A Life Outdoors

If your cat goes outdoors, safety is a prime consideration:  both your cat's safety and yours. Examine the risks before deciding whether your cat can lead an indoor-outdoor existence.

Perfect safety cannot be guaranteed, but be reasonable: are there dangers from road traffic, heights, or open water? Are there natural cat predators in your vicinity? Be scrupulous in protection against parasites and diseases, and provide suitable identification.

It may also be important to be a good neighbor and discourage your cat from visiting other gardens. Cats can be the glue or, all too easily the solvent in neighborly relationships.

Plan your cat's introduction to the garden with care. If you have recently moved, give your cat time to adjust to its new indoor environment and find its own personal places: this can take from one to three weeks.

Once your cat feels secure in its new home, allow it to have access to the garden just before a mealtime - the lure of tasty food is likely to bring it back in from the exciting outdoors.

Assume that your garden is already "owned" and operated by a resident cat, and be vigilant. A water pistol can be a useful weapon. Squirting a cat with water will discourage it from returning to your garden.