We’ve got one cat 6months and the other 3months old, currently both using the litterbox. However we’re going to move to a new house soon, and eventually try to transition them to getting used to doing their business outdoors instead of the litterbox. Does anyone have any tips or best practices for this transition?
Edit: I dont live in the US, I live in Scandinavia - huge garden and away from traffic. The cats are fine being outside - most cats here are in fact outside. We have norwegian forest cats and they’re meant to be both indoors and outdoors - even during winter!
They die more if they’re let outdoors. Statistically, outdoor cats have half a life expectancy of 2-5 years, vs 12-20 of indoor-only cats.
We’ve owned rural homes a couple of times. One time, we owned a house on 5 acres at the end of a dirt-and-gravel road a half mile from the nearest paved road. On the other side of our neighbor’s house was a culvert, with an easement - a dirt “road” - that the irrigation company inspectors would use about once a month or so to check the state of the culvert. We were one of three houses at the end of that dead-end gravel road. At the time, (in the late 90’s) we had cats we’d let out during the day and bring in at night. During the four years we lived there, we had one cat that was killed by being hit by one of the irrigation inspectors. That easement was used by one truck, once a month, and it killed our cat. We lost a second cat to coyotes; at least the cat hit by the truck didn’t have the terrifying death of being torn apart by coyotes.
Maybe you’ll be lucky, and your cats won’t go into the roads. Maybe where you live you don’t have coyotes, or neighbors with dogs, or large owls. Maybe you’ll be lucky and your cats won’t meet any other cats and get infected with one of the exceedingly common diseases of feline leukemia, feline aids, or distemper. Maybe you don’t have neighbors who poison their pest mice and rats that your cats might find and eat and themselves die in agony from indirectly ingesting rat poison. Maybe you live somewhere without rabies (although I think it’s even gotten to the UK, now).
Maybe you don’t care if your cats get killed. But it you do care, keep your cats indoors. If you live somewhere rural, there are predators that can and will take a cat. If you live somewhere urban, it’s even more likely your cat will get killed by a car. And even if you have a perfect barrier that your cats won’t find a way over or under, it won’t stop poisoned rodents from getting into your yard where your cats can get at them, and your cats will get fleas and ticks and bring them into the house. Fleas are only a minor nuisance, sure; not a horrific, lingering death from rabies, and maybe you think you’ll use a flea dip - although keep in mind flea dips can give cats neurological diseases: it’s a poison that’s spread through their systems, and some cats react poorly to it.
But, again maybe you’ll get lucky. Maybe for you the inconvenience of cleaning a litter box is worth the risk of your cat being killed. If being inconvenienced is your motivation, may I recommend a Litter Robot. They’re pricey, but worth every penny, and they last for years. And you’ll almost certainly enjoy your cat’s company for many more years.
Mate, it sounds like you’re living on a different planet… I’ve had cats my whole life, all of them have lived out their full expected lifetime. I’m well aware of the possible dangers and sicknesses cats can get.
Based on the comments in this post I imagine pet culture being vastly different between Norway and the US.
Pet culture in the US was the same as Norway 40 years ago. Cats were primarily outdoor pets allowed to come and go as they pleased. The 1960’s cartoon the Flintstones showed Fred Flintstone throwing the cat outside at night in every episode during the end credits.
However the modern environmental science has proven the damage domestic cats have on the environment. As such there has been a cultural shift in the younger generations, without any government intervention, to keep cats indoors.
I’m not even talking about the controversy about cat impact on wildlife; I’m referring to the statistical life expectancy of outdoor cats in the US. If anyone isn’t satisfied with the one link I provided, I can find more: outdoor feline life expectancy is statistically drastically shorter than strictly indoor life expectancy. All I did was list the risks - the truth is in the statistics. But everyone who has that one outdoor cat that lived to 27 thinks their anecdotal experience trumps science 🙄.
I can’t speak to Norway. Maybe the feline diseases aren’t rampant there yet. Maybe the Norwegians have long ago exterminated all of their mid-range predators in populated areas. I doubt grandparent up there lives in a place where wolves are roaming around freely. You have coyotes or something similar there in your rural communities, my Norwegian friend from a couple comments up? Maybe the fact that few, if any, European countries have anything like the US car culture keeps streets safer for loose pets.
But in the US, letting cats outdoors statistically reduces their life expectancies. That’s not my opinion; it’s in the data.
I think you replied to the wrong person. I argued that pet cats should be kept indoors.
I do that occasionally; maybe it’s me, maybe it’s my client. But I also prefer to continue a thread, so I may have done it on purpose. In this case, though, I probably misunderstood you, and thought you were suggesting that the cultural shift was for silly activist reasons, and that it was better back in the good old days. Or that the only reason to keep cats indoors is because of the damage they do to wildlife.
Mea culpa