Indoor vs. Outdoor Cats

[sparkle10184]

Hello This thread is to discuss/debate indoor vs. outdoor cats.

Some questions to get us started:

- If you have cats, are they indoor/outdoor, indoor, or outdoor?

- Do you agree with addition of laws banning outdoor cats?

- Should people let their cats outside or not?

 

I'll drop my 2 cents in later.

[MedievalMystic]

We have 3 cats. One is strictly indoors and the other two are indoor/outdoor.

 

Laws banning cats to be outdoors? Even though I have cats that go outside, I wouldn't have a problem with a law that required me to keep them in. Fortunately, my two that go outside are lazy and like hanging around our house and rarely ever leave our yard.

 

I've dealt with other people's nuisance cats hanging around my house and I don't appreciate it. Our neighbor's daughter lived with them for a time and their cat wasn't allowed in my neighbor's house and that cat caused no end of problems at my house. He would come over here every single day and constantly started fights with my cats. The screaming and yowling went on at all hours of the day and night. I tried being patient for the sake of my neighbors, who I love to pieces, but after a couple months of that I flat out told her daughter that I was ready to see her cat dead. I detested the little ***, couldn't wait for them to find a house and take that demon with them and told her that straight up. They started keeping him in his carrier more after that. lol

 

I can't count how many times that cat woke me in the middle of the night or how many times I had to chase him out of my yard during the day or how many times he got into our cat's food and ate it all. It was endless, one problem after another. If they make it a law for pet owners to keep their cats inside, I'll have a nice, big, enclosed run built for them in the backyard for nice days and keep them in the rest of the time, no problem. I'm all for it if it means I don't have to deal with anyone else's cats and the issues they can cause.

 

Our other neighbor's sister in law came to stay awhile, brought a cat with her from Texas, left and left the cat behind. Now, the cat, a female, has a litter of kittens under our shed and I'm stuck feeding her out of guilt. I feel bad about it, but I'm going to have to call the pound and have them all picked up, or the kittens will have kittens, and their kittens will have them, and their kittens, and their kittens and their kittens.... Each female cat can have 3-4 litters a year and males should not be out reproducing, imo. Yeah, there needs to be some kind of law in place that makes cat owners more responsible. My boys are neutered and my female spayed. As it should be.

Edited November 19, 2014 by MedievalMystic

[Bacon_Strips]

Why should outdoor cats be banned? I mean, they are animals who have their own natural tendencies. I suppose while I don't agree with it running loose in a busy city or somewhere else that could threaten its safety, having them outside isn't a bad thing in itself.

[Rachel72]

We have strictly indoor cats...they live a lot longer

[sparkle10184]

I am against outdoor cats. There are many, many reasons to keep your cats inside; disease, cars, predators, and a big one is that cats destroy wildlife and have been the cause of 33 species going extinct.

 

ETA: I fully support harness training and/or catios!

Edited November 19, 2014 by sparkle10184

[Slaskia]

We currently have two cats, which are strictly indoors. I'd love to (try) to take them outside on a harness/leash, but there's no way I'd risk it. Not after a neighbors cat was killed by two roaming dogs in our yard last year.....

[Omega Entity]

We've had 5 cats that I remember in my lifetime. Princess (original, I know, lol), who showed favoritism toward my dad, was an indoor/outdoor cat and was hit by a car a month after my dad died. After that, all of our cats have been indoor only.

 

I have no problem whatsoever with a ban against outdoor cats. My heart breaks every time I see a dead kitty on the side of the road, and every time, I curse the irresponsible dipshit who doesn't know to keep their pet inside when there's so many busy roads around. I realize that some are likely strays, but it helps to vent my frustration.

 

The only exception to that ban would be, in my mind, barn cats - they serve a purpose in being outdoors, and farms and such usually aren't on busy thoroughfares. At least those animals get food and shelter, even if it isn't necessarily in a house.

[ishlia]

I have far too many cats that I am able to take care of. One adopted, three bred, four given, all of them are indoors. It seems once people knew you love cats, they all came and sent their unwanted cats to you. I really need to give some of them to other families that can take care of them.

Should we banning outdoor humans?

Cats can go to wherever they want to, the only thing that we probably need to "control" is their numbers, but I think we should control our own numbers first.

[Omega Entity]

The ban is more to the benefit of the cats, rather than the convenience to humans, in my mind. Outdoor cats have a shorter lifespan than their indoor brethren, and face a lot more hazards. Cars, parasites, disease, other cats, coyotes - the list goes on.

[RWyvern]

I'm all for a ban against outdoors cats. Not just because 'oh poor kitties being hit by cars/killed by dogs/snakes/everything else D=' which are, in itself, easily avoidable tragedies by keeping them indoors, but also because of the impacts they have on other animals.

 

At least in Australia, outdoor cats can be major pests. We have one large tabby who keeps coming around here that we need to keep chasing off, and cats pose a threat (or for those who want a far more in-depth overview: there's this) to native fauna, especially if they go feral.

 

I can't really speak for other countries, but for Australia I would be most thrilled for a ban on outdoor cats.

[casprrr]

I grew up with an indoor/outdoor cat, adopted as a stray when I was young. It wasn't until I was out of the Navy, had a job, and lived in a mobile (manufactured) home that I had another cat. He was given to me by my sister, whose coworker was unable to care for him any longer. He was front declawed prior to my taking him, and since the mobile home forbid cats from running loose, he remained an indoor kitty until I moved to a home in a small town a few miles away. He quickly became interested in the outside world, and I started letting him venture outdoors. He remained an indoor/outdoor cat until his untimely passing, when he died suddenly of what the Vet assumed to be heart failure.

 

I then had a dog, and after she needed to be put down I began volunteering at the local animal shelter and also started fostering shelter cats. The first was a kitten named Rev, the second a cat named Nadine. She stole my heart and I adopted her, and since the shelter recommended that cats stay indoors, she was an indoor cat. Eventually I decided that she could also go outside, but at first I kept a close eye on her. Later I let her venture out on her own, but always called her in at night, and if she went out in the morning, I called her in before leaving for work.

 

One morning a few years ago, she didn't come in by the time that I needed to leave for work, but I wasn't concerned. My previous cat would sometimes spend nights outside, and often spent the day outside when I was working. However, this was the first time I had ever left Nadine outside while I was gone, but was sure that she would be eagerly waiting to be let in when I got home that Tuesday afternoon. Not so. She failed to come when I called, nor did she show up before I went to bed. No sign of her the next morning, nor the next afternoon after work. I was sure that she had been killed, and by the weekend I stopped calling for her and finally put her food and water bowls away. Still no sign of her when I went to bowling that Sunday night, nor when I got home afterwards. However, when I opened the door to go to work the next Monday, six days after her disappearance, there she was at the door, meowing as if scolding me that I hadn't let her in sooner.

 

Needless to say, she was an indoor cat for awhile after that scare, but I missed the trust that I had with her and felt guilty for keeping her confined inside the house. Eventually, I started letting her go outside again, but at first kept her under close supervision. I grew increasingly confident that she could be trusted to venture outside without me constantly watching, and that proved to be a correct assumption until one evening when I wanted her to come inside before i went to bed. Over and over I called for her but she didn't come. When she finally did show up, well after I had wanted to go to bed, I decided to keep her inside, at least until I got home from an extended weekend away. I sure didn't want her to be stuck outside while I was away, and since she was now safely inside I felt less anxiety about her. That was a few years ago now, and was also the last time she ventured outside. She's adjusted quite nicely to being an indoor-only cat, and I don't have to worry about her disappearing ever again.

 

My sister has three cats, and they're indoor/outdoor cats. That's fine, they do well that way. Nadine does fine as an indoor-only cat, and I don't have to worry about her.

[ishlia]

Hmm. Other animals/people have their own minds. I think it's good to let them do whatever they want to, not ordered to do what they should do by other people, be it cats or humans, as long as they don't interfere with others, or cause major trouble with others. If a cat don't want to be outdoor or indoor, it's will might need to be respected (Edit: be it good or bad for it, for, it's life is it's own, it doesn't belong to anyone else). If a cat cause major problem to other beings, then (from the human perspective) it might need to be take care of, individually, but not the rest of that species Edit: presuming they are all guilty.

Edited November 19, 2014 by ishlia

[kitsune93]

I'm all for a ban on outdoor cats.

Cats are the only pet that I know of where it's perfectly ok to let them wander around without any people watching them.

The outside world is dangerous and outdoor cats on average live much shorter lives than indoor cats.

Not only that but, cats can cause a lot of environmental damage by killing native animals.

[Infinis]

1. If you have cats, are they indoor/outdoor, indoor, or outdoor?

 

Indoor only. If he goes outside it's on his leash.

 

2. Do you agree with addition of laws banning outdoor cats?

 

Yes, I do.

 

3. Should people let their cats outside or not?

 

Only if the people in question are keeping the animal contained in the yard and/or on a leash. However, risks can exist even on your own property so even this should be cautiously done.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Extra for 2 & 3:

 

Domestic cats can cause a lot of damage to ecosystems. In addition, once outside, the animal is immediately at risk for injury, disability, and/or death due to disease, predators, people, stray objects, vehicles, and even just the weather.

 

Putting your cat at risk like this is, in my opinion, very irresponsible. Keeping them inside not only vastly diminishes or eliminates entirely some risks and increases their overall lifespan, so I *absolutely* support bans on outdoor cats.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

We never really had truly indoor/outdoor cats; sometimes ours would escape, or we'd let them out with supervision. Our yard was really huge with a long driveway so they never actually made it very far away - the last female we had liked to escape and lay in the roses along the front wall, and the other decided it was too wild for him and hid under the car or cried plaintively at the door to be let in. There were some instances that made us increasingly vigilant and contributed to us going completely indoor.

 

-A stray we'd been looking after escaped. She was gone for a few days; she came back and her something had nearly taken her leg off and it was already infected. We rushed her to the vet, who amputated her leg, and from the time she came home to her peaceful death in her sleep two years ago she was a happy indoor beastie.

 

-One cat escaped and made it to the backyard, where our dogs promptly killed her because we couldn't reach her fast enough (a major reason our dogs were always outdoor dogs, because they weren't cat friendly).

 

-Some person in the neighborhood let their cat wander and he'd come to our place and pick fights with ours if they got out. He stopped coming around after about two weeks; we never figured out where he lived or what happened to him; he had a collar but he was too aggressive for us to safely catch and read it. I hope he made it home.

 

-Two escaped and ran away (years apart)

 

-One got out, dogs treed him, and it took us two hours to pry him out of the tree

[Dimar]

I have always had indoor cats, and agree that it's far safer and more responsible to keep them like that.

 

The only exception to that ban would be, in my mind, barn cats - they serve a purpose in being outdoors, and farms and such usually aren't on busy thoroughfares. At least those animals get food and shelter, even if it isn't necessarily in a house.

But I also agree with this. They are still taken care of and given food and veterinary attention, of course, and barn cats can be a godsend. I regret my personal barn wasn't designed with them in mind so I can't get any. The places I volunteer at with barn cats rarely lose any, because they don't stray far and receive good care, while they have far less of an issue with mice causing problems with livestock supplies.

 

Cats are the only pet that I know of where it's perfectly ok to let them wander around without any people watching them.

Happens all the time with dogs, at least in rural areas like where I live. They're all over the place (which can be very problematic just like cats).

[kitsune93]

Happens all the time with dogs, at least in rural areas like where I live. They're all over the place (which can be very problematic just like cats).

If anyone saw a dog wandering around here they would call animal control.

But it's not that way with cats.

No domesticated animal should be allowed to wander the area. It's just unsafe for the animal, the people who live in that area, or the wild animals that live in that area.

[TCA]

I agree about both the general rule that cats should be indoor animals, and with barn cats in areas where cats are already pretty established like Europe and the US being perfectly acceptable.

[Switch]

1. If you have cats, are they indoor/outdoor, indoor, or outdoor?

 

Indoor only. If he goes outside it's on his leash.

 

2. Do you agree with addition of laws banning outdoor cats?

 

Yes, I do.

 

3. Should people let their cats outside or not?

 

Only if the people in question are keeping the animal contained in the yard and/or on a leash. However, risks can exist even on your own property so even this should be cautiously done.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Extra for 2 & 3:

 

Domestic cats can cause a lot of damage to ecosystems. In addition, once outside, the animal is immediately at risk for injury, disability, and/or death due to disease, predators, people, stray objects, vehicles, and even just the weather.

 

Putting your cat at risk like this is, in my opinion, very irresponsible. Keeping them inside not only vastly diminishes or eliminates entirely some risks and increases their overall lifespan, so I *absolutely* support bans on outdoor cats.

 

yeah same. a lot of the people i see defending letting their cat wander outdoors unsupervised say their cats get bored in the house, which is basically them admitting they aren't providing a proper living environment for their animal and they would rather risk contributing to the decimation of local wildlife or risk a dead/stolen/injured pet than attempt to fix it.

 

srsly every time someone says "oh my cat is out of the house for days at a time but they always come back so i dont worry" or "oh cats are wild animals who am i to deny them the right to hunt" i cringe so hard

Edited November 19, 2014 by Switch

[EnderEcho]

In my opinion, it depends. Cats should not be allowed to wreak havoc on the ecosystem, but they should be allowed outdoors with precautions. Wear a bell, don't let them hunt, declawed, don't let them leave your yard, ect cetera.

[TCA]

declawed

No. No no no. Nonononono no never declaw a cat! If you ARE going to let them outside, and they run into a predator, if they still have their claws they can at least fight back and perhaps get away. If they want to climb, they can't do that so well without claws. They mostly deliver killing blows with their teeth so it'll only slightly impair their ability to hunt. And most importantly, declawing a cat is not like removing a human's toenails, it's like removing the entire first joint of the toe, and it's very stressful on kitties and not a good idea at all ever. If you want to keep indoor cats from scratching stuff you can buy removable vinyl caps to put on their claws that will keep them from doing any damage.

Edited November 19, 2014 by TheCompleteAnimorph

[Ytak]

I'm not sure how I feel about laws prohibiting cats outdoors. I'll have to think about it a bit before I form a solid opinion.

 

Now, I've had one cat. After we found out my brother was allergic to cats, I had to give her up but she was strictly an indoor cat for her safety and our peace of mind. Growing up, I lived in a rural area outside of town and my best friend's cats were indoor/outdoor cats (ones they found that had been dumped as kittens). Thinking about it, they could have avoided the dog that the neighbor refused to keep tied up if they had been indoor cats. And the other wouldn't have disappeared. One of the people I worked with has indoor/outdoor cats. I found out recently that one of them disappeared. That seems to be the tale of a fair number of indoor/outdoor cats.

 

I can see the case for not allowing cats outdoors. It turns out that humans aren't the only creatures that hunt for fun. Other commentators are correct about their ability to reek havoc on the ecosystem. If everyone did keep their cats indoors, then animal control would know that the ones out and about are most likely (because we do know that cats are escape artists) strays and could work their jobs accordingly.

 

One of the things I like to preach about is people not fixing their pets. If your cat is outdoor, fix the animal! Ones that aren't fixed are more likely to get in fights.

 

I do understand about the barn cats. They do help with the farm. But I'd still want to see most of them fixed. With the way things are, there will easily be cats they can adopt to replace any that die or disappear.

[Fuzzbucket]

- If you have cats, are they indoor/outdoor, indoor, or outdoor?

Over my life I must have had about 40 cats. All were free to go out if they liked. Sine used to go walkabout; others didn't.

 

- Do you agree with addition of laws banning outdoor cats?

No. WE are allowed out and we do as much, if not more, damage as they do. AND cat poo doesn't contain that nasty thing that dog dirt does, the germ that blinds. And whoever heard of a cat attacking anyone and even killing a child by doing so ? If cats can't go out - nor should dogs.

 

- Should people let their cats outside or not?

Sure. Unless they live in a 30th floor apartment...

 

Also - now that - for instance - they say that every single person in the UK is within 10 feet of a rat at any given time - we NEED cats out there ! There aren't enough other predators to deal with the rats of this world.

 

And no, NEVER declaw a cat. It might get out - and then it will be totally defenceless. If the pointy claws bother you, file them down a LITTLE. If you want your cat to wear a bell - make SURE it is on a properly elasticated collar, too, so that it can't hang itself on a branch. That's something you NEVER want to see... And yes, fix them.

 

Cats do get bored in the house. So do I. We all need variety in life.

Edited November 19, 2014 by fuzzbucket

[tnoelemaK]

- If you have cats, are they indoor/outdoor, indoor, or outdoor?

They're allowed outside on a leash in the backyard when they want to - usually not at all during the winter, vs several hours a day in the summer - but never on their own. Too risky. The goal is to build an outside enclosure or fence in the backyard for them once I buy a house.

 

- Do you agree with addition of laws banning outdoor cats?

A law like that would make my year. Unlikely to happen anytime soon here (Sweden) though.

 

- Should people let their cats outside or not?

Alone, no. In a controlled manner, yes.

[sparkle10184]

Over my life I must have had about 40 cats. All were free to go out if they liked. Sine used to go walkabout; others didn't.

 

 

No. WE are allowed out and we do as much, if not more, damage as they do. AND cat poo doesn't contain that nasty thing that dog dirt does, the germ that blinds. And whoever heard of a cat attacking anyone and even killing a child by doing so ? If cats can't go out - nor should dogs.

 

 

Sure. Unless they live in a 30th floor apartment...

 

Also - now that - for instance - they say that every single person in the UK is within 10 feet of a rat at any given time - we NEED cats out there ! There aren't enough other predators to deal with the rats of this world.

 

And no, NEVER declaw a cat. It might get out - and then it will be totally defenceless. If the pointy claws bother you, file them down a LITTLE. If you want your cat to wear a bell - make SURE it is on a properly elasticated collar, too, so that it can't hang itself on a branch. That's something you NEVER want to see... And yes, fix them.

 

Cats do get bored in the house. So do I. We all need variety in life.

Dogs should not be allowed outside unsupervised. I see a dog wandering the streets? I call animal control. No questions asked. Dogs should not be allowed to roam and neither should cats.

If the cat's indoor environment is properly enriching it will not get bored. People say "Oh well my cat gets bored inside so I let her out," but that simply means that you are not offering them enough activities indoors. Cat trees, perches, climbing structures, etc. are great and will keep a cat from getting bored. If your toddler is bored inside because they don't have enough toys or activities or you don't have time to play with them, do you let them go play outside unsupervised? "Oh, honey, you're bored? Okay, go play in the street!"

It's generally (in most places) considered unacceptable to let a domesticated horse, rabbit, or guinea pig outside alone, so why is it okay for a cat to do that?

 

Cats have caused devastating environmental problems such as the extinction of 33 species. They get into other people's lawns, poop in gardens, terrorize dogs, and spread bacteria and diseases. It is completely irresponsible, imo, to allow a domesticated animal outside to go wherever it wants.

[avoralei]

- If you have cats, are they indoor/outdoor, indoor, or outdoor?

Indoor. But both of my previous cats were indoor/outdoor.

- Do you agree with addition of laws banning outdoor cats?

No, it would be too much energy to maintain that law.

- Should people let their cats outside or not?

Yes. Cats are an animal with needs, and if they wish to go outside, they'll try to get out eventually so.