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How to get cats used to road

Wildcard7

Hi,

We have 3 kittens since about half a year. They're somewhere around 8 months old, and have so far been indoor cats, apart from a few half hour outings in our garden. They're incredibly fearless and stupid when indoors, which has us a bit worried about what they'll do when they meet a car or a fox for the first few times. Thankfully so far they're completely different outside, but still...
We live on a quiet enough T-Junction in the country. Not much traffic, but the traffic that is there doesn't exactly go by at walking speeds. My worry is that the cats are getting used to being outside and to the road being "safe" and quiet, and then when a car actually drives by they react wrong.

The best thing I can currently think of is to strap them in a kitty harness and walk them down to the road at the bottom of the driveway, so they can safely experience a few cars driving by.

I know we could still just keep them as indoor cats, but I personally believe that would be cruel. The house is starting to become too small and boring for them, even with all the toys in the world.

Any better ideas? Am I overthinking this?

Thanks!

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Knine

There is no way to teach them road sense and sooner or later they will end up being hit by a car. Your only option to keep them safe is to keep them indoors.

skallywag

I am afraid I can only agree with the others who have posted, it is impossible for cats to behave in any logical manner when it comes to roads and cars, I can only guess that they are simply unable to jugde the motion of oncoming vehicles, or even don't even realise that a car is approaching. I have lost count of how many times I have seen what I would class as a pretty intelligent cat doing absolutely daft things on a road, and I see no way of teaching this. It doesn't even have to be a busy main road either, even a quite road can be very dangerous. It will all come down to where they decide to map out their territory, some of ours have just never decided to go near the road in any case for some reason, while others have which didn't ever end well.

Alun

Yes, cats seem to have a blind spot when it comes to cars, and no amount of "training" can help I'm afraid. My wife and I were doing our usual driveway shuffle with the cars yesterday, and as I was reversing out, she blew the horn of her car at me. I stopped immediately, but hadn't a clue why, as there were no other cars about but apparently the opposite neighbor's cat had appeared from nowhere, well actually the bushes of our next door neighbour's garden, and ran across the road behind my car towards "her" garden. She was so low down there wasn't a chance of me seeing her, so a lucky escape all round.

Wildcard7

I'm a bit surprised by that, our last "batch" of three outdoor cats lasted 9 years before dying (not by cars). Half of that we were living in a bigger town on a bigger road. But they were reared by someone who spent a lot of time with them before they came to us (still as kittens), and I've no idea what she did (or whether she did anything) to make them aware of cars.

Keeping them in is no option. I firmly believe that a cat that lives 5 years outside (with cat doors, they can go in&out as they please) had a better life than one that lived 15 years inside. I'm sure not everyone agrees with this. I could really do without being woken up in the middle of the night by the sounds of a half dead mouse being batted around the hall, but it wouldn't feel right not to let them out.

Edit: typo

Knine

Wildcard7 wrote: »

I'm a bit surprised by that, our last "batch" of three outdoor cats lasted 9 years before dying (not by cars). Half of that we were living in a bigger town on a bigger road. But they were reared by someone who spent a lot of time with them before they came to us (still as kittens), and I've no idea what she did (or whether she did anything) to make them aware of cars.

Keeping them in is no option. I firmly believe that a car that lives 5 years outside (with cat doors, they can go in&out as they please) had a better life than one that lived 15 years inside. I'm sure not everyone agrees with this. I could really do without being woken up in the middle of the night by the sounds of a half dead mouse being batted around the hall, but it wouldn't feel right not to let them out.

9 years is actually a short life for a cat. Living right beside a road, a cat is likely to live far less then even 5 years.

There are other options like an outdoor enclosed cat area.

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looksee

I had a cat on a busy enough rural road, it lived to 13 and died of non-traffic related illness. It used to go for walks with us but always ran along the hedgerow and ditch, not going out into the road.

The next one lived on an estate with the normal estate traffic, he lived to 21 and died of old age/stroke.

The two we have now have always been indoor/outdoor cats, on the same estate, and are doing fine at about 8 years each.

You (or rather the cats) take their chance. I am more concerned about a potential move to a very rural area and the likely presence of badgers and foxes (and possibly guns), They will still be indoor/outdoor though.

loveisdivine

On the odd occasion I've felt guilty for not letting ours out, I've pictured coming home and seeing one of them squished on the road. Not to be graphic, but I've seen plenty of other cats completely mutilated on the road. I would never want that death for any of my cats, dying alone on the road and then just left there until you find them. No thanks.

We make an effort to play lots with them and they are all happy, healthy and safe indoors.

Obviously not all outdoor cats are going to get hit by cars, but I'm not willing to take that risk.

srsly78

Rural location, fast roads on both sides. Had 1 cat last 9 years, had another last 3 years. It seems to be totally random, but your Cat probably WILL die because of a car eventually.

Maybe a lot depends on where the cat chooses to cross road at, is there a good view of road etc? My last guy got killed at a blind spot I suspect.

Living next to fast roads is very different from living in an estate tbh.

Kablamo!

You can't teach them road sense I'm afraid.
We had one cat who lived until 16 (died of natural causes) , never really had much interest in crossing the road, stuck to our side.
In contrast, we have an 11 year old who likes to sit in the middle of the road and face down oncoming traffic. She's been hit before but luckily hasn't been too injured but she hasn't learnt a single lesson from it.
We lost a 2 year old to a car also, she was very timid but sadly got under the hood of our neighbours car and was killed when they started their engine.
I'd be more than happy to keep ours as entirely indoor cats, however my mother has other ideas. It's terrible when something happens to them that is for the most part so easily avoidable.