such as pools and gardens. The cat had never gone out from the apartment in the time he was with me (I hadn´t had him neutered yet) and since he arrived in the new area full of trees, nature and other cats it was impossible for me to stop him from going out. In two days he got poisoned and died, It was horrible and wouldn´t like that to happen again, he was only two years old. I got married recently and my husband´s apartment is in the first ground and has a huge terraze with pool and is relatively easy for the cat to jump out. I thought of having the terraze built a higher wall, however the other owners in the community won´t allow it. I wonder without much hope whether there is any chance of teaching a cat not to go out. I would really love to get a new kitty but I don´t want him to be exposed to dangers.
Thank you very much for your help

Answer
Hello Iaeti.  I'm not sure how your situation is in Spain, but here, we have screened windows and doors, so it's easy to keep our cats indoors.  Even if our windows and doors are open, the cats won't have a way to get outside due to the screens.  And in fact, if we do not bring our cats outdoors for play time, they naturally become fearful of the outdoors in nearly all cases.  This is true if the cats are neutered.  Cats that AREN'T neutered will do anything to escape outdoors (including scratching through window screens) if there is a female ready to mate in the area.

But if you will have your windows and doors open without screens on them, then there is little you can do.  Cats are curious creatures.  Little by little, they will test the outdoors.  They may step just outside the window for a moment at first, but as they become braver, you will find them jumping over the terrace wall.  Cats cannot be trained to stay indoors without supervision.

I appreciate your concerns that a new kitty would be exposed to dangers outdoors.  This proves that you are more concerned about the cat's well-being than you are about how nice it would be to have a cat in your life.  You truly do adore cats!  I wish more people would be this responsible.  I think if you can find a way to keep all the windows and doors securely covered with screens, and try to be sure the kitty doesn't run out the door with you when it opens, by all means, get a cat.  However, if you have completely open windows and doors, understand the cat will get out and will face very real dangers outside.  

Best of luck!

Jessica