Highly significant cat rearing question :)

October 22, 2007 11:37 AM

Newkittyfilter: I live in a studio apt. and need to transition this kitty immediately to outside living. I've had cats before -

but in those situations they came to me as kittens and I kept them mainly inside.

This time 'round I can't foresee being able to deal with the inevitable litter issues, etc. due to my space restrictions. The cat in question is a couple months old. Can I just put him outside immediately and let his instincts take over? Would that make me a bad kitty mommy? I know cats are adaptable but is there such thing as too young? He has been living in a farm environment already but my outside is more city. And we have a (super-friendly) stray tom already residing in our apartment complex which might complicate things.

posted by sarelicar to pets & animals (18 comments total)

Yes, this is a bad kitty mommy move, though having lived in tight quarters I understand the temptation. Get a litter box like this (it works well), put some sturdy shelves up to increase the kitten play area, and see if you can make the situation work because next time you will be asking what to do when your kitten refuses to come in at night or gets beat up daily by the tom or just never comes home.
posted by dness2 at 11:45 AM on October 22, 2007

Your cat sounds like he's far too young to defend himself properly. I'm with dness2, get a new litterbox, change up the substrate and hope for the best. If you really can't hack it, he'll need to find a new inside home.

Keeping adult cats outdoors in rural territory they're familiar with is considered kinda iffy, due to all the predators and pitfalls. Doing the same, with a supposedly domestic kitten in a city environment would be wrong.

If your guy is truly feral, make sure to have him fixed and get his ear tipped.
posted by cior at 11:54 AM on October 22, 2007

I lived with a cat in a studio for years. I don't know what you mean about "inevitable litter issues." Clean the box every day, spray something like Oust, and vacuum any litter he tracks on your carpet. Done. If you don't want to look at the litterbox, get a rice paper screen or similar to hide it from view.

It's either that, or run the risk of him getting hit by a car, taken by someone who thinks he's a stray, beat up by the tom, or running away.
posted by desjardins at 11:55 AM on October 22, 2007

The Humane Society of the United States was quoted in 1992 estimating the average life expectancy of free roaming pets to be between 3 and 5 years, while indoor cats can commonly reach ages of 17 years or more. Indoor-only is also significantly less expensive for the cat owner than indoor-outdoor.

Just FYI.

If you must do the indoor outdoor thing, wait until the cat is full-grown, which happens at about 6-10 months. Kittens do not do well outside. He needs to be full-size to compete with the animals and disease. He will need to be regularly and appropriately vaccinated.
posted by oflinkey at 12:01 PM on October 22, 2007

Please keep your kitty indoors, where he'll be happy and healthy. I've lived with 2 cats and a chihuahua in a 500 square foot studio before, and we all managed quite well. Just keep the litterbox clean and you'll barely even notice it's there.
posted by MiaWallace at 12:09 PM on October 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

I live with two cats and a puppy (who will grow to be around 50 pounds) in a 500 square foot space. For the "litter issues", I use a Booda Dome, which essentially eliminates litter tracking and smell. FWIW, I also have a friend who lives with her cat in a studio, and keeps the Booda Dome in the bathroom with no issues. The trick is to keep everything clean and organized. Upon entering my apartment, you'd never know that I have cats (until you notice them snoozing on the bed).

Please keep your kitty indoors.
posted by mewithoutyou at 12:34 PM on October 22, 2007

Good lord, do not send your cat outside in a city! My family's cats were outdoor cats in a suburban area, and that was only because it was a suburban area, they were tough, and when they were kittens we spent quite a bit of time transitioning them to the outdoors--they weren't outside by themselves until they were maybe a year old. And even so, I feel bad about it because one of my kitties was hit by a car and there's the damage outside cats do to local bird populations. Plus, we still had litterboxes for the times they were inside or when there were storms or they were sick.

You want your cat outdoors in a city? With no inside litterbox to retreat to? With all the cars? Do you know what some people in cities do to cats? The higher concentration of people means the higher number of assholes who get off on torturing small animals. Don't do it, especially if the cat is only a kitten. It's cruel.

The litterbox should not be an issue. Clean it out every day, use a brand like Swheat Scoop, Feline Pine, or Feline Pine Scoop that you can flush down the toilet. Getting a small not-fake-grass mat should minimize tracking, and you can even make a high-sided litterbox to minimize the cat throwing the litter everywhere. Get one of those huge Rubbermaid storage containers, preferably clear, and cut a hole or gap in it so the cat can climb in and out. Put the litter in. It works like a charm. The people you find with stinky-cat apartments are those who are not keeping things clean. I've had a litterbox that serves two cats (two!) in my bedroom for two months, and the only time it makes any smell is when I haven't been regular with the scooping.
posted by schroedinger at 12:44 PM on October 22, 2007

thanks for all the suggestions, you have all greatly curbed my hysteria at living in close quarters with a litter box.

just to clarify, i'm not talking about a city like new york, this is a teeny city but more city-ish relative to mr. kitty's previous home.

i will be a diligent scooper! thanks again all.
posted by sarelicar at 1:54 PM on October 22, 2007

It's amazing how cats can manage to get exercise and make mad-dashes around the teeniest of apartments...I took care of my friend's kitten for a week in my 300-square-foot studio and she would tear around it with no problem! She seemed very content.
posted by radioamy at 7:08 PM on October 22, 2007

I just watched this cat care show where the "expert", a British vet, actually said it's better to let cats outside if it's reasonably safe (not close to busy roads, etc.) because they'll have fewer behavorial/psychological problems.

But obviously, don't take any chances and wait till your kitty's a bit older if you decide to do the outdoor route.
posted by Jess the Mess at 7:41 PM on October 22, 2007

Cats can and do go outside without issues. One of my cats was indoor/outdoor in the city and lived to be 20. My current cat is 13 at least (not sure, she was a stray) and goes outside. Everything depends on the immediate geography around your house, in my experience - I wouldn't let cats out on a main street or near a busy intersection.

That said, remember that cats are creatures of habit. If a cat decides it likes to poop in a neighbour's garden, you are going to have an irate neighbour. Cat urine and feces are not exactly beneficial to gardens, and cats like to dig.
posted by zadcat at 9:08 PM on October 22, 2007

Metafilter always amazes me with the cat questions. People are terribly over-protective of their cats, in my humble opinion. I suspect some of you would never let you kid out of the house if it was at all viable.. but that is unrealistic so you learn to let them live their life and, at the end of the day, I am sure they are happier for it (the kids and the outdoor cats).

I have had many many cats over the years, in suburban and urban environments, and cats do FINE outdoors. I agree that you should have some sort of litter situation regardless of whether he spends time outdoors, but I wouldn't worry much about letting it out.

If it has already spent time outdoors at the farm, it should be somewhat acclimated already. I'd just spend time with it on your stoop, watching how it handles itself.. a half hour a day maybe, and eventually it will be ready to handle itself. There isn't much you can do about the cars, but out of 20+ cats our only run-over was in the most rural of settings, with 1/2 mile between us and our neighbours.. perhaps because it was rural and the cat wasn't used to worrying about cars?

The oldest cats I've ever known (21 and 22), were mobile and spending time outdoors by themselves up until their death. One of these was in Arlington, MA - not exactly rural, but it isn't downtown Manhattan.. I'd say anything more urban than that is where I'd think about drawing the line.
posted by mbatch at 7:41 AM on October 23, 2007

mbatch, I support that cats can take care of themselves, though the likelihood of them being injured is increased by going outside (my family's cat have had multiple infected bites on their butts from attempting to escape fights). I'm more worried about the small-animal-torturing people. Capturing and selling pets to medical testing centers is hardly unheard of. Nor is random groups of kids pelting cats with rocks or worse. I wouldn't risk putting my kitties in that situation.
posted by schroedinger at 8:25 AM on October 23, 2007

schroedinger, I hear people put pins and needles in Halloween candy too.
posted by mbatch at 11:44 AM on October 24, 2007

ok so kitty is here. he is skidding across my hardwood floor at 45 mph at least and enjoys cardboard.

outside-kitty status now depends heavily on whether or not he continues tinkling on my duvet.

thx again all
posted by sarelicar at 12:38 PM on October 24, 2007

And I would laugh at myself too if there wasn't ample evidence in my city that shit like this actually does occur.
posted by schroedinger at 1:01 PM on October 24, 2007

I'm with Schroedinger. We stopped letting my childhood cats out after one of them had her second life-threatening, several-thousand-dollar-medical-care-requiring "accident" outside. The second seemed to be an animal attack (her eye was gouged out and her jaw was shattered).

But the first, well, we don't know what it was: her femur was completely shattered, but there were no scratches or bites. She was a small enough cat that we don't think she was run over by a car (if it crushed her leg, it would have crushed all of her), and it definitely wasn't an animal attack.

The vet thought she might have had it crushed by a kid with a baseball bat. He acted as if this sort of thing happened all the time. Stomach-turning, but there you go.
posted by lunasol at 8:20 AM on November 11, 2007

Granted, this was a very accident-prone kitty. This was the cat that would just randomly fall off the top of the sofa. Our other cat was a lot more street-smart, and never got over her bitterness that my parents started keeping her inside after the clumsier cat ruined it for both of them. Such drama queens, cats.

So, YCatsMMV. FWIW, both cats lived to be 18, and both were in excellent health right up to the end.
posted by lunasol at 8:24 AM on November 11, 2007