Cats and wildlife

[Aniia]

I wonder, are there different communities where outdoor cats have more or less impact? Like say, rural settings where people and pets are less concentrated, versus urban settings where lots of pets roam around unsupervised?

 

By the way, I'm not against owners letting their cats outside for supervised play or walks. If the cat is able to be trained to accept a leash, that's the best of both worlds.

 

What I am against is the type of cat ownership an ex-friend of mine had with her cat, putting her outside while she was in heat and refusing to let her in until she was pregnant or no longer in heat. She told me she wanted to have kittens to sell, and that was the final nail in the coffin of our relationship. Not too long after, her poor cat was hit by a car and died.

 

I had another friend with an outdoor cat, but she at least got him neutered. People with outdoor cats, can you tell me - what is the appeal? My friend with the neutered male only saw her cat for a few days every six weeks or so. At that point, I wouldn't call it a pet (this was in a rural, heavily forested area). I want to have a companion relationship with my cat, so enrichment inside and walks outside if I can get him used to the harness...

[Falorni]

 

On 10/2/2021 at 7:00 PM, TCA said:

Hi, as an observer, I wasn't interpreting "cats maim and kill for fun" as implying sadism, but as a sort of, cats find hunting fun the same way a kid finds playing capture the flag fun, in terms of exercise plus objectives, a sort of "yay I caught the thing!", without the cats really having any understanding of the suffering inflicted, because it's equally fun for them to play-hunt with moving toys.

Precisely this!  I don't think anyone intended to portray cats as evil or sadistic - I know as a non native speaker that's just... kinda the language I have available to bring my point across lol.  I love me some kitties and definitely do not intend to sound resentful at all ;v;

 

5 hours ago, Aniia said:

What I am against is the type of cat ownership an ex-friend of mine had with her cat, putting her outside while she was in heat and refusing to let her in until she was pregnant or no longer in heat. She told me she wanted to have kittens to sell, and that was the final nail in the coffin of our relationship. Not too long after, her poor cat was hit by a car and died.

God, when I was staying with my grandparents someone in the neighbourhood was like that - poor kitty would regularly be hanging out in our yard or under our RV when it was a hefty -20 C out - owner knew this and simply did not care   Would've swooped the bugger up inside from the cold but grandparent resisted + we had a guinea pig at the time.  Been living away for a couple winters now, hope the lil guy is doing alright...