My maybe babies!

[Bryony84]

Permission letter recieved! Just faxed it off to the rescue!

[Bryony84]

Not sure my landlord would fancy either of those much but thanks anyway!! Sounds like a great idea for someone who owns a flat a few floors up.

[blackcat]

I used to have an elaborate cat run that I have banged on about at length at various times. But the company that made them also showed pictures of runs that they had supplied to people who lived 'upstairs' These were attached to the side of the building and provided tunnels and level large pens that were bolted onto the side of the building, allowing the cat to get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine, weather and smells without going downstairs. I think the link is catnip.com.au and the runs are made from that metal mesh that comes in panels. Basically for an aerial one you would simply place timber planks in the base to provide a firm surface for them ... have a look and see what you think. Alternately, you can just wire in the windows to provide a 'sill' that cats can sit in and enjoy sunshine, smells and scenery without going outside...

[Bryony84]

I think its partly up to the cats to decide, I will keep them as indoor cats for as long as they are happy with it, which could hopefully be their whole lives. our house is a good size with hallways and 2 sets of stairs so they can run about and the spare room will be set up as a cat playroom with a cat tree, their own comfy armchair and my computer desk and chair. If they seem unhappy living inside then I would be prepared to introduce them to the outside, but only when I am home and preferably when I can be outside with them. When I lived with my parents, we once lost Casper and he was gone for 4 days, he had a cat flap and could come and go as he pleased, but one day he didn't come home. I was in bits the whole time, I'd come home hoping for him to be there and cried when he wasn't. My birthday was during this time and I didn't enjoy it one bit, however the day after when I came home in the evening, there he was sat in the middle of the kitchen table, very hungry but no worse for wear. We decided that he must have got shut into someones garage as he was always wandering into ours. It taught me how much it hurts to not know where your kitty is and that they could be hurt somewhere.

The worst part was that the day after we got him back, a lady from down the road called to see if we had found him. We had put out flyers asking if anyone had seen him and she thought she should warn us that she lost her cat a few weeks before and he was found dead a few days later after eating rat poison. This upset me a great deal and I felt so sorry for the lady. There are just so many danger outside!

[Mark]

I think any rescue would prefer that you kept them as indoor cats. Very few rescue people would push you into letting cats outside. As long as they have some space and things to keep them occupied, they are much safer inside. Two of my cats go into the garden but aren't interested in wandering. The other two have no interest in being outside at all.

Alice, who lived outside under a car for a year before being rescued doesn't even like a free-run of the house. She prefers her attic bedroom. Often when I bring her down in the evening, she runs back upstairs and sits outside the attic door - 

[Bryony84]

Well the girls we want to home have never been out as they aren't old enough but I doubt that would be grounds enough for us to keep them as indoor cats, although I would prefer that unless they really seem to want to go out. The chicken run thing is a cool idea, but I don't think the people in the little flat downstairs would like it much as its where their front door and lounge window are!

[Desley (booktigger)]

I homed a cat yesterday as an indoor only cat, as he has been indoors only all of his life (he is 2), and it isn't the only indoor only cat i have homed - one was a stray, but had absolutely no interest in going out - she did eventually, but I think it took about a year. So worth asking if they have any cats that have come in as indoor only cats (although 3 we took in last year as indoor only showed an interest in going out when they came to us!!)

[Mark]

I agree, most rescues will have a choice of indoor only and cats that are used to having outside access. When I got Kylie 6 years ago from CP, they asked if I had a garden. They had plenty of indoor cats but a few that were used to having outside access. Kylie was an outdoor girl and as I had just bought a flat with a garden, she was perfect. The funny thing is, I didn't realise at the time and assumed all cats went out and one of the main reasons I got a garden flat was so I could get a cat  . I had my own flat without a garden for 6 years before that and didn't know I would have been able to have a cat 

[Millys Mum]

Your other alternative is to get 'indoor' cats only from a breeder who often stipulate that the cats can't go outside.

You can get indoor rescue cats, moggy or pedigree  FIV cats, deaf or blind all need safe indoor homes. You dont have to have an indoor rescue cat with health issue tho, could be perfectly healthy 

[pandora]

i can see how that can be a little bit tricky...so the cats would have to go through the whole house to get out maybe.  This may seem a crazy idea but what about a 'chicken run' like ladder to your first floor window leading to a cat flap?

I was also nervous about the home check for no reason though and when the woman came, my cat had even disappeared and she still said that it was ok and I could adopt another one because she could see the others were well cared for.  (Luckily he is back!!!) She like my cat flap, fitted into the build in kitchen, using a piece from the kitchen surface as a walkway for the cats to go to the garden.

The way my house is (garden to garden and totally enclosed), it is very difficult for cats to get out.  My older two have not once had any interest in anywhere other than the garden in five years.  I suppose my younger one was let out of someone's front door in one of the houses on the other street which was silly of someone to do.  He was found only two streets away amd I looked there too.

Your other alternative is to get 'indoor' cats only from a breeder who often stipulate that the cats can't go outside.

[Bryony84]

Unfortunately theres nothing on ground level apart from the door, frame and the stairs. The only thing I considered was buying a whole new door and swapping them then replacing it when we leave but I don't know if there would be any rules about that in the leasehold as the whole building is managed by another company and all the doors are the same. I think it would be very expensive as well

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Bryony I live in a maisonette similar to that. My front door is at streetlevel, but I do have a door at the back of the house that leads to a garden downstairs. I have cat flaps out there on both my kitchen door and the downstairs door. Not that they ever get used    If you don't have the same type of access I do, do you have a glass panel NEXT to the door that you can remove and replace with a solid panel with the cat flap? That way you don't damage the door?

[Bryony84]

Unfortunately our house has a flat underneath so from the front door you go straight upstairs, our ground floor is actually the first floor and then the second floor is the bedrooms. So we don't actually have a ground level room at the back. I've been struggling with what to do about a cat flap. Our front door is solid wood (not panels) with some glass in the top parts, I was hoping that if it was panels I just just replace one with a cat flap panel as I don't think the landlord would take kindly to us hacking a hole in his front door!

[Gillian Harvey]

The only thing that concerns me about the homecheck is the lack of rear access from our house into the shared garden, although there is open access at both sides and we live in a cul-de-sac at the end of a set of roads which lead absolutely no-where so its very quiet. There are also no major roads nearby at all, its all just cul-de-sac housing and then some woods.

With the access to the garden - are you thinking in terms of where to put a cat flap? from what your'e saying I presume you just have a front door, no back door? It is possible to fit a cat flap in a window (or even in the wall) - so one could be fitted at the back of the house where the garden is perhaps? Thats not to say, as Helen pointed out, that the cats won't eventually leave the garden anyway, but its an option.

The cats look lovely  good luck with the home check!

[Tiggy's Mum]

Jealous, jealous, jealous  Got everything crossed that you pass the homecheck  I'm not in rescue so can't give a rescue's perspective but what I would say is that unless a cat lived in a house with a cat proofed back garden all cats that have access to the back garden would inevitably leave the garden.  Your situation is the reverse of a normal situation but the cats would not be exposed to any more danger than a cat that entered the back garden first before leaving it to explore elsewhere.

[Bryony84]

I love genetics, so complex!

Not sure when the homecheck is, should be in about a week I guess. Our house is rented so I'm waiting for the promised letter of permission from the landlord, he came round a few weeks ago and said it would be absolutely fine though so thats ok. The only thing that concerns me about the homecheck is the lack of rear access from our house into the shared garden, although there is open access at both sides and we live in a cul-de-sac at the end of a set of roads which lead absolutely no-where so its very quiet. There are also no major roads nearby at all, its all just cul-de-sac housing and then some woods.

Piccy to illustrate what I mean, the red circle is where our front door is and the arrows are the access to the garden. Those of you who do home check, what do you think?

[Desley (booktigger)]

Actually, there are reports of sterile male torties, as there are two ways it can happen, one can be sterile, one never is. Very interesting subject.

[pandora]

Yep, have a male ginger boy very much like those in the pic.  He is 10 months old now and just so pretty.  I got interested in the male/female thing about gingers and read up about it.  Apparently all gingers are 2/3 male, 1/3 female.  Torties are female 700 to 1 male.  A male tortie it said would always be sterile.  That's how the gene would work it.  The strange world of genetics.

[Desley (booktigger)]

75% of gingers are male, and I can't remember the stats for torties. i think the majority of tabbies I have had have been female, although I had 2 male tabbies on fri!! They are gorgeous, good luck with the homecheck.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

  they are great.

Yes uusally gingers are male, well thats how it used to be but seem to be a lot of female gingers now.

As far as I know tabbys can be male or female but torties are very nearly always female................it would be very very rare to have a tortie male.

[LesleyW]

They are gorgeous, I can see why you have fallen in love - had two boys very similar last year, they were snapped up within a week of being here.

[Liz]

They are like our ginger lady feral Miss Lunar, hope you pass the homecheck and can look forward to be trained by 2 ginger ninja's

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

They're gorgeous. Fingers x'd and loads of positive vibes coming your way.

[ginge66]

They are gorgeous, they remind me of hippychicks ginger kittens.Goodluck with the home check, Do you know when that will be?

Someone once told me that all ginger cats are boys and tabby cats girls, not sure where that came from

[Mark]

Don't worry about the homecheck - I do them and we aren't interested in your taste in wallpaper. The only important things are that the cats will be safe and well looked after. I'm sure you will get them 

[Bazsmum]

Good luck with the homecheck....the kitties are lovely! 

[blackcat]

 

[Bryony84]

Went to see them again today (I can't stay away from them!)

Was there for about an hour in the end playing with them, really hope I pass the home check!!

Pic attached, they are both girls, about 6 months old - poor things have only been in the centre a few days so they are both a bit confused still! They look almost exactly the same in the pic but its easy to tell them apart, partly because one is lighter coloured than the other but also their personalities are totally different already!