Oh to let out to roam the outdoors or not! Since the majority of outdoor cats I've owned have vanished without a trace, I'm an advocate of keeping your cat chose. My bengal has a huge outdoor enclosure on our deck and he gets two walks a day. His previous owner let him roam free and Raiden was attacked and bitten by other cats (resulting in infections). When he was given to me, I decided to stop his 9 lives at 4. He is a trouble maker and an instigator. He got out of his harness one day and attacked another cat.
There are those who feel a cat should taste the freedom of the outdoors. Depending on where you live, here in the States we have coyotes (I hear them howling every night in the woods behind our house), we have large dogs that may roam free, there is traffic, even though we live on a dead-end street. There are neighbors who do not like your cat visiting their garden and may want to harm them. Children can be mean and harm your cat. Someone may take a look at your cat, see those beautiful spots, and steal your cat. There are other things like poisons they could find. Is it worth the risk? I know walking cats is a pain. I do it twice a day every single day, rain or shine, hot or cold, snow and ice. It was 25 degrees this morning!!! But, I do it to keep Raiden safe as I'm sure he would not be around today if he were still allowed to roam free.
Creating a cat enclosure is a wonderful idea as it keeps them contained and gives them room to explore the outdoors. There are many photos online of different ones. They can be small, large, simple, intricate. My Raiden loves his.
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