We have a cat and 2 small dogs. The cat is 5 months old. She was raised by someone completely indoors and we got her at 8 weeks. The cat is friendly with the dogs and they have hysterically funny romps and playing around the house. They are all pals. The dilemma is when we let the dogs into the backyard. She stands there and does not understand what is going on. She wants to go too, and doesn't understand where her pals are going and why she doesn't get to go. After they go in the yard she sits at the glass door, or the window sill and watches them. And it appears to be longingly :-/... so I guess I feel bad for her (we had a cat a few years back that we could not keep inside no matter how hard we tried, he would sneak out). With that cat we actually had an incident where some jerk got him and covered him with motor oil. At the time the vet told us that people do mean things to cats and she had seen lots of things. So I say all of that to say that I want to protect this kitty and do not want her to be outside and ever get hurt. But then I can't help but feel bad when the dogs go in the backyard and she is confined to live her life indoors. What are you guys thoughts concerning cats and indoors/outdoors? Any advice is appreciated so I can one to a conclusion. She has NEVER been outdoors ever in her 5 1/2 months of life.

I've rescued many cats from outdoors (it's a mean world out there -- traffic, coyotes, even a mountain lion was sighted recently here in the CHICAGO suburbs, raccoons, raptors, mean dogs that got loose, etc.). None of my rescued cats have ever wanted to go back outside -- "are you kidding me?!" and "you can't be serious!!!" they say.

We have window seats for them and a glass enclosure where they can sit or lie in safety and watch the outdoors activities. If you think your cat is looking forlorn, it's only your feelings that you are projecting onto her. If you let your cat go outdoors, plan on her having a much shorter life (3-5 years) than if she stays indoors (15+ years).

Thank you Wondergirl for your advice. I think you are correct and I am going to listen to what you say. We also have window sills and several window seats that she does look outside from. We will leave it at that. Thanks for the reminder of the mean world out there that could hurt her :-).

I'm facing this dilemma for a different reason - my 2 year old cat has always been an outdoor cat, and I just moved to a very rural area where there are coyotes (in packs), bears, big cats, and birds of prey. She goes beserk if I don't let her out! I worry, worry, worry. I know I have to decide either to keep her in or accept the fact that she could die young in a horrible way. And it won't even be easy logistically to keep her in, with a big open floor plan and other people living here.