We adopted Sasha when she was 8-months-old, and kept her indoors for 3 weeks prior to letting her outdoors. Because she was an adult cat, and because we had no other cats when we first had Sasha, I felt very comfortable letting her go for the first time. And now 6 years on, she has given me no cause for concern, always hanging around our house and coming inside for her evening nap.

With Darcey, we adopted her when she was 7-weeks-old and kept her indoors for only 2 weeks prior to letting her outdoors. She was only 9-weeks-old when I watched her disappear over a fence, and she was gone for 5 hours before showing up again. In hindsight, I think I let her outdoors too young, but she's half wildcat, so was going crazy indoors and even now 2 years later, cannot bear to be indoors for more than around 20 minutes at a time. Darcey likes to roam and disappears for a few hours at a time, showing up in her own good time. Still, she's always ok, and because she has always been so independant, so nervous of strangers, and so confident, I never worried about letting her go and don't worry about her now.

Now I have 9-week-old Sebastian. Hes been indoors for almost 1 week. And I'm nervous of letting him out for the first time! My other 2 cats hate him, but my 2 dogs have accepted him and he them. I'd like to raise him as a cat which would like to come indoors in the evenings and sit on my lap. But I also want him to live freely as my other cats do in the outdoors. How long should I keep him in for? My fiancé thinks to let him out next week, but I dunno. He's still very small ... I dunno why I'm so worried, cause my other 2 cats run freely, but there's just something worrying me about Sebastian ... I've got a feeling he won't be ok? That he will get lost or get hurt? Why am I so worried??? There have never been any problems with my other cats, and I'm sure I'm worrying over nothing. I just know I'm going to be panicking the first time I let him out, although I'm sure he'll be fine. I never was worried about Sasha or Darcey, and I hate this niggling feeling I have about Sebastian.

I'm worrying over nothing, aren't I.

I agree with you that 9 weeks seems very young to venture on his own. Sometimes a young one can follow an older one and not get lost but Sebastian doesn't have that protection.

You said Darcey was about 9 weeks old and you had some anxious moments.

You mentioned Sasha was 8 months old and you had no problem. 8 months old is a lot better than 9 weeks, I would think. I remember taking my kittens from their feral mom at 8 weeks and they had no sense at all....like climbing up something but didn't know how to get down. Plus dealing with other roaming animals...I don't know.

I always go by better safe than sorry but then I know I am overprotective. Hopefully, someone else has a better idea. Maybe you could sound out your vet also.

Listen to your intuition. It's talking for a reason. Mink and Willow got to go outside after about two months. When Mink was killed by a car, I couldn't bear to rescind Willow's outdoor privileges, but I only let him out when I'm home. Rohan and Luna are indoors only, for two years now. Luna doesn't care. Rohan clearly wishes to go outside, perhaps in part because his bestbuddyWillow gets to. Sable was an indoor-outdoor cat when I found her last November, and I finally let her outside starting in April. She hangs very close by. I let Roh out for just a few minutes a couple weeks ago, but I just couldn't do it, so he's been inside since. When I move across the street (house remodel) then I'm installing Purr-fect fence cat fencing, and then they'll all be able to go outside. I know I'm depriving Rohan of some adventure, but something in me is so strongly against letting him out into the woods. Follow your gut. ~Kim

Yes, I think you're right. Sebastian is very happy inside right now. Only this morning, I opened the back door and went outside to put the rubbish out, and had left it opened (forgetting completely about Sebastian; my other 2 are outdoor cats so I'm not used to being careful about leaving the doors opened)

I came back to the back door to see him standing there at the back door entrance. He could easily have made a run for it and gone, especially when I had disappeared to the bins. But he just looked up at me and said 'miaw', rubbed up against me and walked back into the family room. He had no interest in going outside.

So he's staying in for now, ironically by his own choice. I'm sure after a couple more weeks he'll want to go outside, and when he does, I'll let him go. I'm very pleased he has made the decision himself, as I felt very conflicted.