06-03-2008, 01:29 PM
Outdoor cats generally adapt best when they are outdoors from a young age. My parents live on a farm, and they have 2 indoor/outdoor cats, and one of them is almost 18! She's been indoor/outdoor since kitten-hood, and the other girl is 10 or 11, and we actually found her near our barn during a blizzard when she was just a wee thing. They come in a go out all the time.
That's not to say there are dangers. When I was a kid, I had a wonderful indoor/outdoor cat who never came home one day. Very sad, but we got the above mentioned 18 year old after grieving passed. And we had a couple hit by cars growing up. But they were boys. And I think male cats tend to be dumber than the females when it comes to the road. I've actually witnessed them sitting on the side of the road, looking both ways a few times, and then finally crossing. Pretty funny.
I personally wouldn't get a cat from the shelter, especially an older one, and plunk it outside to live its life.
That's not to say there are dangers. When I was a kid, I had a wonderful indoor/outdoor cat who never came home one day. Very sad, but we got the above mentioned 18 year old after grieving passed. And we had a couple hit by cars growing up. But they were boys. And I think male cats tend to be dumber than the females when it comes to the road. I've actually witnessed them sitting on the side of the road, looking both ways a few times, and then finally crossing. Pretty funny.
I personally wouldn't get a cat from the shelter, especially an older one, and plunk it outside to live its life.