Our Cats - to stay in or go out

[salvadordillon]

Hello, does anyone have experience with either letting there cats out or leaving them in in AUZ. Obviously a bit worried as one of our two does like to play and eat the odd spider. Any info would be good, thanks

[Guest Zako999]

good timing this post was,

just a new thing on AdelaideNow homepage about cats, they are thinking about bringing in laws which some are: compulsory desexing and compulsory night curfews. With spiders, i dont personally own a cat but know people who do and a few have been bit by snakes etc. But very easy to tell when they have been bit, as soon as you think they have been bit or shown symptoms of being bit you just rush them to the vet and all will be well...... i'll give you a link to the curfews now http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26184472-5006301,00.html

[salvadordillon]

Hello, many thanks for the reply, louise

[Guest Zako999]

hi,

no problem louise

[HEAPS GOOD !!!]

We let our cat out, but we make sure that he is inside every night.

 

Cost more to ship him here than a seat for me lol....

 

 

HG

[minkyme29]

We let our cat outside despite advice from the vet to consider keeping her in - their reason being that apparently some Aussie's dislike cats and trap them because of the threat to local wildlife etc and of course there's always the threat of snake bites. Mimi brings in the odd beetle or gecko but that's about it.

 

To be honest if she were the sort of cat to wander and not return home for hours on end then we may consider keeping her in but she's a right fuss pot who stays in the back yard or very close to home. She's microchipped, vaccinated and wears a collar with a bell plus we always make sure we get her in at night so we feel we're doing the best by her by allowing her some freedom coupled with safety at night.

 

Something that's popular here is to keep cats in outdoor enclosures or what are known as cat runs. Have seen the odd one around, remember recently seeing one attached to the side of the first floor of a beach front home in Seacliff/Brighton area! The cat didn't look too chuffed about it's 'home'.

[Anne B]

Cats are a controversial subject in Australia, as many people blame them for killing native animals. I remember watching a tv program where they monitored where one cat went at night (it's owner thought it stayed near home) and in fact it went on great long expeditions every night killing animals along the way. This article might give you some idea of the arguments involved:

 

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/CAMPAIGN+TO+RID+CONTINENT+OF+CATS+DIVIDES+AUSTRALIANS-a083854232

 

``Cats are responsible for 39 species being either extinct, locally extinct, or near extinct in Australia,'' Evans said the other day. Domestic cats each kill an estimated 25 native animals a year, and wild cats kill as many as 1,000 a year, according to the National Parks and Wildlife Service

[minkyme29]

Cats are a controversial subject in Australia, as many people blame them for killing native animals. I remember watching a tv program where they monitored where one cat went at night (it's owner thought it stayed near home) and in fact it went on great long expeditions every night killing animals along the way. This article might give you some idea of the arguments involved:

 

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/CAMPAIGN+TO+RID+CONTINENT+OF+CATS+DIVIDES+AUSTRALIANS-a083854232

 

``Cats are responsible for 39 species being either extinct, locally extinct, or near extinct in Australia,'' Evans said the other day. Domestic cats each kill an estimated 25 native animals a year, and wild cats kill as many as 1,000 a year, according to the National Parks and Wildlife Service

 

Whoa, that's scary stuff isn't it? I'm relieved my little girl stays so close to home and is good at coming in at night.

[Guest nishman]

Some councils already have some requirements in place - for example:

http://www.teatreegully.sa.gov.au/page?pg=1678

It is usually recommended to have your cat micro-chipped so that if it is caught, it can be identified and returned to you, but you'll need to have them micro-chipped anyway to get them over in the first place.

[Skittle]

Our cat stays in during the day and only goes out in the evening. We also make sure she is in every night too.

[Guest rachinadelaide]

Our 2 cats have the run of our garden but can't get out of it. We cat-proofed it with a roll of chicken wire, some tie wraps and some plastic sheeting. One of them is very energetic and fearless but in 3 years has not managed to escape.

We used the chicken wire to create a ledge all around the fence and the plastic sheeting to put around a section of tree trunk (so they cannot climb past it).

It's great as they are confined to our garden but can go out and play without being ripped to shreds by the neighbour's dog (there are lots of big dogs in Aus and their teeth hurt - I speak from personal experience!).

[Diane]

Our local council are always trying to bring in laws making it compulsory to keep cats confined..... but haven't succeeded yet. We get ours in at night, mainly because if she's out one of the neighbour's cats attacks her, and she spends the day sitting in our garden, only going across to the park when I take the dog out and she comes with us......except then the wattle birds attack her! If I could work out how to post pics on here I could post up the one of her meeting a pigeon on our neighbours' roof! The pigeon just sneered at her and turned its back on her!! Don't think the local wildlife is in much danger from her, rather the other way round!!!

[Anne B]

I might add that my mother in laws cat (living in the western suburbs) died just recently at the grand old age of 20 !!! (honest) - she was there when I first met my husband 18 years ago and she'd been around for a while then. I'm sure she went out at night and she certainly didn't come to any harm!