# Outdoor enclosures - good or bad idea?



## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

I'm wondering, for an indoor cat is an outdoor enclosure really a good idea? I mean if you give them a taste of the outdoors, wouldn't they want to go out all the time? 

Right now, Miu would try and bolt for the door sometimes if you're coming home. Lucky I got the front porch there, because I've missed several times and she's gotten out.

She seems to really like the outdoors and the wind. When I open the window she bolts for the perch and sits there taking in the breeze, sounds and sights. I feel sorry for her because she seems to love it. But I'm afraid making a habit of taking her out in an enclosure would make her even more 'outdoor thirsty' and prone to increased bolting. I am more able to deal with her, but my arthitis-ridden mother and my clumsy father wouldn't be able to stop her if she took off.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Well, IMO, it would be just like the open window w/ screen ... only she could be really *out* there and with a cat flap, be out whenever she feels like it and it may curb her door dashing if she *has* a place where she can get outside.


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## Dave_ph (Jul 7, 2009)

I have one cat who likes to go out when I properly prepare her chaise lounge with a towel on it by the pool. If her chair isn't prepped she'll stay in. She comes in when I call and doesn't complain if I don't leave the door open.

I have another who lives to go out there. She does come back in every 10 minutes to tell me about her adventures but when I don't let her out, like in the morning before work, she meows and meow whines like its the end of the world. Heidi thinks she knows what Meezer whinning is about but she has NO idea. 

All in all its worth it though. Being out there getting a chance to watch nature up close gives them a lot of stimulation and they're happier for it.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Dave_ph said:


> Heidi thinks she knows what Meezer whinning is about but she has NO idea.


...and with any luck, I won't ever know! *_keeps SJJ from looking at comments about Meezer-whines_* What, Skippy? No. Siamese cats just don't sound like that at all. You're being weird. Stop it. The other cats will look at you funny.


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, the way the porch is constructed, the only way into it is the door. I had been thinking of the cat veranda enclosure but my windows open horizontally. 

Right now, my father is building something on the deck to as a secondary measure thing simliar to the front porch. Like double doors. If she manages to get out then there'll be another set of doors to stop her. I suppose once it's done, it can double as a cat enclosure. I'm not sure exactly what he's building though. However, from previous experience..he's real slow. I bet it'll be ready like 2 years from now. LOL!

The Outdoor Feline Funhouse looks promising but shipping is expensive to Canada. 










@dave_ph: Yeah. I'm afraid Miu will end up doing that...mewing and mewing until I surrender and let her out.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

How about putting the cat-flap access into one of the walls?


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

My parents won't allow that..


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Well, shoot. atback


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

Why would the windows opening horizontally prevent you from putting an enclosure off one of them? Can't picture it.
I have french widows and have enclosed my balcony with deer netting. Fortunately, I don't live in a buggy area so I don't need screens. If I did, I would have just screened in the balcony.
I've actually found that since they have the balcony, they show very little interest in getting out the front door. I think if you're bringing them out through the door to an outdoor "tent" they might associate the door with going out and try to bolt. 
If there's anyway to do it, I would opt for an attached enclosure that they can access through a window or cat flap. If you offered to pay to repair the hole when necessary, your parents still wouldn't let you put one in?


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

This could still be a viable option. You simply turn the product so it fits the window up/down opening and request one with the cat-flap oriented appropriately. It would basically be a scaled-down sliding door cat-flap access.


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## SpaceyKP (May 8, 2010)

> I mean if you give them a taste of the outdoors, wouldn't they want to go out all the time?


You would think, but apparently it doesn't happen. Jinx always likes to try to sneak out into the back yard when the dog is let out. Our backyard has a wooden fence that can't be climbed easily, but whoever installed it only made part of it privacy height, with most of it at just a few feet high that a cat can jump. Jinx actually tried jumping it once but I was holding onto his leash so he didn't make it far. (Yes I have harnesses and leashes for my cats.) But I put him on his leash in the front yard so he could hang out with me while I did some gardening. He managed to slip out of his harness and took off running. I panicked and chased him. We have coyotes in our area so if he got lost, I'd never get him back. He ended up running FOR the door. I let him and the rest of the day he avoided the door when I came in and out, but he would watch me and the other kitties and cry from inside the house. I don't know what it is about the backyard that he is so interested in, but he seems pretty scared of being outside otherwise.


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## Bethany (Jul 19, 2006)

Depends on the cat. I let both of my cats out (on supervised tie-outs, for the moment, since I live in an apartment and can't install an enclosure). Misty like being outside but doesn't cry to go out or try to door-dart. Stormy, on the other had, was a door-darter from the moment I got her, before *I* ever let her outside (although her previous owners might have).

Honestly, I'm not sure door vs. window makes THAT much of a difference. I think cats will know that the door leads to outside, regardless of whether you let them out that way.


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## kellyedie (May 27, 2010)

I think its a great idea! i have an indoor cat as well and live in the city, so my cat only gets to go outside when we visit my parents cabin and then i have her on a leash ( a long one, like those retractable ones ) and she climbs trees, goes near the water and loves it! you could prob make your own enclosure as well.


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