Cats outside in Finland

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Zack999
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Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2018 9:29 am

Cats outside in Finland

Post by Zack999 » Mon Mar 12, 2018 9:40 am

Hi, Myself and my partner are looking to move to Finland, we're still deciding where - possibly Turku. We have two cats, and they are used to going outside. I was ideally looking for a ground floor apartment or a house away from from big roads.
I've heard a few times that cats are not allowed to go outside, is this a city rule, or just an apartment block rule (which wouldn't apply to houses). Culturally is it a big no no allowing your cats outside in Finland?



Cats outside in Finland

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Upphew
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Location: Lappeenranta

Re: Cats outside in Finland

Post by Upphew » Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:54 pm

Zack999 wrote:
Mon Mar 12, 2018 9:40 am
Hi, Myself and my partner are looking to move to Finland, we're still deciding where - possibly Turku. We have two cats, and they are used to going outside. I was ideally looking for a ground floor apartment or a house away from from big roads.
I've heard a few times that cats are not allowed to go outside, is this a city rule, or just an apartment block rule (which wouldn't apply to houses). Culturally is it a big no no allowing your cats outside in Finland?
In countryside they roam like they did in olden days, catching mice (ok) and birds (not so ok). In cities you can let your cat out, but you must ensure it doesn't go places it shouldn't go, eg. playgrounds, other peoples' yards, marketplaces or fitness trails (when not on a leash). Good luck filling that requirement without cage or leash. Also I have heard that lynxes train their cubs to hunt with cats, but I think that is more rural problem and your cat should fear more traffic than wildlife.
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Zack999
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2018 9:29 am

Re: Cats outside in Finland

Post by Zack999 » Mon Mar 12, 2018 8:38 pm

Thanks Upphew, yeah keeping them outside of other peoples yards would be impossible. One of them would be ok to be kept inside, can't see the other one coping with it though. Neither can catch birds thankfully, just the odd spider. Have to think if it is kinder to find him a new home in the UK, but I'm too attached - a bit of a dilemma

Rosamunda
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Re: Cats outside in Finland

Post by Rosamunda » Mon Mar 12, 2018 9:59 pm

My cat goes outside several times a day even in -20C :lol: she's a farm-born 'mouser' that lives in suburban Espoo during the winter and the back of beyond for the rest of the year (May thru October-ish). It's a problem. I know the neighbours don't like cats but I assume that they will shoo her away and eventually she will not go where she is not welcome. She has a bell around her neck to keep the birds safe and that works quite well (with birds, ineffective with mice, lizards, toads etc).

Some neighbours are very verbal on the local Facebook page about cats pooping on pathways, in gardens and playgrounds etc, though IMO the supikoira, roe deer and rogue dog owners are equally to blame. Our cat seems to use its (indoor) poop box all year round anyway :roll:

We are in a house with a garden (in Espoo) - I would probably not keep a cat if I lived all year round in an apartment. Too complicated, unless you keep the cat indoors all the time (which I probably wouldn't do).

FinnGuyHelsinki
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Re: Cats outside in Finland

Post by FinnGuyHelsinki » Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:36 am

Even though there's no law mandating keeping a cat on a leash or in a cage when outside, in a city/town one cannot have a cat roaming freely and realistically expect to not break some regulations, e.g. keeping the cat out of yards, playgrounds, sports fields, running/skiing pathways, public beaches,... It's lawful to catch a cat (without harming it) and take it to an animal shelter, if I had someone's cat running around my yard and pissing all over the place (as they usually do), I'd probably do just that.

Zack999
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Re: Cats outside in Finland

Post by Zack999 » Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:59 pm

It's lawful to catch a cat (without harming it) and take it to an animal shelter, if I had someone's cat running around my yard and pissing all over the place (as they usually do), I'd probably do just that.
I guess it's a cultural thing that I'm not quite used too. There are foxes, birds, hedgehogs and the like all pissing in everyones gardens where I live anyway, so I don't quite understand the difference a cat would make - far better for the environment that they do it outside in some bushes rather than in a tray of cat litter that inevitably goes to landfill.

Upphew
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Re: Cats outside in Finland

Post by Upphew » Wed Mar 14, 2018 4:19 pm

Zack999 wrote:
Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:59 pm
It's lawful to catch a cat (without harming it) and take it to an animal shelter, if I had someone's cat running around my yard and pissing all over the place (as they usually do), I'd probably do just that.
I guess it's a cultural thing that I'm not quite used too. There are foxes, birds, hedgehogs and the like all pissing in everyones gardens where I live anyway, so I don't quite understand the difference a cat would make - far better for the environment that they do it outside in some bushes rather than in a tray of cat litter that inevitably goes to landfill.
In more civilized part of Europe people lived in villages that had houses bunched up. Our version of village had couple of houses within sight and one or two smokes rising to horizon. Personal space is way larger. And if YOUR cat is in MY yard doing its business... that won't do.
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FinnGuyHelsinki
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Re: Cats outside in Finland

Post by FinnGuyHelsinki » Thu Mar 15, 2018 9:04 am

Zack999 wrote:
Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:59 pm
I guess it's a cultural thing that I'm not quite used too. There are foxes, birds, hedgehogs and the like all pissing in everyones gardens where I live anyway, so I don't quite understand the difference a cat would make - far better for the environment that they do it outside in some bushes rather than in a tray of cat litter that inevitably goes to landfill.
I should've elaborated that I was talking about residential areas. Cat piss can really stink, my parents used to have a dog, which kept the cats away at least from most of the back yard, but you could often tell that neighbors' cats had been around after e.g. having been away for the weekend. Had there been a sand box for small children on the property, likely that would'be been full of cat piss and !"#¤%. Letting a cat roam on the yards of others is illegal and for a reason, it's not a cultural thing, even though the odds of getting caught much less getting fined for it are small. Obviously many cat owners will deny, probably also in their minds, that surely it couldn't have been their cat. Thus the only legal remedy is to take the cat to a shelter and have the owner be catless, at least for a while.


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