Pet cats in Manitou Springs and area (Denver: houses, luxury)

[jhnpennington]

Hello all,
My wife and I are considering moving to Colorado, and have been considering a few diferent areas.
I have posted in the Denver forum and found a number of the people on there pretty hard edged (see my post regarding outdoor cats!)
I appreciate that people have wildly differing views on the subject, but, personal views aside, would it be safe for my two cats to go outside in any area around Manitou, or is it just too dangerous?
I would not let my cats roam too far BTW or go onto neighbours property.
Is fencing off an area possible, or would wildlife just get in and attack my cats anyway?
I hope the folks on here are a little friendlier than those in Denver.

Thank you for your time,
John.

[TughillTina]

Cats are part of the landscape in Manitou. You should have no problems but not all like cats so it seems to be risky no matter where you live. Depending on where you live in Manitou a yard is seen as a luxury, not much space between houses. Good luck!

[COflower]

Just so everyone is clear, I have already put my view out there:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/5248285-post2.html

Oh and a few people agree with me. Just saying.

[jhnpennington]

COflower,

I should imagine an awful lot of people are familiar with your views on a wide range of subjects.

Cheers,
John.

[COflower]

< snicker >

I deserved that. But yeah, I wanted to be sure people knew that I had already posted on this subject as you did it in the Denver forum. I was born and raised here and in my life a lot of lost kitties. Partly lost because of coyotes. You rarely see them around here and they do that on purpose but they live along Colorado's Front Range so expect the loss of your kitties to happen. Bengals are a welcome breed in our area (so as far as I know) but also please know they need to be indoor kitties unless supervised. Manitou or the west side is not a desirable place for outdoor cats...no place is unless you own many, many, many acres of land. Heck even out east of us, wild packs of dogs live.

For you and the love you have for your cats, please make them indoor. You will not regret this decision. I promise you. Heck my dog is mostly indoor (so he's not a pain in the butt for the neighbors as he is a barker)...so please reconsider it.

[Katarina Witt]

John: Please do not take a few posts as indicative of the general attitude up in Denver. I just posted something a few minutes ago, and another more pro-cat person posted earlier this morning.

In fact, the reason I jumped into that fray at all was to give an alternate opinion, especially because the first few posters said you should stay in the UK if you wanted to let your cats out! In fact, I think that was the first response. Not exactly a Colorado welcome!

The coyote issue is probably more of a concern than mtn lions in the metro Denver area. I don't know COS well, but my niece has a cat down there and she lets him go in and out. He is 7 yrs old, so he hasn't gotten eaten yet.

[lizmyer]

I would say, only for the safety of your cat, do keep it indoors, and if you are to let it out, keep a good eye on it. It would be terrible for your cat to be killed just because you let it out one day and went to work. Not only are there coyotes, there are fox, the neighbors dog, cars, any number of dangers for an animal of small size and strength. They can easily get lost, even if you do have a fenced yard. If you cat has their claws, that might be a little better, but I would suggest keeping them inside or outside only when you are watching them.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by lizmyer

I would say, only for the safety of your cat, do keep it indoors, and if you are to let it out, keep a good eye on it. It would be terrible for your cat to be killed just because you let it out one day and went to work. Not only are there coyotes, there are fox, the neighbors dog, cars, any number of dangers for an animal of small size and strength. They can easily get lost, even if you do have a fenced yard. If you cat has their claws, that might be a little better, but I would suggest keeping them inside or outside only when you are watching them.

I would definitely agree with that. Our cat(s) stay in when we're not at home. The one we have now thinks she's part dog, and comes pawing at the back door to come in after a short time outside. Always in at night, even if we have to go looking for her.

[jhnpennington]

Hello Katiana,

That is the kind of thing I had in mind, out in the day if it was safe, and one of us was at home, but definitely in at night.
May I also thank you very much for your kind help, it is much appreciated.

Regards,
John,

[SheridanL]

My DH and I HAD a cat (for 11 years). She WAS the most loving, tolerant cat ever!! I have a small dog that hated her and she never even swiped at him...just ran and tolerated him. Anyway........... she WAS indoor/outdoor. Her food/water and warm bed were inside.
She WAS a hunter though. Ate and killed everything outdoors.
We move to Florida a year and a half ago (been back for 6 months now).
We moved to Vero Beach (directly on the ocean with, 9 acres of jungle around us)............she was in heaven (on the backside, not the ocean side),
We saw her last June on Fathers Day....we were sitting on the ocean in our lounge chairs (she NEVER came on the ocean side). She stayed with us for about a half an hour and,....we haven't seen her since.
I am sure she got too close to some of the bobcats that walked the property OR, someone thought she was soooo beautiful, they kept her!

I am on 2 acres with all kinds of wildlife...she could kick any of their a$$es. I am glad she was with us for 1 month but,.....I would say to WATCH your precious cats....one never knows.
Cayote, foxes, skunks, farm cats, etc...were no match...it all depends on what they are used to in THEIR original enviroment! Be safe for them ,...Good Luck