Outdoor Animal Control - unwanted visitors?

i was thinking about puting in a cat door for our old-timer cat. he has lived in an apartment for his whole life until just recently and i think this will be a great retirement gift to him. my question is about neighbor's cats. there are a few in the neighborhood and they aren't much of a nusence but i'm worried that it is just that they haven't had a chance to be so yet. i know that anything is possible but i'm wondering if it is usual for cats to enter others homes? i've never heard of this happening but i've never asked anyone if it does happen either.

Let me be the first to try and talk you out of this. Here are my reasons:

The two main causes of death to outdoor cats are cars and predators such as dogs or more dominant cats. In the country hawks will take cats for food. So will coyotes.

Elderly cats can't move as quickly as they used to, and when moving into a new neighborhood, they will encounter other cats that have established their own territories. This will be cause for fights. If your cat gets bitten and you don't notice it right away, you are in for a sick cat, large vet bill and possibly loosing your cat to infection. Been there, lived that!! The cat survived.

An elderly cat that has lived indoors all it's life and isn't familiar with traffic can easily get run over. Same goes for a young cat. Been there, lived that nightmare!! The Young cat that had been an indoor cat before it came to live with us didn't survive.

And to answer your question if other cats might use your kitty door, the answer is yes! Been there and lived that one too. My 18 year old cat was born in this house. The same year he was born we got new neighbors who had a cat and they put in a kitty door. When that cat passed away shortly after they had moved in, we noticed our cat would disappear for two or three days at a time. After about 10 years my hubby was in the hospital. Whenever my hubby would go away the cat would disappear. This time the cat was gone for over a week and my hubby was in the hospital for 6 weeks. I started asking my neighbors if they'd seen the cat. I learned that once the neighbor's cat had passed away, my cat would gingerly go in the kitty door and make himself at home. He had been doing this for 10 years and we never knew! He seemed to think he had two homes. By the way, we didn't have a kitty door at that time, so we'd never even taught him how to use it and neither did the neighbor.

After having outdoor cats, I feel it's best that cats stay indoors.

So how about you build or purchase him a perch so he can look out the window?

Newt

thank you, newt, maybe we will keep it on a "lemmee-out" and "lemmee-inn" basis. i'm afraid that keeping him indoors at all times is no longer an option, he's seen the other side, he knows that the grass is greener over there. i also have allergies and this is a way for him to lose some of his dandered-up hair outside where he is slightly more active.

Mikiel, you are very welcome! Sounds like you are going to let your elderly cat roam outside anyway. Hopefully you can take him outside on a harness and a leash. If you can't play with him to give him the exercise he needs and can't vacuum often, then maybe the kitty door would be best so he can escape any other aggressive cats. I don't think his being outside will keep the dander level down in your home.

Newt

I saw this hilarious video on Americas Funniest Videos where this racoon had been coming through a cat or dog door.

I'm betting you wouldn't think it was so funny if it were your place the 'coon was visiting (or skunk, possum, woodchuck, etc)

a door with an electronic latch and the cat wears a collar with a tag in it to activate the door seems like a good idea.

If cat has been declawed, do not let outdoors. As indicated, an old cat with no outdoor experience will prove to end up being a bad experience.

If you stay up late at night and watch scary movies, there are those that have pet doors where wild animals and monsters find their way indoors. Eeeek!

i never get it when people declaw cats. it seems kind of contrary to me that somebody would want an independant feline companion and than take away one of the things that grant it it's independance, but i digress.

i'm liking the idea of the door with a "key" attached to the cat's collar. the cat has been outdoors before but he's lived in a community that had a no outside cats rule so we'd have to keep it on the sly and only do it on occasion to avoid upsetting the neighbors. once he getts outside he's actually quite spry in short bursts but i don't think he's able to climb our fence so limited is what his little adventures are. secretly i'd like for him to have a social life outside of my wife and i, as i doubt we make very good conversation. i can hear his frustrations when trying to communicate with us. it's alot like those people who think that speaking louder will make someone understand another language with his, "roow, , rroow, , , ROOWW"s. Letting him rome freely in our vast expance (100' x 50') will be his gold watch for being such a good companion to my wife for all these years as well as for being smart enough to know that he'll get stepped on if he's hovering at my feet in the darkness of these oregon mornings.

a couple of days ago i read the previous thread in it's entirety and i can appreciate others frustrations about having stray/nusence cats taking over the land and wiping out entire generations of smaller critters for food and for sport. the idea that someone would just bring thier pet into a foriegn environment to be somebody else's responsibility really bristles my hide. just to vindicate myself to all those folks who have very strong opinions in that direction, i, frankly am not surprised that people take it into thier own hands. a fox is killing your chickens. what do you do? moles are getting to your leeks. do you just keep planting and hope they tire of them? it's strange that an animal from outside of the original "ecosystem" would be held at a higher reguard than one from within.