General Chat

My cat sleeps in my bedroom - he's very good, goes to sleep when I do and doesn't get up until I do although he does jump on me sometimes if I don't get up early enough. He has got a cat flap and comes and goes as he pleases during the day but I lock it at night so he can't get out. I can't sleep if he isn't inside, wondering if he's been run over or something. The one time I forgot to lock it, he went out and didn't come home for 2 days, I was distraught, I think he was locked in somewhere. Never again - it gets locked without fail now. Sam x

Yes - you're quite right it is 'Bell Book & Candle'. It was the name of an imp that was a common witches familiar according to Hopkins the Witchfinder General. When we 'inherited' Pye he had already been given the name Pythagoras but answered to Pi . I couldn't resist changing it slightly to being short for Pyewacket. When he is naughty he gets called Mr Wacket!! Julie R

We had three cats years an yearsago and every night we would boot them out

My boys can come and go as they please. One goes to bed with my daughter and stays there all night. The other one comes up and sleeps on my feet in the early hours. Cats should always have a refuge so if you do put them out at night, please, for their own safety, make sure they can get in somewhere and be safe. Ours can't stay in the house if we're not there because they set the alarm off, but we always make sure they can get into the rear lobby and the bathroom. I wouldn't want them to be chased by Big Ginge from No 26 and not be able to get away. Sheila

5 cats, 3 on our bed!!!! one on a chair or on a hot pipe and one on daughters bed!! quick headcount before I go to bed, I know that they will be there in the morning as it is feeding time LOL they do have access to the flapflap and two litter trays though

Thank you everyone for your replies and views. As I said before, I do not want Laurel and Hardy to be out at night, but having them in the house is soooo noisy and disruptive. If you close a door they will scratch and miaow until it is opened, and if they come into the bedroom they pounce on our feet or burrow under the duvet and sneeze in our faces. As I said at the beginning this went on until 3.30 this morning - hubby was mad. So, they go in the garage, where they have all mod cons, but I still feel guilty. I am doing the best I can for the family as a whole however - life is full of compromises after all. Liz :-)

We bring in our 5 at night, Liz. Always have done. Unfortunately, every now and then, there's a spate of cats and kittens going missing; I'd rather ours were in. x

Always made sure my three were in at night, even after I moved and one of them kept going back to the old stamping ground three streets away. I would have to leave my then 5 year old in bed and run down the road calling Chloe softly till I saw her and could grab her. That was in the autumn when we first moved, as soon as it started to get colder she would stay close by home and come in when I called. Then Lucy got a bit awkward and would hide under cars parked outside. The number of nights I was on my knees by the cars shaking the box of cat biscuits or laying a trail to tempt her in, don't know what the neighbours thought. But always made sure they were in - would never dream of shoving them out as I went to bed, that is just irresponsible.

I/we have had any number of cats over the years and have always found that I/we have to simply go along with whatever the cats themselves want. Some want to be in at night and some prefer to be out. All are banished from our bedroom as a regular thing, though we have one now who likes to sleep at the foot of our bed as a treat. Nut (pronounced Noot, an Egyptian cat goddess whom she resembles) is a most unusual cat. In an area renowned for coyotes who love to feast on cat, she has the good sense to be inside from mid-evening on. Sometimes if she decides on a night on the 'town' and she is late we have to call her in, but she will not respond to her name, I have to miaow for her and if perhaps I am closing the door thinking she is not coming but she is within earshot, she shouts for me to keep the door open! She knows where our bedroom is too, and if she is so late that we have gone to bed, she calls beneath our window until someone - my husband - gets up to let her in!! Dogs have owners, cats have staff, but the staff have the right to designate the cat bedroom and a garage sounds fine to me! :-)

Haven't read the whole thread. My two, Zak and Mocha have never set foot outside the house. Well, Zak did once, and was found panting from stress on the doorstep the next day. There are too many cayotes around our neighbourhood. Instant food for them. A few of the neighbours use to have outside cats....never to be seen again. The girl at work said that she didn't sleep the other night........cayotes killing either a cat or a racoon. Took quite a while ...told her not to say any more as it was upsetting me. So safe to say - mine are here indoors with me.

We have the same problem here Deb, but haven't yet found a way to keep a cat indoors that doesn't want to be in without spending every night sleepless ourselves. :-(