Can cats safely roam the outdoors in the panhandle area? (Coeur d'Alene: neighborhood, organic)

[angrymillionaire]

Originally Posted by oldafretired

Since I'll be in a forested area I would guess there are a lot of predators around that might look at a cat as lunch. Can cats roam around in relative safety?

I have a couple of outdoor cats that will become Idaho residents next year. I'm thinking of making them live in the house during the snowy winters but let them roam around in the summer. Would that be a bad idea?

Yes very idea some of us HATE CATS. Dont be selfish. Why burden people with your pets?
My house is cat unfriendly in the summer, lilies etc as far as I know its legal but a cat wont make it out alive

[mistyriver]

No venomous snakes in the top 5 northernmost counties according to the Panhandle Health District snakes

Our cats have been indoor/outdoor cats since we've had Great Pyrenees as livestock guardian dogs for the past 11 years and they've mostly been safe. One disappeared but he had a habit of wandering farther afield. When our last Pyr passes, the cats will transition to mostly indoors, especially at night. Just too many hungry predators out there hunting where we live.

[elousv]

Maybe stuffed saw your current location as high dessert and was confused with the rattlers.

[oldafretired]

Originally Posted by slingshot

No poisonous snakes in the top two counties of Idaho. That's what I was always told when I lived there. I never saw one either and we lived in a tipi for the first two years. Through the winters too.
My wife and I always let our cat run outside when we lived there. No problems. Now we have two cats that we got at the shelter that have always been inside cats. That's where we keep them, inside, for their safety.

That's good to hear about the snakes. Yup, indoors will be the way to go.

[oldafretired]

Originally Posted by Kevlaw

I have this same question about a 10 pound dog. I guess it really depends on the area surrounding your house. I think my little dog will be a little safer than a cat, but I think precautions will need to be taken with a good fence and maybe restricting when the little guy gets to go outside.

We also have a 100+ pound bullmastiff, not as worried about her. She does seem to like bears, that is obviously a problem. She may think she is a bear, but would quickly find out she is lunch.

Wow! I'm sure a big dog like yours won't have too much to worry about.

Did you decide where you're going to live?

[oldafretired]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

No venomous snakes in the top 5 northernmost counties according to the Panhandle Health District snakes

Our cats have been indoor/outdoor cats since we've had Great Pyrenees as livestock guardian dogs for the past 11 years and they've mostly been safe. One disappeared but he had a habit of wandering farther afield. When our last Pyr passes, the cats will transition to mostly indoors, especially at night. Just too many hungry predators out there hunting where we live.

Thank you for the link. It's nice not to have to worry about rattlers and having to watch every step you take in the forest.

Are there a lot of ticks during certain times of the year and do your cats ever pick them up?

[oldafretired]

Originally Posted by elousv

Maybe stuffed saw your current location as high dessert and was confused with the rattlers.

You might be right. But I've seen very few rattlers here. The last one I saw was outside the hospital at Edwards AFB while I was still working there about 15 years ago.

[elousv]

Well I saw tons when living there. Anyhow some of my neighbors do let cats out, but call them in at night.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by oldafretired

Thank you for the link. It's nice not to have to worry about rattlers and having to watch every step you take in the forest.

Are there a lot of ticks during certain times of the year and do your cats ever pick them up?

I've had/have horses, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, rabbits, etc and I've had just one cat pick up a tick once. I've heard others complain about them but we've never had any problems at all.

Now yellowjackets are another matter entirely.

[lovecda]

Originally Posted by oldafretired

Is that right? My real estate agent said there were no rattlers around there. (just north of CDA) I should have been paying more attention when I was walking around my lot which is full of trees and tall grass. I''ll be more careful next time I go up there next spring.

Like mistyriver said, we don't seem to have poisonous snakes up here. I've never seen a poisonous snake in North Idaho. Rattlesnakes are, however, quite common in southern Idaho. Growing up in Nampa I saw them regularly. As far as I know they don't really show up north of the Snake River (Lewiston).

Originally Posted by Kevlaw

I have this same question about a 10 pound dog. I guess it really depends on the area surrounding your house. I think my little dog will be a little safer than a cat, but I think precautions will need to be taken with a good fence and maybe restricting when the little guy gets to go outside.

Yeah, dogs are pretty safe as long as they're in a fenced area. Might have to worry about birds of prey that think the 10lb one looks like a rabbit.... As for cats, fences have no meaning to them. Fences also have no meaning to deer, but deer won't generally bother dogs.

Originally Posted by oldafretired

Are there a lot of ticks during certain times of the year and do your cats ever pick them up?

I've heard that there's a tick problem, and even though my cat is an exclusively indoor cat at his annual checkups the vet always checks for ticks in case one somehow got tracked inside. So there might be a little cause for concern there. He's never had one, but one of my parents' dogs got a tick once. Can't hurt to check every once in awhile.