If you want to give your kitty companion the best shot at a long comfortable life, keep them indoors, it’s as simple as that.
Leads exist, and so do catios and window boxes if you’re lucky enough to have the space, they can still enjoy the sunshine and fresh air without risk of them getting run over, attacked by another animal/person, getting injured otherwise. I know I just couldn’t bear it if my baby was outside all on her own and got hurt…Yeah, cats are safer if you never let them go outside, sure.
So are humans. But would you want to live like that?
You running in forests, hunting for food with bare hands, fighting with bears for survival?
That’s my thought exactly. But they have the mind of a child, so there has to be a middle ground especially if living in a town or busy street. No idea what that could be. If only cats would stay inside the yard, or a cat park like dogs lol.
But keeping them indoors 100% of the time? Total wrong end of the spectrum, borderline abuse.
Lmao humans are able to look at a car and think “I’m not gonna dart in front of that”
And should dogs be let out to roam free too?
I do live like that.
Importantly, while cats are safer indoors, vulnerable wildlife is much safer when cats are indoors.
We don’t let small children cross the street by themselves. That’s because kids have no concept of what a street is, or how dangerous it is. Same for cats, but add in plenty of predators and diseases. Outdoor cats have a much shorter life expectancy than indoor cats.
But do they actually get to live though?
Gilded cage and all that.
Yep, that’s my philosophy. Never had a kid age past ten, but they get to live such full lives wandering around the neighborhood until they get run over
I think the bigger thing than them potentially getting hurt is the fact that they will hunt and decimate local fauna
It can be both
We don’t let small children cross the street by themselves. That’s because kids have no concept of what a street is, or how dangerous it is.
No, that’s because certain societies are okay with roads being dangerous, and would rather lock their children inside than regulate vehicles.
(Unless by small children you mean babies, then agreed.)
I’m guessing your American? If you try finding a rescue cat for indoors they won’t let you have one. Most cats in the UK and any given by charities are outdoor cats.
So everyone insisting on one of the other is being very… Annoyingly ignorant!
Yeah I only know this viewpoint from posters in the US. In Europe I only know the prevailing notion that keeping cats indoors is cruel and they should be outside. Exceptions for large cities ofc but I only know social pressure to get cats out, not keep them in.
I guess Finland is an exception. Here you’re not supposed to let cats roam free because they could get hurt or die and it would be irresponsible pet ownership. Some still do it ofc.
As an American, I have never seen an animal shelter adoption contract that didn’t have a clause about never letting the cat outside. Obviously there are exceptions for leashes and catios, but you get the idea
It’s the opposite in the UK where the default is outdoor. So you end up with these very passionate online debates between outdoor vs indoor which are ore due to cultural & geographical differences between countries than any real science.
So it’s akin to a religious war.
Except one side is backed up with science, studies, and facts, the other is backed up by… Tradition.
Yeah, and it is not the side that you think it is.
Which is which? Because I’ve seen some show science for keeping cats indoors but I’ve shared two studies based in the UK that show cats are better outdoors. Like I say it’s based on geography too. As some people have pointed out cats have been a wild species in the UK for millenia. So them being outdoors here isn’t an issue.
Stop being a dick.
You can’t compare the impact of actual native wild cats with the impact of domestic cats. It’s such a huge difference in numbers.
As you said, some areas have wild cats and the ecosystem is tuned to that. But even in those areas the comparable extremely high numbers of additional predators (domesticated cats) is damaging to the wildlife.The RSPB says outdoor cats aren’t a problem and I linked to a study done by Bristol University in another comment that states they aren’t a problem.
Feel free to fuck off and read them and stop talking like your rules are universal across the globe.
That’s not true. I have 2 rescue cats currently indoor only and have had more previously. There’s a few rescues I can think of that look for outdoor homes, and a few who are strictly indoor, but most are quite open minded.
I’m not saying they don’t exist. They’re just more rare and the default is “outdoor”. I’ve been looking into getting an indoor cat for my flat but couldn’t find a single one in Manchester.
I’m probably going to buy a plant instead. :(
Try these guys, they’re strictly indoor and many of their cats are Birmingham which is close - https://www.strawberrypersianpedigreecatrescue.co.uk/adoption/
Cats protection is either though and they’re everywhere.
My cats are indoors because I lived next to a cat hater and in a busy street when I got them. Back then I would let them outside on a leash. During the day they were too scared, but they loved investigating the garden in the evening.
Now I live at a calmer street and have a small walled garden. They love going outside during the day now without a leash. I always stay with them and if they attempt to jump the wall they have to go inside immediately.
My sisters cats are outdoor cats. They are a lot less affectionate than my cats. My cats greet me when I get home, they like to lay on my lap and they love getting pet. My sisters cats only show up when they’re hungry or when the weather is too bad and will scratch if you pet them longer than 2 seconds.
Live in Sweden and have 3 cats. Two are outdoor cats and one wanted to be an outdoor cat but he kinda realised he is fat and lazy and wants to stay home. So this felt very accurate for the cats who live with me!
Oh and in Sweden all cats are tagged and registered in case any should go missing. I could not imagine a world where I would deny my cats the right to go outside. Then again I did move to the countryside just so my cats could have a better life far away from traffic.
My cat’s quality of life was dogshit indoors. She had bad allergic reactions all the time, would stop eating, Vet bills piled up with no explanations. I let her roam the neighborhood now, shes happy as a pig in shit. Her weight is stable, shes not breaking out in rashes all the time, and she entertains the neighbors. Cry me a river about all the mice and bunnies she kills.
Forgot to mention the little animals the outdoor cat kill along the way.
Working in the office vs working from home.
Indoor cats still move a lot around the house, destroying stuff.
Wow, today I learned people think it’s better for the cats to keep they locked in… I pity birds who have that kind of life, now I pity those cats too
Now today you can learn that outdoor cats kill wildlife for fun. You can also learn that outdoor cats have half the life expectancy as indoor cats
Imagine getting a highly evolved killer as a pet, perfectly tuned for a life of exploration, combat and death, and forcing them to live a long, soft boring life.
What’s that point of living more? You’d prefer to live more in a cage? That’s not a point at all. I can understand the wildlife reasoning, but then we should just forbid cats in those places then
Or we should just let the birds fucking die. Who cares. Dumb fucking bird dies to cat. Way it’s been since the dawn of life on this earth.
It’s gotta feel sad to realize the only way people pay attention to you is by saying stupid or bad things.
I don’t think you actually believe this, and I hope your loneliness goes away in a way that’s eventually positive for you.
Are you a retard, or do you just act like one? You crying for the birds?
Shame on everyone in this thread that wants to have an argument about indoor v outdoor cats. 99 problems this isn’t one we need to pull out the torches for.
Cat owners who let their cats roam are irresponsible and entitled
You’re uninformed. Cats co-evolved with humans to serve a job (pest control, in exchange for safety and the occasional bit of food). There have only been fully indoor cats for a few hundred years. Not all cats have to have a job, but some WANT one, just like dogs. We should let them.
My cat is angry with me if I don’t let him spend at least 12 hours a day roaming and catching bugs and mice. He has neighbor cat friends that he goes to see. Why would I deprive him of that?
I think we have different definitions of irresponsible or entitled behavior if you think giving the cat what it wants or otherwise doing whatever our selfish uninformed ancestors did is the correct option.
You should deprive your invasive manmade predator the option to kill local wildlife for sport because the local ecosystem takes irreparable damage every time a species goes extinct due to human incompetence. Cats naturally belonged to a small region of northern Africa and the Mediterranean before humans spread them across the entire earth and let their population boom from hundreds to hundreds of millions.
mmmmmega akshully vibes
Ah yes, those damned educated people making choices that are beneficial to themselves and others. NEEEEEEERRRRRRRDDDSSSSS~!!!
after finding it quite surprising that folks here feel so strongly about forcing such a depressing life on highly independent creatures, I decided to look for the evidence myself.
sure enough, it’s not as clear as you all think. one of the problems with the research is that it is incorrectly applied to all environments without merit. and the biggest issue of all is that most of the problem is caused by feral cats.
so no, your absolute position that all cats must be indoors only is not fully supported by evidence. furthermore it is alarming how quick people are to impose their beliefs on other creatures with only a small amount of reason.
If you don’t enforce indoor only cats with high precision then feral cats exist everywhere as a result.
Literally no environment benefits from thousands of fucking cats.
You will look for any excuse to avoid the guilt of our failures as a species.
owning pets isn’t about maximizing environmental benefits. your own existence is a much larger problem for that but no one is telling you to live your entire life in a boring box because we have too many humans. this hill is not important enough to warrant all you folks dying on it.
Tbf right or wrong the way you come across makes you sound like a dick. Though it’s probably the autism
Nah I’m just a consequentialist, we all kind of have that “your feelings do not deter me” vibe.
Yes, as we all know cats never went outside before they were domesticated by humans…
You think cats could sail? Then youre definitely stupid enough to let it roam outdoors
Yeah, actually, that’s accurate. Cats generally stick to a small territory, lots of studies show this behavior to be consistent. The spread of domestic cats has always been understood to coalesce with the spread of human agriculture.
“Outdoor domestic cats are a recognized threat to global biodiversity. Cats have contributed to the extinction of 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles in the wild”
You shouldn’t be proud of contributing to the extinction of animals…
Dude the trash animals are getting killed, oh noooooooo.
Think of the stupid rats,mice,lizards and birds! Oh no! The worst problem we’re facing right now!
Does your mom know youre on her computer right now?
Can you link that quote? Curious what the source is?
Thank you
Your cat is your property. Keep it in your property. If your pet becomes my pest, it will be dealt with as such. I once had a neighbor’s cat almost rip through my window screen to get inside and go after my pet parrot. If the cat had made it inside, he would not have made it out alive.
Then I could return it’s corpse to you, and you can tell me all about how they evolved alongside humans, and how that means you’re entitled to let your pet fuck up my yard, home and pets
Fantasizing about killing pets is a strong indicator of psychopathy.
Yet you’re ok with my pet being killed
In the United States.
What is different in other places?
They’re saying that only people from the United States believe that outdoor cats are a net negative.
That’s not what I’m saying. Not only the USA. Other places where domestic cats are very new, like USA, NZ, etc also probably shouldn’t do outdoor cats.
That’s not true. In Finland it’s actually against the law because it’s considered irresponsible animal ownership.
USA isn’t the only place where there’s reason to fear the cat gets hurt, disease or could die.
I’m in total agreement just to be clear
Ah alright. It just felt so weird seeing all the comments about USA being different, so my mind got all jumbled.
I thought it was the same everywhere more or less as well.
In countries where cats are native, they have significantly less impact on wildlife, or at the very least form a part of an ecosystem rather than being a manual introduction (admittedly one complication here is cat populations grouping up in suburban areas). As for safety for the cats, in their native countries they don’t have any serious predators to harm them.
I don’t know if Finland is considered native for cats but it’s against the law to let cats roam freely because there’s a very real risk of them getting injured, disease or dying. Not just from predators but from humans and cars and so on. A dead cat on the side of the road is a too common of a sight. I think the effect on wildlife is seen as secondary and the welfare of the cat is the foremost reason for it.
I live in the UK where there are an estimated 10.8 million cats and have literally never seen “a dead cat on the side of the road”. I appreciate that it is a real risk and that it does happen, but you’re either blowing things out of proportion or there js something weird going on with Finnish cats and or Finnish drivers.
Found this
230,000 CATS IN THE UK ARE RUN OVER EVERY YEAR!
Statistically only 25% of road traffic accidents involving cats are fatal, so the chances are good the cat can survive with urgent care - instead of being left to suffer a painful death.
https://www.cats.org.uk/teignbridge/news/animal-road-accident-awareness-day
230,000÷10,800,000÷4x100%≈0.5%
If I had to personally take that risk or stay in the house for the rest of my life. I’d choose freedom every time.
What’s really more selfish and entitled? Imprisoning an animal for life in return for an increased 0.5% of safety or letting it makes its own choice?
British cats go to cat school as soon as their eyes open so we have very smart cats that can navigate roads.
Wherever there’s birds, it’s irresponsible to let cats out. NZ in particular, it’s a damn massacre out there.
In the UK, the RSPB determines no negative impacts on bird populations. And the ecosystem is irrecoverably damaged from 3000 years of human impact on a relatively small island. Unlike new colonies like NZ, USA etc.
The UK is losing its wildcat population because of british arrogance about cats.
Youre also bringing in all your local predators into human settlements with the free food that cats become. Foxes love outdoor cats, theyre easy meals. You know what else loves cats? Tires. Smears a cat like jam.
But whats another destroyed ecosystem to the brits? Yall love ruining ecosystems, may as well fill your own backyard with piss.
The wildcats are in Northern Scotland. I’d be OK with the Scots banning outdoor cats.
Foxes like bins, they don’t fight back.
I’ve seen maybe 1 domestic cat hit by a car, I’ve seen hundreds of hedgehogs, foxes, badgers and deer. That’s not an outdoor cat problem.
It’s easy to sit on a moral high horse about a country you don’t really know anything about. We didn’t come to this land 300 years ago. The concept of an intact ecosystem vanished about 1000 years ago. It is a completely different island. The best we can do is keep the last of our wild species ticking over.
Unlike the Americans, who exploited and continue to exploit one of the most beautiful lands in the world, when they should have known better.
The wildcats are now surviving in northern scotland. That was not their original range.
Your lot thought a serial killer was on a cat mutilation spree, for 4 years, only to find out it was a fox that wasnt hiding its kills. So… No, sorry, you dont actually seem to know the country you live in very well. Foxes eat cats like candy, they just prefer to hide while they eat.
But Im glad cat deaths only count when you see them, Im sure you cover your eyes often.
“Unlike the americans.” Lol, ok bud. Because I know from actual formerly british researchers that you take care of your ecosystem as well as well as you take care of your relationship with the mainland.
Okie doke. You’re clearly very angry about cats, so much so you managed to miss every point I made, good job.
That is like saying all dogs should always be leashed and muzzled when outside.
Yeah, one wonders how they survived until we came along.
Cats survived before us by hunting small mammals and small birds, and they are very effective at getting fed.
The motivation at the core of naming owners of outdoor cats as irresponsible is a sharp decline in songbird populations in direct proportion to the increase in outdoor cat population.
Cats survived before us by hunting small mammals and small birds, and they are very effective at getting fed.
And, conversely, the prey evolved to avoid cats. So it is only a problem if you take cats to a place that historically did not have them. In fact, removing a predator from an ecosystem it used to keep under check can be just as devastating as introducing a foreign species.
Literally nowhere historically has had cats. Wild cats existed in Northern Africa/Mediterranean regions about 10 to 15 thousand years ago and were from there spread by human agricultural revolution to be introduced throughout Egypt, Rome, and then Roman Colonies as well as Asia, and some thousands of years later they exist on every continent except Antarctica.
The tiny speck of area and population that they should naturally have is like a grain of sand on a beach compared to the destructive force they have become.
Literally nowhere? What absolute bollocks.
Cats moved across a land bridge to the UK over 9000 years ago, long before the Romans had anything to do with it.
F. Silvestris, the European Wildcat, is generally considered a separate lineage from domesticated cats, though somewhat capable of crossbreeding, and because of human introduction of domestic cats the Scottish Wildcat in particular is functionally extinct in the wild. Just one of many great examples of the destructive nature of this pet and human negligence.
We should consider the centuries of persecution by humans and the severe habit loss.
As you yourself said, cats have been living across most of Africa, Asia and Europe for over a thousand years. So unless you are talking about Australia, the Americas, or a few corners of the old world, cats are either native or naturalised enough that they are now a part of the ecosystem.
A thousand years is nothing to an ecosystem. Birds have been migrating across Europe, Asia, and the Americas for hundreds of millions of years, only to get slaughtered in droves by furry shit machines.
It depends on the ecosystem. Pollution famously caused certain moths to shift from being mostly light-coloured to mostly dark-coloured in a matter of years. The removal and reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone caused observable changes in prey behaviour within a decade or so. Of course longer-lived species like trees take much longer to adapt, but we’re talking about birds, geckos and rodents here.
Edit: Also, most geckos, birds and rodents are r-strategists, meaning they are limited more by food than by predation.
The absolute brain-dead mentality of the people who will just downvote anything that doesn’t fit their predetermined conclusion.
There’s no evidence of this. Pet cats mostly take weakened or frail prey.
Another middle school drop out
Brilliant comment!
This thread is for debate. No one cares that you disagree with me personally unless you actually have a point to make.
Gonna need to speak with an adult, it feels weird dunking on someone who hasnt taken a high school biology class
Songbirds should die
Wheres your parent? This is an adult conversation
The danger isn’t to the cats, it’s to everything else. Ecologically speaking, cats are an invasive apex predator. They absolutely wreak havoc on local bird populations.
Cats aren’t apex predators. But yes, they can be quite damaging in araes where they are invasive.
Not in the wild, but in a suburban neighborhood they are. Apex is relative to what else is out there.
They are still mesopredators. A big bird of prey, a coyote, or a fox wouldn’t mind going for a cat.
But it’s not even relevant for the discussion whether they are apex predators or not. They are efficient predators and the artificial high number of individuals is harmful for the ecosystem.
All cats should be indoor cats
Agreed. All the strays are heartbreaking, they deserve homes!
Accordingly to my cat (and apparently Sarah Andersen’s), this is a reliable way to give a stray a new home:
I’m not too eager to trust her biased sampling though.[Serious now, we should be more active on that. Also to discourage people from letting cats to “take a walk” unsupervised.]
Can confirm. Cats always choose you, but sometimes it’s more forcefully. This big boy busted through an open window, used the liter box, and proclaimed himself king.
Mine was hiding herself in my garage. At least the younger one, Siegfrieda; our old lady Kika was adopted almost like you would adopt a dog, but from a home owner instead of a pet shop. (Her mum’s owner took a bit too long to spay her cat.)
All lemmy users are neets, or just retarded.
Depends on the country.
Depends on if you live on a farm or not*
It’s not like European outdoor cats don’t murder wildlife and get killed
No no, the whole world is suburban North America.
I don’t get what this comment is about. Is suburban North America especially dangerous for cats?
I don’t get what this comment is about. Is suburban North America especially dangerous for cats?
I suspect that they are meaning that suburban Americans are known for being very opinionated, judgemental, and overly concerned with what others do with their lives.
However, for your question, if on the peripheries, yes. There is danger to cats from cars but also coyotes, raccoons, and native big cats (bobcats, lynx, and cougars, as well as humans (was terrified for my cat when I lived in a place where serial cat mutilations started taking place). I grew up with outdoor cats but generally have preferred to keep them inside, unless it was not possible (people who think that it’s a case of ignoring a “whiny” cat have obviously never experienced the craftiness and terrorism employed by a feline that grew up semi-feral in the woods).
My reasoning is very similar to you Finns. I distinctly remember, as a child, finding one of my semi-feral cat friends frozen to death next to a pond in the forest during a particularly cold winter. As a child, we also lost near a dozen cats over the years to wildlife and cat haters in cars intentionally hitting them. That’s just too much.
I want my cats to live as long and happy a life as possible so, as an adult, when we adopted kittens, we kept them inside. They have windows, toys, and companionship that keeps them from feeling the need to be outdoors.
It is not their habitat, from experience I have had many cats, and in my opinion it is better to be able to leave them free so that they can go in and out without going where it needs to be clean.
I cannot imagine having an indoor/outdoor cat. I’d worry so much about them while they were away. And if they just disappeared and didn’t return…I don’t know how I could stand it.
We have 3 indoor-only cats. Obviously I’m pretty attached to them.
Sometimes, you gotta do what’s best for your cat. We have one that just couldn’t handle being indoors full-time. We put a Tractive GPS tracker on his collar. It gives peace of mind and if anything happens, at least we’ll know when to find him. He’s living his best cat life.
I really understand that fear, and I do experience that with my outdoor cats. However cats tend to stick to their established territory and patterns and at least for mine, never go far and barely ever out of sight. In the summer being outdoor cats pretty much just means they sleep all day curled up in the garden.
Yeah, I can’t do it. We have fox around, and plenty of community cats (one evening, I walked down the ravine looking for our dog after he ran off, and I shined my flashlight upward to see about 6 pairs of eyes staring at me). We had a cat get some sort of blood borne disease, we think she got it from a tick that was in the house when we moved in (it’s our only theory, we have no idea what actually happened), and she spent a few days in the animal hospital, and barely survived. (It also cost several thousand dollars.) Unfortunately she passed away from multiple medical issues a few years later. :(
(We adopted another cat after she passed - we’ve never had more than 3 at once.)
Sorry to hear about your cat! I’m assuming you’re in the states, and I’d agree that I don’t think I’d let a cat outside there. One extra bit of support in the UK is that it’s pretty unheard of to not routinely vaccinate your cats to protect against random diseases, but of course it can’t cover everything.
Outdoor cats in the UK are driving your native wildcats extinct. Even if we ignore that the cat population is bringing foxes and badgers into human settlements because they make easy free meals.
You arent immune to having invasive species. In fact the british are pretty directly responsible for a lot of invasive species problems globally, so I would think yall would grasp the concept by now.
Wildcat extinction is an extremely specific issue. Wildcats only exist in Scotland now, driven to near extinction mostly by humans, not mating with other cats. This happened literally hundreds of years ago and has practically nothing to do with house cats. Now interbreeding is an issue for the preservation of the small number of wildcats left in Scotland. It’s sad but hardly a concern for keeping cats in most areas of the UK.
Secondly, I do ignore that cats are ‘bringing in foxes and badgers’. Can you present a source on this? I couldn’t find anything.
Sure, hand wave an extinction because its inconvenient.
Do you actually need me to google uk cat death counts for you? Or do you think predators entering human settlements is normal?
Did you guys not recently have a “serial cat murderer” who was just a fox leaving its kills in public places? Do you think thats a normal thing?
How am I hand waving it? I’m stating an obvious truth. What impact on wildcats do you expect to come from cats in Cornwall, Ipswich, or Manchester?
I think you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Yes, I would like you to google cat death counts and show me any evidence for what you’re saying. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to find that cats sometimes get killed by other animals, but to suggest that it’s a significant cause of death or that they’re the reason that foxes are coming to ‘human settlements’ is complete nonsense. You make it sound like packs of badgers roam the streets of London at night.
Foxes in cities are very normal. They’re basically the UK’s raccoon. They scavenge things, including the bodies of cats hit by cars.
I am. We always vaccinate our cats as well, and since that incident we give them regular flea and tick preventatives (well, two of them for the flea and tick - the third one is way too skittish to let us do that). In our case, there’s always a risk the dog brings something in, too, so it’s good to do.
the most i’ve ever done is let my first cat go on the deck on a leash and even then i panicked the whole time. one time she got out of the slider at night and i couldn’t handle it thankfully she came back like an hour or so later
Never seen any cat that chose to stay inside even 50% of the time when given a choice. I’d rather they enjoy their life than make me feel better be cause they’re penned up all the time.
Far better to die young under a car tire, bleeding out slowly and painfully alone on the asphalt. Totally agree, way better than living your entire lifespan.
… in a gilded prison, never really have lived a single day in their entire lives.
Yeah, I’d take my chances with the tire.
My cats come and go as they please, one spends about 90% of her time indoors, the other mostly nights, but is gone during daytime. I usually see her when I walk my dog, she’ll creep up from behind a bush and finish the walk with us, come in for a snack and then be gone again.
we have an indoor cat. I was worried about it so started taking it outside. It would sprint back inside.
So then I took it out and closed the door. It clawed at the door.
I picked her up and moved her off the deck. She bolted under the deck and I had to take up one of the boards to get her out and she ran back inside faster than ever.
There are indoor cats?
Yes most people I know, and especially those in the city, only keep their cats indoors. Also cats are invasive basically everywhere and can cause be detrimental to local wildlife.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_predation_on_wildlife
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.10073
Not to mention the risk of injury, disease or death to the cat.
We have 3 indoor/outdoor cats because we’ve just always had indoor/outdoor cats and I never really thought about it.
Being on more cat-related Reddit and Lemmy communities, I’ve seen more and more of the arguments for keeping cats as indoor-only, and it’s been making me think more about how to care for cats we adopt.
From what I’ve seen of the discussions, a lot of them seem to center around urban areas and towns, where there’s a high population density. Some arguments also seem to be based off the assumption that the pets aren’t spayed or neutered.
We live in the middle of nowhere and all our cats are fixed as soon as possible (we’ve had kittens sometimes and they stay inside until then).
Is there different logic for this situation, or is it the same advice to always keep them indoors?
I’m genuinely asking.
Three factors to consider:-
-
Are these cats native (or naturalised) to your local ecosystem? If wherever you live has had cats for a hundred years or so, the local wildlife would have adapted to them. Otherwise, cats can damage the local ecosystem.
-
Do you rely on the cats to suppress vermin (rats, squirrels, small birds, etc.)? Even if your cats aren’t actively killing them, their mere ‘patrolling’ can drive these pests away. But if you keep them indoors, you lose this protection.
-
Are there any local predators that are particularly good at catching cats?
If your answers are yes, yes and no, then let your cats out. If they are no, no and yes, keep them in as far as possible.
I’m not really sure how long housecats have been around in this area. I think historically there were a lot of farms here (in the 1800s) so they may have had cats, but I don’t have historical data.
We didn’t get cats to hunt down mice, but it’s pretty rare that we see them, and it’s an old farmhouse, so maybe we’re relying on their hunting implicitly? I’ve occasionally seen them catch and eat mice around the yard, and sometimes they bring one to the door to show off.
There are supposedly coyotes around, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one here, and we’ve only ever had cats just disappear a couple times, and they were already 17-19. The bigger danger seems to be other outdoor cats (not sure if they’re feral or not) that one of ours occasionally fights with, but the vet knows they go outdoors, and they’re up-to-date on all their shots.
-
There’s one theory that outdoor cats could be what allows the avian flu to become transmissible to humans which would cause a worldwide pandemic comparable to the black plague in terms of death toll. So there’s that.
Cats are actually in more danger on quiet roads than busy ones. Busy roads teach them that cars will always be there and they avoid them. Quiet roads with infrequent cars they don’t expect them so they get used to crossing without looking or sunning themselves there in the summer.
That is a really good point I’ve never thought of or seen mentioned before on these type of threads.!
Outdoor cats are the number one killer of native species. They have contributed to the extinction of numerous species. Not to mention there are coyotes, cougars, bears, and hawks that can harm or even kill your cat. Outdoor cats also are a vector for diseases and parasites that can seriously harm them, or humans.
Pets should be kept indoors, for their safety, for the safety of the environment, and for your safety.
Unless you live in the native original range for cats, and your local region has zero automobiles, and you have no issue paying vet bills for random illness or parasite infections, then sure. Its probably not that big a risk to let your cat out unsupervised.
Brits are very arrogantly incorrect about their cat care. They are driving local wildcats extinct, and feeding their pets to local foxes, badgers, and car wheels.
You can still supplement outdoor time for your cat tho. Harness/leash training isnt too difficult, just go in areas you dont expect dog walkers. And you can also build catios, outdoor spaces that are fenced in.
They are driving local wildcats extinct, and feeding their pets to local foxes, badgers, and car wheels.
Still better than locking them in a cage and never letting them out
I also live in the middle of nowhere, on 6 hectares of land, and have 4 cats. 2 rescues and 2 ragdolls that had free access to the outdoors. Then a roaming dog killed our chickens, and we were worried it could have got the cats, particularly the ragdolls. Not long after, our beautiful 1 year old tortie was run over. We’re about 400m from the road.
So now we have a catio and 3 stay indoors. 1 is allowed out because he keeps close to the house.
Not all cats are killing machines but with 3, chances are at least one of them is. On the other hand, an outdoor life is probably much more fulfilling for a cat.
At a minimum, make sure they have bells around their collar so it warns the local wildlife.
Cats can learn to move without jingling the bells and they learn that fast.
You know, I actually thought about trying to make a product that would have a camera on the cats head and beep aggressively the moment it would detect a bird.
It’s obviously insane though
The bell is annoying the shit out of them, get a reflective/high-visibility collar.
If you are in the US or Canada, you should know that about half the diet if coyotes is house cats
I think we have coyotes around, but I can only remember 1 or 2 cats disappearing, and I assumed it was because they were old and didn’t want to die inside.
The “catio” idea people have been bringing up seems like it’s worth a try, but we need to get our deck repaired for that I think.
If you have a big enough space and want to make a sun room for human use, Ive seen lots of sun room modifications that make little side slots for cat lounging and climbing.
And feeders for local wildlife nearby give them free reality tv
I suspect the middle of nowhere might be worse given that the wilife there might not see a lot of cats normally and could have more vulnerable populations. Probably depends where you live, but if it has rare wildlife you don’t see much elsewhere your kitty is possibly bad news for them. Also depending on where you live the wildlife can be dangerous for tje cat too. Eagles and snakes are a worry.
I think the only snakes we have are garter snakes, and the biggest birds are vultures.
Almost certainly not true, but you can verify here: https://mol.org/regions/
Obviously there’s the safety aspect of keeping them indoors, they usually live longer. Aside from that, they’re also extremely efficient killing machines. The damage outside cats do to native animal populations is huge.
Oh no guys the pandas went extinct because we let our cats out.
Afaik, the best is to give them enough space but it should be enclosed. They pose a threat to wildlife to some extent, and some of the wildlife can harm them, besides an obvious possibility of being traumatised or lost.
There’s also people with barns who maintain a constantly churning population of cats to keep rodent population down.
A stranger outdoor cat just walked with me for a few blocks on my way home from a dinner party. It was fun to have a five minute feline friend. It’s sad to know they will very likely die long before my indoor cat of a similar age.
You just made me realize I haven’t seen the sweet ol girl by my buddy’s place in a while and now I’m sad :(
Fwiw my childhood indoor/outdoor cat lived to 19 whereas my indoor only cats got terminal cancer at 13. But generally speaking I believe you are correct.
I love that the outdoor cat is missing an eye. A for accuracy.
