Cat help! Longish

[Princess Jaydenn]

Okay, so I'm writing this very pissed off. We have two cats, three when my older brother and wife drops their cat off for us to babysit. Our cats do go outside, since we have a large backyard with a small little forest. But we only let them out when we're watching them and never at night and they just stay on our property and garden anyways. They mostly lay around in the sun since their older. We never had no complaints, in-fact a few people around went out of their way to tell us how much they adore our cats. Some even apparently used to buy cat treats to try and lure them over for patting and such, which we didn't like, but anyways.

Fast forward to today. Some douchebag from animal control just came up. He says one neighbor complained that our cats go outside and blah blah apparently cats aren't allowed outside due to some bullshit law, even though I see lots of cats going out all the time. I get that dogs aren't allowed outside without a leash, because they wander around, bark at people, can bite and attack people and do real damage. Cats are different. They don't attack people, they stay away from people and our cats like I said, stay around our own property anyways. I think it's one of the newer neighbors who complained and although I think they are ******** assholes, and think they can go straight to hell, obviously we can't do anything about it and can't let them out freely anymore. Our cats are used to going outside when they want. They enjoy it and it makes them happy. Before anyone mentions it's better for cats to be indoors, don't bother. I already know that, we tried to make our cats indoor cats at first, but they would just sneak out and being locked up inside a house forever will make them miserable and we like our cats to be happy, plus we make sure their safe since we watch them. It's sunny and nice out, who the hell wants to be locked inside constantly like a damned prison. Our cats are already bawling and it's stressing us out because we don't know what we can do.

The help I am looking for. Does anyone know anything we could use to let our cats be outside but be safe and keep them inside our yard completely? Since their not allowed on their own. I have thought about using a harness and leash, but it's probably not going to give enough room and be difficult to use with a cat. We are renting, so we can't en fence our backyard, which would be my preferred option. Does anyone know of any large cages, or anything along those lines that we could use? Just something safe, and some way to bring our cats out, without having to worry about a*****e neighbors and still let them enjoy outside?

Please help.=( I don't know what I'm going to do, and I don't want our cats to be completely miserable and never get to enjoy the nature which they are meant to enjoy.

[11 Cardinal 11]

Cats cause untold damage to the eco-systems, among other 'fun' things, theres no reason leash laws shouldn't cover cats. smile

I use a leash and harness. You can make roll bars using pvc pipes. Chicken wire installed at a 45degree angle back over the yard works as well.

[Latrans]

I wish they would pass a law like that for cats in my area!

Cats can be harness trained, or you can build a cat-run in the yard. Some people put their cats in little strollers that zip around them to take them on walks, too. There's a lot of options!

[Princess Jaydenn]

11 Cardinal 11

Cats cause untold damage to the eco-systems, among other 'fun' things, theres no reason leash laws shouldn't cover cats. smile

I use a leash and harness. You can make roll bars using pvc pipes. Chicken wire installed at a 45degree angle back over the yard works as well.

Our cats don't do any damage. They are old and lazy and mostly just laze around, the oldest one is 17 years old. I think it's a ridiculous law, but thank you for your suggestions. I think our cats will be harder to adjust to harnesses, but I was thinking of like a huge cage like thing. I will look into the chicken wire and such, thanks^^

[Princess Jaydenn]

Latrans

I wish they would pass a law like that for cats in my area!

Cats can be harness trained, or you can build a cat-run in the yard. Some people put their cats in little strollers that zip around them to take them on walks, too. There's a lot of options!

I think it's a stupid law, but yeah thanks for suggestions^^

Our cats would freak out in strollers. But I wanted to have something built like a huge cage or something they could run around in, I'd like to buy one actually. But I have no idea where to look ot where I could get one
><

[Krissim Klaw]

Actually getting animal control to come out in these type of situations is a major pain in the a**. I highly doubt your neighbor's did it for shits and giggles. There are probably cats coming up shitting on their stuff, scratching things, and otherwise messing with critters in their yard. If you are absolutely positive your cats never leave your yard it is possible there are other loose cats wandering and the people that complained confused them with being yours.

If your cats are really so ancient they don't do anything but lie around and sun themselves than all you need to do is make a little cat run. Google it and you should find all sorts of do it yourself blueprints. They also sell outside catwalks and the like, but that is likely to be far more expensive. If you have fencing there might also be the option of getting special fence toppers that bend over at an angle and would stop your cats from jumping out.

[Latrans]

Princess Jaydenn

Latrans

I wish they would pass a law like that for cats in my area!

Cats can be harness trained, or you can build a cat-run in the yard. Some people put their cats in little strollers that zip around them to take them on walks, too. There's a lot of options!

I think it's a stupid law, but yeah thanks for suggestions^^

Our cats would freak out in strollers. But I wanted to have something built like a huge cage or something they could run around in, I'd like to buy one actually. But I have no idea where to look ot where I could get one
><

My neighbors cats are a huge pain. :[ I really wish they were required to keep them contained like we do with our dogs.

You can train them to be okay in strollers, if that were something you were interested in. If not, that's cool too! A big enclosure would work really well. Hopefully some of the cat owners on the forum will have some suggestions; I'm not sure where to buy one.

Do you have pictures of your cutie-pies?

[Princess Jaydenn]

Krissim Klaw

Actually getting animal control to come out in these type of situations is a major pain in the a**. I highly doubt your neighbor's did it for shits and giggles. There are probably cats coming up shitting on their stuff, scratching things, and otherwise messing with critters in their yard. If you are absolutely positive your cats never leave your yard it is possible there are other loose cats wandering and the people that complained confused them with being yours.

If your cats are really so ancient they don't do anything but lie around and sun themselves than all you need to do is make a little cat run. Google it and you should find all sorts of do it yourself blueprints. They also sell outside catwalks and the like, but that is likely to be far more expensive. If you have fencing there might also be the option of getting special fence toppers that bend over at an angle and would stop your cats from jumping out.

It might have been a different cat, it's the only thing I can think of because we watch our cats when they go outside, and they pretty much never leave our yard. They play in the little forest in the back and lay on the bridge. But at least if our cats aren't going out on their own, and it still happens we don't have to deal with that crap. Since it's not our cats. Also I'm kinda pissed the neighbors didn't come talk to us about it, rather then just calling animal control. Kind of an a*****e move.
><

But yeah, thank you. I will look into that. We want to either buy or build something we can have for them, hopefully nothing too expensive either. We don't have a fence and don't want to build one around the house since it's not our house and we're renting. So something that we can move around, take down and reuse would be best.

[~ Aki - Fairy ~]

Harness and leash - my aunt has some really lightweight tie-outs for her cats so that they can go out in the yard and have a bit of space to wander yet. There's never been an issue with them when I've been over (the older cat is seven and the younger six; or they're both seven).

Enclosures - outdoor dog kennel, cover the top with chicken wire and/or a tarp, get a cat tree or some kind of shelves to put in for them maybe
- x-pen again, covering the top
- large dog crate, removing the pan and just making sure they can't move it and get out
- or you could DIY something (just google-image-search 'outdoor cat enclosure' and you'll get tons of ideas)


Personally, I think more places need to adopt leash laws for cats.

Quote:

I get that dogs aren't allowed outside without a leash, because they wander around, bark at people, can bite and attack people and do real damage.

Cats, in general, don't wander around? (yours staying in the yard are an exception, not the rule - should the rules be bent for your exception?) They can't hurt people? (you don't need a deep scratch or a strong bite to get an infection; not all cats will run from strangers and if they get ambushed and can't run, chances are good they're going to protect themselves)
I'm not even touching on the damage they can do to the environment or the general nuisance and safety hazard they are because it sounds like you know this stuff. I would like to ask you to consider the risks to your cats by letting them out though:
- animals can come into your yard and hurt your cats, especially when you don't have a fence
- people can come into your yard and hurt your cats
- people can lure your cats over to them and hurt them - and with this, it doesn't even have to be intentional/with malice - unless they ask first, they don't know if the animal they're luring over has food issues; those people that do it with kindness and get your cats accustomed to going up to strangers for love are setting your cats up to be victims to somebody with less-than-stellar intentions as well.
- there's also the risk of disease

[Princess Jaydenn]

Latrans

Princess Jaydenn

Latrans

I wish they would pass a law like that for cats in my area!

Cats can be harness trained, or you can build a cat-run in the yard. Some people put their cats in little strollers that zip around them to take them on walks, too. There's a lot of options!

I think it's a stupid law, but yeah thanks for suggestions^^

Our cats would freak out in strollers. But I wanted to have something built like a huge cage or something they could run around in, I'd like to buy one actually. But I have no idea where to look ot where I could get one
><

My neighbors cats are a huge pain. :[ I really wish they were required to keep them contained like we do with our dogs.

You can train them to be okay in strollers, if that were something you were interested in. If not, that's cool too! A big enclosure would work really well. Hopefully some of the cat owners on the forum will have some suggestions; I'm not sure where to buy one.

Do you have pictures of your cutie-pies?

Yeah that sucks then D: I can understand when cats are bothersome and stuff. but I haven't seen our cats even leave our property, plus lots of other neighbors used to gush about how much they liked them and how well behaved they were so idk

Yeah I'm more interested in a large sort of enclosure of some kind. So they can have room to play and still be contained. I seen some nice looking ones that are made for cats and have different levels, and fun stuff for them. But I don't know where I would find them to buy. But thanks^^ yeah I'm gonna search around and stuff.

[Princess Jaydenn]

~ Aki - Fairy ~

Harness and leash - my aunt has some really lightweight tie-outs for her cats so that they can go out in the yard and have a bit of space to wander yet. There's never been an issue with them when I've been over (the older cat is seven and the younger six; or they're both seven).

Enclosures - outdoor dog kennel, cover the top with chicken wire and/or a tarp, get a cat tree or some kind of shelves to put in for them maybe
- x-pen again, covering the top
- large dog crate, removing the pan and just making sure they can't move it and get out
- or you could DIY something (just google-image-search 'outdoor cat enclosure' and you'll get tons of ideas)


Personally, I think more places need to adopt leash laws for cats.

Quote:

I get that dogs aren't allowed outside without a leash, because they wander around, bark at people, can bite and attack people and do real damage.

Cats, in general, don't wander around? (yours staying in the yard are an exception, not the rule - should the rules be bent for your exception?) They can't hurt people? (you don't need a deep scratch or a strong bite to get an infection; not all cats will run from strangers and if they get ambushed and can't run, chances are good they're going to protect themselves)
I'm not even touching on the damage they can do to the environment or the general nuisance and safety hazard they are because it sounds like you know this stuff. I would like to ask you to consider the risks to your cats by letting them out though:
- animals can come into your yard and hurt your cats, especially when you don't have a fence
- people can come into your yard and hurt your cats
- people can lure your cats over to them and hurt them - and with this, it doesn't even have to be intentional/with malice - unless they ask first, they don't know if the animal they're luring over has food issues; those people that do it with kindness and get your cats accustomed to going up to strangers for love are setting your cats up to be victims to somebody with less-than-stellar intentions as well.
- there's also the risk of disease

Thanks for the suggestions. ^^ Our older cat is 17 and mine is almost 7. I think it would be hard to train them on a harness now, but for sure I am going to be looking into enclosures. I want a very large one, so they can play around tho. Not the small dog ones I've seen online. I may even look into how to build one too, if I can find some good information about it online.

I agree some cats can cause damage, and it is more dangerous. But it works for ours, because our cats stay in our yard and are well behaved. We only let them out when someone is there to watch them, we literally watch them through a huge window, or go outside with them. So if anyone or any animal attempted to come onto our yard we could see them and stop them. We have had a stray cat or a dog get onto our property before. But we were there, so they never touched our cats because we just scooped them up and brought them inside. We also never let them out at night and live in a safe area. But I do understand for most people, indoor cats are better because it's safer and all. but I tried to keep mine an indoor cat at first and it never worked and she would always sneak out, bawl at the door constantly, and so this worked for us.

[Henrika]

I have a stroller that I use to take my one cat to parks (I live in the city) and then let her out to play on her harness.


This is one of my cats, Jellybean, sitting in the stroller when I had it parked in my apartment.




Also: Outdoor cats wonder around, attack other pets, piss off other cats & dogs (can get them riled up from watching your cats from the windows of their houses), piss & crap all over other people's properties, dig and scratch at peoples fences & plants, kill wildlife, etc.

[Princess Jaydenn]

Henrika

I have a stroller that I use to take my one cat to parks (I live in the city) and then let her out to play on her harness.


This is one of my cats, Jellybean, sitting in the stroller when I had it parked in my apartment.




Also: Outdoor cats wonder around, attack other pets, piss off other cats & dogs (can get them riled up from watching your cats from the windows of their houses), piss & crap all over other people's properties, dig and scratch at peoples fences & plants, kill wildlife, etc.

That's an adorable picture.=3 My cat wouldn't get used to that tho. She panics whenever she's too far from the house and freaks out. and yes, I am aware some cats are like that. Ours are not though because we watch them, plus their not fighters. But I see what your getting at. We are looking into building a pen like thing we can put in the backyard so they can still be outside but in the protection of the pen/cage. I am also going to attempt to get my cat used to a harness and take her out. It's just all really frustrating to listen to them continue to bawl at the door and seem so miserable. =(

[Shanna66]

be happy they just called animal control. whenever i find cats in my yard or on the street i try to catch them and turn them in to the shelter myself. in my area we have leash laws that apply to cats as well but hardly anyone obeys them and we end up with a log of dead, hurt, and knocked up cats at the shelter i work at

i love letting my cats enjoy the outdoors but mine are only allowed outside when on their leashes. and im working on building an outdoor cat enclosure for them that connects to the bedroom window so they can dog in and out as they please on nice days

and im also working on making a secure basket to bring my kitten along with me when i go bike riding. i want tot take her to the park so bad

i hate the smell of cat pee in my yard and i hate it when the neighbor's cat brings me dead animals. not to mention we have animals that like to eat cats in my area and dumbasses who go out of their way to run cats over. there is no reason anyone should be letting their cats wander around unsupervised, too much can go wrong.



edit
also i would like to add that leash training cats can be easy and start at any age. my male is 12 years old and i only started leash training him a few years ago. it was something we had to work at but we are now at a point where he gets excited when i pull out his harness. i also have a stretchy leash for him so i can just sit on my porch and read while he wanders around the yard

[Shark Bacon]

Weird... Cats are always outside running around here. They really aren't a big deal, around here, anyway.

I'm attempting to harness train Roman, since all of the sudden, he wants to go outside. It's not going so great right now, he really hates it, but it's worth a try...

That's what I'd suggest for you. Or a fence.