Looking after a cat

[Gregorypeck]

My daughter's going on a month's holiday in March and has asked us to look after her neutered 8-year lod tomcat. Our main concern is about letting him outside. How likely is he to wander off and not find his way back? How long should we keep him in the house before letting him out? He uses a litter tray and we did have him here for a few days over Christmas, but at that time our daughter was here too. He didn't go out at all then and seemed OK, but a month seems too long to keep him in.

We're used to having our own cats but sadly, they've both passed on.

[trickywoo]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=ca...

[bexVN]

If he's not used to your house, keep him in. The recommended guide is 2 weeks anyway, so by then you're half way! He would be confined if in a cattery, at least he'll have home comforts.

Personally unless she was going for eg 6 months I wouldn't worry about letting him out.

[blueg33]

bexVN said:

If he's not used to your house, keep him in. The recommended guide is 2 weeks anyway, so by then you're half way! He would be confined if in a cattery, at least he'll have home comforts.

Personally unless she was going for eg 6 months I wouldn't worry about letting him out.

^^ this

[ali_kat]

I'm with Bex & Blue!

[Gregorypeck]

Thanks folks. I wasn't altogether happy about a harness! I knew about the two weeks thing as we did that with our own cats when we moved. We'll see what it's like after two weeks are up.

[Mobile Chicane]

When the 'owner' comes back, they'll have to repeat the process. Puss may have switched allegiances

[TheHeretic]

ali_kat said:

I'm with Bex & Blue!

I'm with Bex, and Blue, and Ali.

[bint]

Depends on the cat. I had two ginger toms I used to drive from Cambridge to Norwich with once a month to my parents house for the weekend and I used to let then out. (Big wild countryside and chickens was a treat!)

I did it for almost a year and they always came back.

[blueg33]

bint said:

Depends on the cat. I had two ginger toms I used to drive from Cambridge to Norwich with once a month to my parents house for the weekend and I used to let then out. (Big wild countryside and chickens was a treat!)

I did it for almost a year and they always came back.

Big risk with someone else's cat! Our cats come back when we call, but are less reliable when friends or neighbours call them.