Hi everyone!
I recently got a bit of a telling-off from a Birman breeder who was quite intense. She told me these cats are absolutely not meant to be outdoors, that they’re fragile and not at all equipped for the dangers out there like a common moggy would be. Basically, she reckoned that letting a Birman out is like a death sentence because they’d end up falling out of a tree, getting run over, attacked by other animals, or eating something that would make them sick, and so on...
I’ve had my Birman for 18 months and gradually got him used to going outside. He’s microchipped and neutered, and these days he goes out during the day as he pleases (never at night).
It’s true he’s a bit clumsy and doesn’t really have a hunter’s instinct... He prefers grasshoppers to mice or birds. He climbs trees and struggles a bit to get back down, but he always manages it in the end and has never fallen. To be fair, he’s definitely more heavy-footed than your average moggy. But he has a blast outdoors, and I never thought it was a real danger! Letting him out was never really a question for me; I live in a tiny 35sqm cottage deep in the countryside, with a big garden surrounded by fields and no roads nearby, so it seemed a shame to keep him cooped up. Plus, he never wanders far... at most to the neighbouring field, and only then if he’s feeling particularly brave! But what she said has worried me. I’m much less relaxed leaving him when I go to work now, thinking he might fall or break something while I'm out. That said, I can’t see myself locking him in now that he’s used to the outdoors and knows his little patch; it would be cruel.
What do you think? Do you let your "not made for the outdoors" cats out? Should I be keeping him inside?
