Letting your Maine Coon Out?

**lynda ghent** · 25th January 2010, 12:23 AM

Hi, My Maine Coone cat Crystal is now 6 months old, and dosnt go out, my other 2 cats have a cat door and Crystals started to watch and wonder! she has a lead and has started to go out on it, does anyone let their Maine Coons out? am I mean keeping her in? or is it the right thing to do? Im really confused, She,s a beutifull cat and follows me everywhere and has such a character, but whats the correct thing to do, we do live in a quite area, but there is some traffic and 1 bus an hour, our other 2 cats rarely go beyond the garden, Help? lyn

**LoopyKoonz** · 25th January 2010, 02:49 AM

Personally i wouldn't, way too many dangers that a pedigree will just not understand plus the added problems of people nicking them to sell them on and make money!!

when you weigh it up the cons are higher x

You could think about building a small run off your house or cat proof fencing the garden if it's fenced/walled etc - i wouldn't be without my cat proofing now, they're safe and can enjoy the outside without me having to worry x

**Tomiam** · 25th January 2010, 06:47 AM

We weighed up the pros vs cons and found the same as Louise. Wwaaayyyyyy more cons than pros. I would be worried sick letting them out of the house and would always be beating myself up if something did happen.

We've got a few months to go yet, but will almost certainly be installing cat proof fencing in the garden. This would be for 'supervised excursions' where we let them out at some point and then make sure they are back in the house way before it starts to get dark.
I would be interested learning about your experience with cat proofing your garden if you have time to share Louise? ie: Is yours 'open top fencing' or is it a pen. Have you ever had any issues with it, things you would do differently etc.

Ive done a bit of research already and the best website Ive found so far is this one, Cat Proof Containment Fences & Fencing , which looks at several different companies products.

**Karol** · 25th January 2010, 07:38 AM

For me personally, the risks of letting a cat wander outside unprotected are just too big, no matter where you live (countryside or city). I was raised in the countryside and unfortunately lost some cats due to accidents, poison, and one even got shot. :( So none of my cats can go outside (except for our balcony that is made entirely cat proof): my maine coons, my oriental shorthair, my housecat, they all stay safely inside.
Don’t ever think that they would mind for one bit… It’s far worse having to scrape them off the road after they get hit by a car than to keep them safely inside. I know that sounds a bit hard, but that’s just how it is… ;)

**Karena** · 25th January 2010, 08:29 AM

I'm worried about this too and haven't even got my kitty yet. My worry is in the summer, when windows and doors are often open. What do you do when it's hot outside - do you keep them shut in a room? We live in the country down a very quiet road and fields out the back but I'd still worry.

**Karol** · 25th January 2010, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by Karena

I'm worried about this too and haven't even got my kitty yet. My worry is in the summer, when windows and doors are often open. What do you do when it's hot outside - do you keep them shut in a room? We live in the country down a very quiet road and fields out the back but I'd still worry.

At this point, our balcony door is open all the time during the warm summer days. So the air can come into the whole apartment and the cats can go outside to get some air there.
We're looking for a house at this moment and we really want a house with a garden, so we can build a secure cat house in the garden that will give the cats the chance to let the cats go outside in a safe way.
What we would like to build is something like this:

There are so many safe ways to let the cats go outside, that it's absolutely not necessary to expose them to the dangers in the street. ;)

**jckkerrison** · 12th February 2010, 11:57 AM

I work at a vets & see some very sorry sights with cats who have argued with cars or caught in traps & after picking our last little moggy up from the side of the road said no more cats,until we were introduced to the Maine Coon.Now six furry bundles later we have a large pen built on the side of the house with a flap going from sitting room into it giving them the choice of in or out although in nice weather we make the choice for them...! The back garden is not huge so we have high fence & when we are at home they are allowed to run outside.The birds know they are safe & come & annoy them,they have lots of toys to play with & we keep three different baskets so every month we bring new one out & put the other one away so they always have different things to stimulate them & I can think of nothing nicer than in the warm weather sharing a sun lounger with them & the joy they give us as we have formed such a close bond with them all & knowing they are in such a safe happy enviroment makes it a very special relationship & I can sleep happy at night knowing they are safe,nothing like a couple of 10kg mainecoons as hot water bottles .

Jackie

**Scrapdragon** · 12th February 2010, 12:25 PM

This has been an interesting read.
We let our house cats out, but our youngest one (only 2 years old) was never let outside until he was over a year old. Now he prefers to be inside but he does go outside for short periods of time.
We live in a quiet street, but we have had one cat hit by a car... not pleasant.

But we've decided that we are spending a lot of money on my maine coon and there is no way in the world it will be going outside to roam. I have a shade house out the side of our house that currently is partially enclosed... well it's got shade cloth on it, but that's been torn, so dh is going to enclose it properly and the cats will only be allowed out there and I will set up some ramps and fun things to play with as they will be out there during the day when we're at work.
there's also an old aviary out there, so there is shelter from rain, but also a large tree branch there for the cats to climb.

We're lucky in Australia to have large back yards, but then there is also a lot of dangers for an unprotected cat too.

**Claire** · 12th February 2010, 12:50 PM

I think I have obviously been very very lucky. I don't blame you at all for keeping your babies in doors! What an awful world we live in where people can be so vile.

**mcguy** · 12th February 2010, 02:20 PM

Most MC breeders in the USA have a clause in the sales contract that forbids you from letting their cats outside unsupervised. This is one of the issues that a breeder will discuss with people inquiring about their kittens, and they will refuse to sell to someone that intends to allow the cat outside. At least some of these contracts also try to claim that if you violate the terms of the contract you forfeit ownership of the kitten even. Not sure how breeder would realistically be able to enforce such contracts, but it shows how the breeders feel about this issue in the US. I have never run across a breeder of registered MCs in the US that did not include a prohibition against going outside in their contracts.