[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by DemolitionRed

We inherited 2 Bengal brothers who were house cats. After six months and much destruction...Bengals are notorious for this, we sold our house and decided to go off and spend our summer out in the sticks in a North American Indian teepee. The cats were in seventh heaven and although they never roamed far, they lived under the stars with us and had what I would call, a proper cat life. When we moved back into suburbia, there was no way these two lads were going to accept the confines of four walls and so we did, cautiously let them out after rush-hour in the evening for about four hours.

Within two weeks Jaz came back with an injured front leg. We will never know what happened but he just lost complete feeling in that leg and it had to be amputated. Jaz no longer wanted to go out and even if he'd wanted to we probably would of prevented it. Only a few months later, his brother Boe got into a cat fight with a tom cat and ended up so badly injured that it was touch and go for a while. His personality changed and he wouldn't even go near the door or sit looking out of the window for about a year.

I think it very much depends on what breed of cat you own. If its an expensive pedigree and overly friendly, chances of it getting stolen are really high. Siamese are meant to make great house cats because they are more like dogs in nature but I'd advise buying a Bengal as a house cat because they will drive you nuts!

Bengals and other cats like Ragdoll cats are often targeted by humans because they are such a rare breed. If I owned any of those cats, I wouldn't let them outside either. Sorry to hear your cats went through so much sometimes some cats just arent meant for the outside