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I thought we were the only family "weird" enough to take our cat out in a harness and leash!

We have a cranky old lady cat that adopted DS18 when he was a toddler and she was a stray kitten. She isn't very demanding but she absolutely has to have one thing: regular grass eating so she can barf it up and go about her day. She craves grass like an addict! Eats it, barfs, feels like a million bucks.

We got her a dog harness, the kind that goes around her body rather than her neck, and attach it to a long leash that we tie to various things depending on where we are in the yard. She loves hanging out with us if we're hanging laundry, sitting on lawn chairs having a drink, whatever. She just chills. We have a rule that she must stay out until she yacks up her grass, then she can come in. Usually works.

She's pathetic at mousing - the one mouse we had in our house last winter terrified her. So my guess is she's probably no danger to our local ecosystem.

My cats are indoor/outdoor but not necessarily because I feel they should be. The problem is they want outside desperately.. especially the male and he makes an escape attempt every time the door opens. The doors open and close 30 times a day. I do daycare and after school I have 6 school agers. Trying to get the kids to remember not to let the cat out, or trying to corral the cat while a talk to the parents is hard and I got lazy and frustrated with trying to keep him in. I am not proud of it, but I tried and failed many times.

Well he has a best friend who comes to get him every day. It's the neighbour kitty and they snuggle and play and I have never seen best friend cats but that's what they are. She stopped coming by last week and I was worried.

I found out this morning she died. She didn't have shots and got sick

He's frantically looking for her and I have decided he has to be indoor. I raised him since three days old and would be heartbroken to lose him. Trying to keep him in is going to make him miserable. I have a back deck he could go on, on the second level and I am trying to think of a way to secure it so he can't leap on the railing to get down the stairs or through the slats in the gate. I think he'd climb lattice. I don't know what to do, but I have to figure it out. My girl cat will be easier but he's going to be upset.

Aww that's sad. Good luck keeping him in.

Metamorphosis, you might try running chicken wire around the lower part of the deck railing and the gate, and look at the catfencein.com website for a containment system for the deck rail. It really works.

Never. The lifespans of cats allowed outdoors is significantly lower than that of cats who live indoors only, and I love my babies too much to expose them to that risk.

Plus, we have far too many hawks, owls, and coyotes that would make short work of my cats.

My sister---the most dyed-in-the-wool animal lover on the planet-- did let her (late) cat outdoors. He loved it, and she didn't like saying no to him. He was badly injured several times---by cats or other animals, and once by the across-the-street neighbor, who threw a brick at him when he was in his yard. (And this is in a posh neighborhood.)

His lifespan was much-foreshortened by her willingness to cave to his piteous meows.

My cats? They can ask all day, but they're not going out. (They don't bother to ask anymore, though. They're happy to get fresh air on the sills of open windows, and hunting the occasional moth or June bug that gets inside.

Metamorphosis, you might try running chicken wire around the lower part of the deck railing and the gate, and look at the catfencein.com website for a containment system for the deck rail. It really works.

Thank you so much. I will check right now. I will do just about anything to fix it so he could get some fresh air but not get into the yard. It would hopefully keep the other cats off our deck. Many of them aren't fixed and it drives me nuts.

I am also thinking of using the garage now instead of the front door. That way when I bring all the kids in if he gets out he's still only in the garage. It would be much better for snow and dirt too

I'd still use the front door for pick up and drop offs but I could make sure he was in the bathroom for those times.

I think a plan is forming. Thank you!

I didn't even know fencing like that existed!!! I am so happy I posted about it . Thank you again woundedwidow. We're going to fix up the deck so they can still lay in the sun and use the garage entrance mostly so we can avoid escapes. I feel relieved. It seems like a perfect solution