Indoor vs Outdoor cat

I am sure I would be mor safe if I never left the house, but it's no life is it? I am firmly of the view most indoor cat keeping is cruel. Your desire for a pet does not trump a cats right to live its life as it wishes, even if that life is shorter than you would like.

Our residential road in London has loads of outdoor cats and they happily sit in gardens watching the world go by, potter up and down the street and iinteract with humans and other cats. We are not littered with cat corpses.

Personally I'd look into a catio.
I understand why people have indoor cats but I couldn't deprive a cat of being able to feel wind, sunshine, rain, fresh air... just my opinion.

I personally wouldn’t have a cat if they couldn’t go outside, I think it is cruel but also it would be stressful every summer not being able to leave windows and doors open.

2 cats, outdoor, central London. They are 9 years old. I couldn’t personally keep cats if I was keeping them indoors. We humans tell ourselves that our pets are happy but restricting them from their natural movements is not something I can agree with.

We have an indoor cat. He's always been indoor since we got him 18 minths ago. The kitten, we had before him got ran over. We only had her 7 months and it was heart breaking . We live semi rurally but unfortunately her road sense was awful. Didn't want to go through that again but wanted another. He's fine, he gets plenty of attention with 4 of us here. Runs about the house. Has a cat tree and toys. Doesn't seem unhappy at all.

I agree. Our vet has indoor cats and she recommends to keep indoor cats if possible. Ours got attacked outside as a youngster and has not ventured out again and would definitely not be streetwise enough to be out now. Every day there are posts in my local group and lost cats, cats being run over, etc. If you live on a farm or very rurally then it might be different, but central London isn’t the safest place for outdoor cats.

Except many are not fine indoors. They get stressed, overgroom, urinate inappropriately and show behavioural issues.

Almost every week there’s a thread on the Litter Tray about an indoor cat peeing on beds or fighting or showing aggression. Like a PP said it’s the equivalent of buying a bird and keeping it locked in a cage. They may be safe but that doesn’t mean they’re happy.

I still flea/worm my indoor cat. I believe you can bring a lot of stuff into your house yourself, on your shoes/clothes etc.

I genuinely agree with this. I don't think indoor cats that want to explore are ever happy inside. My girls just like to know the option.is there of they want it 😅 They're naturally outdoor animals, and it's or fault not theirs they have to navigate cars and traffic.

We lived in a flat when we got our cat and he seemed happy being indoor however a couple of years later we moved to a house and once he was on ground level it became very apparent that he wantes out. I was nervous about the roads etc and we kept him in for another 9 months or so but in this time he became very unhappy, was over grooming and his hair was falling out. We took him to the vet and explained his unhappiness about not going out and the vets advise was to let him out as keeping him in was doing more harm. He has now been a happy healthy 12 year old cat since being let out.

Also "treats" training is massive for food oriented cats. Mine both have super selective hearing 🙄 but they know the bag rattle 😁

How big is your house OP? If you’ve got plenty of room and a big cat tree it might work. I wouldn’t adopt a cat that has previously been outdoors and keep them as an outdoor cat though. That would be cruel. I have 2 kittens. Neither of them have been outside yet, so they don’t know any different. I probably will let them outside, but am putting it off until next year because I’m worried about them getting run over/ hopping over the garden fence and not coming home etc.

My two girls are indoor/outdoor. Both spayed/chipped, I don't let them out when it's dark, and I don't put wet food down until they return from a 20min outdoor allowance... They don't like the rain, they very much want to visit the garden though... I worry about it. But it's not really fair if they actively want to go out.

We'd all crack up inside the house 24/7

One of mine once chased a ferret through the cat flap in to the house. I think he’d caught the ferret, brought it proudly home, but dropped him in our garden. The ferret ran upstairs and hid inside my husband’s open wardrobe, to escape Ronnie cat who was in hot pursuit! Husband managed to rescue ferret, and released it in the nearby woods. Ronnie never forgave him, and sulked for days. Thankfully only a few of the cats were hunters. A lovely tortie we had once proudly dropped a live mouse onto my foot when I was hanging out the washing, I screamed my head off, dropped the washing and ran indoors! Naughty tortie spent the rest of of the day looking for the mouse in the garden. Luckily she never found it.

unless happy to be indoor cats and have been given chances to go out I think it’s cruel

my cat didn’t like going out (according to previous owner) and rarely went out. Now she goes out every evening, we have a good routine and she absolutely loves it has human, cat and fox friends. She doesn’t stray far and adores all the extra attention she gets, she is very social

get another pet or wait until you move

That's not what was said though so my comment stands
Personally I genuinely didn't ever live near a main road for this reason but I appreciate not everyone has that luxury
I think that consciously looking for breeds and rescues that are used to an indoor life sounds like a sensible compromise

I do think it's a bit cruel to keep cats inside..
If you live near a main road it's important to get a breed of cat that can cope with roads. There are some that are more prone to having no road safety sense.
Perhaps adopt a cat who has previously lived near a road as an outdoor cat?

I think it's cruel to keep them indoors. I also think it's odd that some people think some carpeted shelves and a small wire cage in the garden are equal stimulation to the actual freedom of running around in nature all day.

My cats roamed miles, we lived off a very busy dual carriageway. Both died natural deaths at 17/19.

Some cats prefer to stay close to home, maybe adopt an already indoor cat.

Up until July, I allowed my four cats out during daylight hours (well, between about 10am and 4pm). They had a cat flap that would read their microchips and was set to a timer. I was a bit worried about cars (more worried about dogs and people who might take them), but I live on a hairpin bend of a 20mph rd. Kids play out and I thought my cats would be safe.

One of them (my eldest cat, 5yrs old, v sensible and road aware) was hit by a car who didn’t stop, in the middle of the day.

I keep my remaining 3 indoors now. The first catio went up over my front door within a week of the accident. I’m having a larger catio made and put on to the back of the house as we speak. The cats have lots of wall obstacles to climb (all over the house), cat trees, toys, scratching posts etc. They’ve also got two litter robots.

The stupid thing is that in the past year or so, I toyed with the idea of having catios put up but thought I was being over the top. I wish I had listened to myself and had the catios installed.

I think everyone has different situations though, so do what is right for you/your cat. Mine have transitioned well to having the catio and seem to enjoy it (as they can access it anytime day or night).

Cats sleep between 12 and 18 hours a day. It doesn't really take a lot to keep them happy and fulfilled the rest of the time, especially if that is what they have always been used to.

When I was growing up in a very rural area we had outdoor cats. But even in our very quiet village we lost some to road accidents and some to poisoning, surrounded by farms so they must have encountered noxious substances there.

DD, who lives in a flat, now has an indoor cat. He is a lovely, healthy, handsome boy who seems very happy. You only have to look at him to see what excellent physical condition he is in. He has two cat trees, one which is on five levels. Also large windows he can watch the world through. When he visits us he seems more than happy exploring the house and his litter tray is not in the least unpleasant to clean.

I have 2 cats and they chose to stay indoors (they're brothers I got as kittens) when they was ready to be able to leave the house id leave the door open but both showed no interest.... They're now 3 and really happy
Only advice is, as you say you have kids make sure you have a child free area for cat to go to so they can get some peace

My daughter's cat is an indoor one. He seems happy enough, plenty of zooming up and down stairs. They hide his toys in his tunnel so he can "hunt" them.

And for those who do??

I don’t think it’s cruel if they choose to stay in. Mine will go in the garden to lie next to me or supervise me to the bin
otherwise I can sit with every window and door open and he’s not fussed
he is very much… “why outside? Where’s my Netflix, snacks and sofa? Also I need my blanket”

I think if (and that's a big if) you can provide ample indoor stimulation and company and also get a breed that is happy indoors then go for it. You can bring some outside in also like cut down tree barks and such.

Do I agree with it? It depends so much on the cat and what they want. Some are happy to stay inside, some are happy to potter about in the garden on a nice, warm sunny day. Others enjoy a harness walk. Some like to roam for miles.
It is a very difficult decision to make when cats are so variable in their personalities. Are you willing to cat proof your garden if they decide the want to be outside?

I don't envy you your choice. I have a cat who likes to go outside and it has become one of the top three choices we have to consider if and whenever we decide to move.