Oh yes I know..... been there done that....And in the end he got hit by a car. He didn`t make it.
That`s why I made an enclosure for the new baby`s....I wont go through the pain again, and the lost of a life at alittle over a year old is a wast. I still feel like it`s all my falt.
I still miss him.

__________________
I know I need a spell checker.

[QUOTE=purplejenjen;1061450213]Thanks for all the responses. We dug out their old 6ft scratching post thing today which we had in our flat when they were all house cats and have been on zooplus and bought him lots more toys so were gonna keep him as a house cat. Were gonna start keeping the other 2 in on a night too. Unfortunately I don't think we'd be able to cat proof our garden as its approximately the size of a postage stamp. It's a very hard decision to make because your torn over not wanting them to get hurt again and knowing how much they love going out. Until you been in that situation I don't suppose you can really know how it feels
[/QUO
We have cat proofed our garden as i hadn't got the heart to keep them locked in.
You say that your garden is the size of a postage stamp and might not be suitable. With just some metal elbows fixed to 6 foot fencing and netting at the top it might be ok. Also it is not expensive to do It would just be a large cat run. In it you could put a outdoor wooden climbing frame for them and lots of cat friendly plants and shrubs for them to hide in.
Having lost out 16 year old cat last year to a RTA in our cul de sac i am very wary now. It's not the cats it's the selfish car drivers that speed and don't give any poor animals or birds a chance.
As with your little gang they are use to going outside so this might be a solution.
Even though ours are still safe in our garden they are always in at night, tucked up with us

Hope this helps

Attached Images

	Chloe 033.jpg (204.9 KB, 10 views)
	Chloe 034.jpg (203.9 KB, 8 views)

__________________

Have to agree with others on this - although I know how difficult it is keeping them in ... good luck xx perhaps if you just let him in garden for an hour in the day??? deffo keep in at night cos this will eliminate many dangers but obvuisly not all xx

__________________

A postage stamp-sized garden is ideal to catproof. Many people say they cannot catproof their garden because it is too large
It will cost you less and be easier too.
And the piece of mind you have is priceless

I would not let him out unsupervised ever again. Cat-proof your garden and keep him inside at night time. I know it's hard, but it's for the best. My cats are not allowed outside the garden and sometimes I feel sorry for them that they don't have the ultimate freedom. But we have tried to make the garden as fun for them as possible - there are lots of trees so we have built 3 tree platforms for them to perch on and look up and down the road. I'm sad that they can only look and can't go running off after squirrels and other cats, but our road although residential is getting more and more busy and the worry of a missing or injured cat is easily avoided this way. The other option is to harness-train them, something I have not managed to do with mine!

__________________
Rescue cats for many years, currently one moggie and 3 young Maine Coons.