Ready-made cat enclosures CAN cost a fortune, but you can also buy materials and make them yourself. They can be simple or very elaborate. You just want something where your cat can enjoy the outdoors and be in a contained area for their safety. Enclosures are also called "catios." If you google, you can find thousands of different ones and get ideas. I've seen some that are attached to a window and basically let the cat perch outside. The one we built for Raiden is 12'x12'x8' high, covered, I know it set us back over $1,000, but Raiden loves being out there and we put a cat door insert in our dining room window with steps down to the enclosure and he can come and go as he pleases, which he loves. They even have portable cat enclosures on Amazon and other pet supply websites. They are not very expensive. Since yours are just new kittens, that could be something they'd enjoy. Naturally, you couldn't just leave them out there, but it would get them used to the outdoors!

Its interesting seeing that most people don't let them out by themselves, i have been looking into getting a bengal cat for a while now and am just waiting to move in to a house before i get one, i have been wondering if i should let it out or keep it indoors, i must say I'm still undecided!

The pros of letting them out -
they poo/wee outside
they have freedom
can lay in the sun/ play e.t.c

The cons -
will moan to go out
they could get killed/injured
might be stolen
might get lost?

Anything I'm missing ?

Hi Midge

I have two Bengals and we were forced into letting them out, or we'd have suffocated earlier this year in the summer as the house got so hot! However, we only let them out when we are home and generally they stay in our garden, especially if we are outside with them. They do occasionally go into other peoples gardens, but they are never gone for long as one of your 'pro' points hasn't really become a pro - they come back to use the litter tray, for both wees and poos! Doesn't even occur to them to go outside!

But to me that is a pro as I know they can't go far, and generally I'm calling them back every half hour or so and keep watch on what they are up to and where they've gone from the windows. If I see them going somewhere I'm not comfortable with, I have been known to run down the road in my dressing gown to bring them back!

We are lucky as we are in a quiet cul de sac and our back garden backs onto other back gardens so they are not too near roads. They go out for an hour and a half in the morning whilst I get ready for work, and when we get home in the evening, they go out for a couple of hours and then I bring them in again. I always make sure I haven't fed them before they go out to ensure they don't go far as well. They are pretty good and don't make a fuss when we bring them in or cry to go out again, but I guess every Bengal is different. Weekends if we are home they have access to the outside all day, but generally they go out for a bit in the morning and then come in for a nap or whatever and go out again in the evening for an hour or so.

It is a big decision and I am more relaxed when they are back indoors if I'm entirely honest. If we could afford it and had somewhere to put a really large enclosure, that is what I'd prefer as I'd know they were 100% safe.

I know how incredibly difficult the decision is to make. I started off by walking my lovely bengal Rosa on a lead but then she asked to get out more and more so I decided to try it. She started off by staying in the garden and would play with us when we were out there. However, after a few months, she started to wander further and further. She normally came back but sometimes she didn't, only to return 3 or 4 days later. During these times I could hardly sleep for not knowing where she was and whether she was ok. I tried putting an ID collar on her (she was microchipped already) and considered a pet-tracking device. However, neither of these things could stop her being run over by a car. I got the terrible phone call after a leaflet-drop we did. Sadly, I never got to see Rosa again as the council uplifted her but disposed of her before I was able to see her. They said she didn't have a microchip but she certainly did. I was left angry at this but, most of all, so terribly sad and empty. She was only 2 years old and the most wonderful cat. The guilt and the pain was awful. A year on and I have now taken 2 little Bengal brothers into my home, but the photo of Rosa is watching down on them from my mantlepiece. I'll never forget her. I have decided that there is no way I will let these boys outside as I can just never be certain that they'll be safe out there. I plan to make my home as exciting as possible for them (having one another for a start; a few scratching posts dotted around, and high walkways up near the ceiling, as well as playing with them regularly). Of course it is up to you but, from my experience, I think it is safest to keep your cat inside.

If you don't want to let him out maybe after a while he will accept it and stop meowing all the time to be let out.

I had 2 Burmese that I let out and they were forever getting up to mischief and terrorising the neighbourhood!

They both had collars with name/telephone number on them and quite often I would get calls about what they had been up to; usually bashing other cats, getting into other people's houses/garages and one time one of them got stuck up a huge tree in a Ministry of Defence Camp and a soldier had to scale a very long ladder to get him back for me!

My nerves couldn't take it anymore so I decided to keep them in and they were upset for a bit but eventually accepted the situation.

As Bengals like Burmese are quite clever and inquisitive cats I'd be concerned about what they would be up to when they are out and about!

_________________
Oscar and Jasper (or one ear and two ears as dh calls them) black rescue mogges

RIP my sweet baby Dexter, Snow Bengal 19/5/14 to 5/3/15 and my lovely dear old friend Muskey, Brown Burmese put to rest aged 15 on 14/11/15.

Debbie