Need an opinion from some cat people

[Deep Dish Pizza Goat]

I think a lot of folks expect a cat to act like a dog and are disappointed when they don't.

100.

Im always amused by people like OP who are anti kid but pro dog.

A dog is essentially like having a toddler for 10+ years. You need to feed it for its entire life. You need to help it go to the bathroom it’s entire life. You need to make accommodations when you’re doing anything for more than a couple of hours for it’s entire life.

Cats just shit in a box and can graze on food on their own with no fucks given for a week. It’s like having a 20 year old college kid manchild living in your basement that jacks off and only bothers you when the fridge is empty.

Cats > Dogs

 

[Bayou Tiger]

She does. A physical tag with my number as well as an apple air tag that pings if she is within 800 feet of an apple device. It was super weird bc it didn't go off from 8 pm on the 24th until 2:15 am on the 26th. 10 minutes later she was on the windowsill asking to come in

 

[Illustrious Potentate]

100.

Im always amused by people like OP who are anti kid but pro dog.

A dog is essentially like having a toddler for 10+ years. You need to feed it for its entire life. You need to help it go to the bathroom it’s entire life. You need to make accommodations when you’re doing anything for more than a couple of hours for it’s entire life.

Cats just shit in a box and can graze on food on their own with no fucks given for a week. It’s like having a 20 year old college kid manchild living in your basement that jacks off and only bothers you when the fridge is empty.

Cats > Dogs

My puppy is gonna be a rabbit and squirrel dog. My two favorite animals to hunt. Been working with it pretty good and she's a fast learner. I failed my beagle by spoiling him, but I still love him.

But you would have loved my childhood dog. Outside dog, free to roam its entire life. Never had to be shown, but always did his business in the woods, would catch the fuck out of rabbits, squirrels, snakes, raccoons, possums, lizards, pretty well any animal that came into his territory(he was gun shy, so he was a good hunter, but a terrible hunting dog) and would occupy himself for hours on end dropping a golf ball down the driveway drain pipe and run to the bottom of the hill and catch it at the bottom of the hill. Lived to be 18 and was still chasing his golf ball the day he died. Was hard to get a dog for a while after he died. His son that I kept never was the same. I'd trade both of the dogs I have now just to have him back.

 

[Rex Racer]

I have a cat we rescued when she was probably around a year old. For five years, she was pretty much a complete outdoor cat. I had a back garage I would leave cracked for her to come in and through there she could get on shelving and get in the attic above my heated garage when it was cold. That was about it.

Over the last couple years she has realized inside isn't so bad and does spend a decent amount of time outside, however, she hates litter boxes and when she does want out she will cry nonstop at a door or window and sometimes even jump against one like an idiot.

So that's the backstory. She went out when we were leaving for Christmas Eve service at 6 pm and we didn't see her again until 2:30 am this morning on the 26th. Wife was freaking out and we were trying to keep it cool in front of my two kids bc we didn't want to ruin their Christmas. She does not stay away that long, even when she was outdoors completely she didn't. Wife was posting things to social media and to neighbors when we were looking and I was amazed by the amount of replies she got along the lines of "well now you learned your lesson not to let your cat outside bc she is gone". On Christmas, no less.

Am I the bad cat owner for giving in and letting her outside? We just moved and for the first three weeks we wouldn't let her out except on a little leash to get her used to the neighborhood. She was miserable. She would cry all the time at windows or doors, she wouldn't go in anyone's lap or snuggle, be lucky if she let you pet her. She kept having accidents bc she was fighting using the box. That has all changed once we started letting her out on her own again.

Go look at your old house, she's there........................................ or a coyote had her for a snack

 

[Rex Racer]

Cats are great... Independent, hunters & good for some loving too. Both my grand-dad's had cattle farms & they had cats... Barns have grain/feed, grain/feed causes rodent problem & disease, mice bring snakes, snakes are shitty in the barn.

Yeah, my buddy in NC has a couple of barn cats that are not allowed in the house, but have free reign of the property and the woods and soybean fields surrounding it. They are there for critter control and get fed a little each day.

There's 5 horses on the property and 2 Australian cattle dogs and they all seem to get along just fine. Of course the dogs get to stay in the house so they are living it up in comfort.

 

[Wild Turkey]

Someone definitely had her. When she came home she didn't go for her food and she was completely dry after it pretty much raining for 15 hours straight. Don't know if they finally decided to let her out last night and she came home she snuck out on her own.

My bet is she got into a crawl space of garage and people didn’t know she was there and closed her in. When they figured it out they let her out and she came home. We lost one of our cats for 3 weeks because she did something stupid like that and lost a ton a weight when she made it home.

If she has been an outside cat then she will NEVER be happy indoors. Just keep letting her out and she will be fine. The ones that don’t live indoors don’t live as long but they live better lives. We are done with cats but had plenty of them and the ones that went outside never torn anything up and were better natured. Cats weren’t made to live only inside.

 

[dbldwn711]

My bet is she got into a crawl space of garage and people didn’t know she was there and closed her in. When they figured it out they let her out and she came home. We lost one of our cats for 3 weeks because she did something stupid like that and lost a ton a weight when she made it home.

If she has been an outside cat then she will NEVER be happy indoors. Just keep letting her out and she will be fine. The ones that don’t live indoors don’t live as long but they live better lives. We are done with cats but had plenty of them and the ones that went outside never torn anything up and were better natured. Cats weren’t made to live only inside.

its funny you said that about your cat being missing for 3 weeks. I was leaving town for a business trip and as I was closing my garage door I thought I saw something swoop in the garage just as it was closing. I was distracted (looking as I was backing up, making sure there weren’t any kids nearby my car, etc) so I wasn’t sure I saw anything. The garage door was nearly closed and I was running late for the airport so I ignored it.

When I came back home a few days later I opened my garage and two pretty good sized birds immediately flew out. I was like WTF. They must have swooped in just under the garage door as it closed. They were stuck in there for like 4-5 days.

 

[Wild Turkey]

its funny you said that about your cat being missing for 3 weeks. I was leaving town in a business trip and as I was closing my garage door I thought I saw something swoop in the garage just as it was closing. I was distracted (looking as I was backing up, making sure there weren’t any kids nearby my car, etc) so I wasn’t sure I saw anything. The garage door was nearly closed and I was running late for the airport so I ignored it.

When I came back home a few days later I opened my garage and two pretty good sized birds immediately flew out. I was like WTF. They must have swooped in just under the garage door as it closed. They were stuck in there for like 4-5 days.

Next time it will be a raccoon.

 

[Wingsauce7]

Once a cat gets a taste for outside (especially a former stray), you probably wont have much luck converting to indoors only. I suggest leaving a back garage door open slightly with food and water in the garage. Cats are pretty smart it’ll probably will come back.

 

[TigerBait1971]

I have a cat we rescued when she was probably around a year old. For five years, she was pretty much a complete outdoor cat. I had a back garage I would leave cracked for her to come in and through there she could get on shelving and get in the attic above my heated garage when it was cold. That was about it.

Over the last couple years she has realized inside isn't so bad and does spend a decent amount of time outside, however, she hates litter boxes and when she does want out she will cry nonstop at a door or window and sometimes even jump against one like an idiot.

So that's the backstory. She went out when we were leaving for Christmas Eve service at 6 pm and we didn't see her again until 2:30 am this morning on the 26th. Wife was freaking out and we were trying to keep it cool in front of my two kids bc we didn't want to ruin their Christmas. She does not stay away that long, even when she was outdoors completely she didn't. Wife was posting things to social media and to neighbors when we were looking and I was amazed by the amount of replies she got along the lines of "well now you learned your lesson not to let your cat outside bc she is gone". On Christmas, no less.

Am I the bad cat owner for giving in and letting her outside? We just moved and for the first three weeks we wouldn't let her out except on a little leash to get her used to the neighborhood. She was miserable. She would cry all the time at windows or doors, she wouldn't go in anyone's lap or snuggle, be lucky if she let you pet her. She kept having accidents bc she was fighting using the box. That has all changed once we started letting her out on her own again.

We have 2 dogs and 2 cats and they all use the dog door (fenced in backyard)

No litter box smell or mess.

 

[dbldwn711]

Next time it will be a raccoon.

I’ll leave the door shut.

 

[dbldwn711]

Once a cat gets a taste for outside (especially a former stray), you probably wont have much luck converting to indoors only. I suggest leaving a back garage door open slightly with food and water in the garage. Cats are pretty smart it’ll probably will come back.

Vegas Golden Knight cats are smart!

Colorado Avalanche cats are stupid!

 

[broncosmitty]

Once a cat gets a taste for outside (especially a former stray), you probably wont have much luck converting to indoors only. I suggest leaving a back garage door open slightly with food and water in the garage. Cats are pretty smart it’ll probably will come back.

Egh. One of ours was born outside to a barn cat. She was feral at four - five months when she decided to be friendly. (Mother wasn’t feral, just a barn cat with no interest in being inside.)

She has had zero interest in going outside since day one of being more than a barn cat.

Have two other 15 year old males that were born and raised as indoor/outdoor. Even when we lived in the city they could go out whenever they wanted. Both those old lazy fuckers barely even look out the window anymore. The one needed essentially ideal weather conditions in first place. If there was even a slight breeze had better things to do.

I’d just get a collar with my name and number on it and let the car live it’s life how it desires.

 

[Wingsauce7]

Vegas Golden Knight cats are smart!

Colorado Avalanche cats are stupid!

Fuckin Dick

 

[broncosmitty]

My bet is she got into a crawl space of garage and people didn’t know she was there and closed her in. When they figured it out they let her out and she came home. We lost one of our cats for 3 weeks because she did something stupid like that and lost a ton a weight when she made it home.

If she has been an outside cat then she will NEVER be happy indoors. Just keep letting her out and she will be fine. The ones that don’t live indoors don’t live as long but they live better lives. We are done with cats but had plenty of them and the ones that went outside never torn anything up and were better natured. Cats weren’t made to live only inside.

Neither were people.

But laziness is a real motherfucker.

 

[wildturkey]

You need to let her out no matter what since she started as an outside cat. It's pretty much impossible to fully domesticate a cat if its ever been an outside cat before. They may end up spending the majority of their time inside, but part of them will always want to spend some time outside. Basically the only way you're gonna get a full time inside kitty is to raise them inside from a kitten. It's pretty rare to flip an outside to full time inside. So you did the right thing letting it out. Keeping it inside will just cause a lot of stress to the cat, which will result in a lot of other problems (ie "accidents" inside the house, hostile attitude, tearing up furniture, etc).

You said you recently moved so what's likely happened is your cat was simply exploring her new surroundings on her own. Being away longer than in your old house shouldn't be a surprise because its out exploring new stuff. It should make its way back eventually. Cats rarely, if ever, get lost. It knows where its food source is, its not giving that up (unless it found a better one...). Her coming back dry may be an indication she was at some other house, but I wouldn't put all my faith into this guess. Most cats aren't dumb and if its raining a lot, they're pretty good at finding any nook they can find to get in and stay dry. Your cat easily could have just been chilling next door in some kind of cubby hole you'd never think of waiting for the rain to break. The only way you'll know if she's was at another house (and cheating on you!) is if it becomes routine. If she dips out around the same time every day, goes away for a period of time, and then comes back, she's probably getting fed at another house.

 

[Niner Outlaw]

I have a cat we rescued when she was probably around a year old. For five years, she was pretty much a complete outdoor cat. I had a back garage I would leave cracked for her to come in and through there she could get on shelving and get in the attic above my heated garage when it was cold. That was about it.

Over the last couple years she has realized inside isn't so bad and does spend a decent amount of time outside, however, she hates litter boxes and when she does want out she will cry nonstop at a door or window and sometimes even jump against one like an idiot.

So that's the backstory. She went out when we were leaving for Christmas Eve service at 6 pm and we didn't see her again until 2:30 am this morning on the 26th. Wife was freaking out and we were trying to keep it cool in front of my two kids bc we didn't want to ruin their Christmas. She does not stay away that long, even when she was outdoors completely she didn't. Wife was posting things to social media and to neighbors when we were looking and I was amazed by the amount of replies she got along the lines of "well now you learned your lesson not to let your cat outside bc she is gone". On Christmas, no less.

Am I the bad cat owner for giving in and letting her outside? We just moved and for the first three weeks we wouldn't let her out except on a little leash to get her used to the neighborhood. She was miserable. She would cry all the time at windows or doors, she wouldn't go in anyone's lap or snuggle, be lucky if she let you pet her. She kept having accidents bc she was fighting using the box. That has all changed once we started letting her out on her own again.

The wife and I are cat owners. No, you're not a bad pet owner at all. We've had indoor/outdoor cats disappear for a week before despite being on a pretty regular in/out schedule.

The cat could've gone to another house and stuck around to check out their food or garage, it couldn't followed another cat through the neighborhood (for fighting, play, or sexy time), or it could've gone off hunting/following another animal. The cat being gone a day isn't long and shouldn't panic you or the family. I'd give it at least 2 full days before you start asking neighbors or FB. If it's been an outdoor cat for a long time, letting him outside is part of the deal.

 

[outofyourmind]

 

[phantomfoul88]

I just can’t picture why anyone would want a cat.

That's how I feel about dogs, they're a nuisance IMO.

 

[phantomfoul88]

We had an indoor cat for 21 years, she snuck out one time and was missing for a couple days. Wife was devastated, finally my neighbor found her in her basement of all places. Think she snuck in with the dog. Once a cat gets a taste of the outdoors its nearly impossible to keep them in. You're better off just letting her out.