I tend to follow the school of thought that says that there are very few cats who don't WANT to go outdoors and as they can get destructive if they are bored, it is, on balance, a healthy way for them to live and to use up their mental and physical energy. There are exceptions though - in London in particular (or large cities).  Pedigrees are at risk of being stolen if allowed to free range outdoors and any cat with FIV should not be allowed outdoors in order to prevent the spread of the disease (not as serious as in humans and not transmittable to anything other than another cat through biting or mating).  My thread on here at the moment is dealing with the fallout from someone using a cat for irresponsible and uncontrolled breeding who now has FIV and won't be allowed outdoors again. I don't think there are any rescue places which will home a healthy kitten to you without them being given access to the outdoors though if any of my 5 foster kittens (HAWS) test positive for FIV they will have to go to an indoor only home. You can "cat proof" your garden to prevent the cats going any further than there (I think Clare has done this as she has pedigrees). The price of allowing them to roam?  Injury, getting lost, fighting and receiving little "gifts" of wildlife.  But a big part of a cat's life is to patrol its territory and most cats look for a territory that includes outdoors. And an intelligent cat will be more frustrated than a not so intelligent cat. Whatever you do, PLEASE get your kittens neutered as soon as they are old enough and DON'T be tempted to "have just one litter".... there are far too many kittens being put to sleep because there are not enough loving homes for them, it prevents a degree of fighting with other cats, prevents testicular and mammary cancer.  And please get them vaccinated against FIV+ and Leukemia.  Two of our cats when I was growing up died from leukemia (pre vaccination days) and its a horrible death and as I said I'm currently dealing with the fall out of a mother cat with FIV.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
One kitten or two?	14/10/14 07:59:00	Anna Beck
Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:00:00	Georgina Flint
Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:10:00	Gail Busza
Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 11:19:00	Andrew Craig
Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:07:00	Charlotte Kasner
Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:11:00	Georgina Flint
Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 11:24:00	Carl Wynne
Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:12:00	Gail Busza
Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 10:11:00	Louise Cole
Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 13:28:00	Anna Beck
Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:29:00	Vanessa Smith
Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:46:00	Jean Ross
Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:51:00	Fiona Rivaz
Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:52:00	Viv Griffiths
Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 09:56:00	Gail Busza
Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 10:13:00	Cindy Carloss
Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 10:20:00	Claire Moran
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 11:48:00	Johanne Coker
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 12:14:00	S Powell
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 13:30:00	Anna Beck
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 14:10:00	Louise Cole
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 14:11:00	Jennifer Anderson
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 14:36:00	Claire Moran
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 14:49:00	Vanessa Smith
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 14:54:00	Anna Beck
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 14:59:00	Claire Moran
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:One kitten or two?	14/10/14 15:35:00	Gail Busza

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