"Outdoor Cats"
 

So one of our local shelters has "outdoor cats" for adoption. I think this means feral or semi-feral, the kind who prefer minimal contact. Have you heard of this before? What would fostering or adopting an "outdoor cat" be like? Do they want to come inside when it's cold, or do you build them an outdoor kitty hutch?

I had a cat that was an outside cat and she did not want to come in the house , I also had a dog so that had something to do with it too. I was living in California so it did not get too cold at night and my cat slept on a small porch I had in the back of my house , there was a shelve that my cat could jump onto . Some outside cats hate to be the house all day, so it would be best to have safe dry place for the cat use if it need to escape from an animal or dog and stay dry . Some people like to adopt outside cats to use as a barn cat to keep the rodents away.

How do you keep the cat from running away? I'm not experienced with cats, so I don't really get the whole concept. How do they know this is their home now?

they wouldn't, silverwind. it takes them a while to learn a territory and they'd likely go traveling to try to get 'home'.

have you talked to the shelter that is offering 'outdoor cats'? it might be that they've rescued these cats and now expect them to be kept indoors when adopted. but they'll be able to tell you exactly what the program is about.

The feral cat I had in California never tried to go back home , she just stayed around my house . I guess she realize she had a good thing going , plenty of food and water and she got attention when she wanted it. My daughter's family adopted a cat from a shelter , they where not sure how long he been living outside. He is an inside cat now loves to sit on a window sill and watch the birds and daydream about hunting them.