Last week I made a bit of a controversial (or at least I consider it controversial) Urging owners to keep cats indoors poa.st/
Now I am not the person to vilify those that do keep cats outdoors or indoors/outdoors. I try to meet people where they are at. So here's some tips to keep your cats safe if you're going to let them free roam outdoors.
GET THEM FIXED.
It is not a meme, cats spread so many diseases through mating or fighting to fuck. It is estimated up to 20% of unfixed cats have contracted FIV and it's 2x more likely in males than females due to fighting. Females can also get pyometra (uterus infection) and difficulties during birth which can lead to death. Unfixed cats are also traveling further and more likely to be active during the most dangerous hours to be active (Night, twilight, dawn)
Keep them UTD on vaccines
Your outdoor cat should always be up to date on Rabies vaccine; More than 250 cats are diagnosed with rabies in the US every year, which is terrifying. Not only that, but if your cat bites someone without a rabies vaccine, it may have to be quarantined for 10 days or worse, tested for rabies (which requires decapitation).
FRVCP vaccine is necessary to protect your animal from feline herpes and panleuk (kitty parvo) as well as calicivirus; all transmissible through cats and difficult to treat. Herpes can flare up throughout the cat's lifetime.
FeLV is needed for cats that are going outdoors; feline leukemia is actually transmissible through saliva contact, and there is no cure. Cats with FeLV generally live a few years after infection.
There is not a vaccine for FIV.
Identification
The return to owner rate for lost cats in most shelters is under 1%, because most cats have no ID.
Microchipping can be a life saver. It is a one time cost, you do NOT need a subscription (some sites will make you sub if you want to change info on the chip, then just sub once and change info). Microchip company can not only tell vets and shelters how to contact you, but can hold important information like needed medications, if they're scared of men, etc.
Quick release collars with O contact are a great idea too. There is a chance that the collar will break, which is a good thing because that means your cat didn't get strangled, but it also means collar isn't fool proof. Don't bother with the collars with bells; they hunt just fine with the bells on and it only acts as a target for other predators when your cat isn't actively hunting.
On that collar you may want to also put the rabies tag on it, god forbid if your cat does bite there is proof right on the animal that it is UTD on rabies. Most rabies tags will also have the vet clinic info, and you can actually contact the vet clinic and search the animal by rabies tag # to find the owner.
Not quite ID but @sjw pointed me to GPS collars for cats; they aren't just for hunting dogs anymore. They are the more expensive option and have a sub associated but you'll have real time data on where your animal is, which a microchip can not do.
There are also trackers that are less fancy like airtags or smarttags that you can put on the collar.
Keep them inside (sometimes)
The most feline accidents seem to occur at night and the wee hours of the morning; this makes sense as there is less visibility (even for a cat), harder to see cats on the road, more activity in predator animals like owls, foxes, coyotes, and higher activity in other cats. Keeping them inside overnight will help lessen the chances of an accident
Give Them A Safe Space
You may not always be there to keep your cat safe, so make sure your yard has a safe spot for your cat. You can do this by making sure your cat has somewhere covered up high to get away from both predators on the ground and predators in the sky. A fence could also be helpful from slowing down pursuing cats and stopping other predators completely. A microchip pet door may be useful here, but do keep in mind that it takes a moment to work and other animals can sneak in behind. Make sure they have an insulated warm place when it's cold, and provide fresh, clean water.
Give Medicine Regularly
Cats that are going to be outdoors will need year-round flea/tick prevention to not only prevent parasitic infestations, but also disease like lyme (DYK toxo comes from severe flea infestation?). They also require regular deworming, ideally every 6 months to prevent parasitic damage, diarrhea, and weight loss. You may also want to consider heartworm prevention as well; while cats are not the intended host for heartworms, they can sometimes get heartworms, and when they do it is often lethal and treatment is highly experimental, expensive, and doesn't have the best prognosis.