AIBU to think cats should not roam unsupervised like dogs?

Of course my cats go out at night. They're cats.
They'd hate being locked in.
Never had an indoor cat.

Thread summary:

Cat owners indignant at the thought they might have to take some responsibility for their cat.

Non cat owners who think every cat is responsible for wide scale bird genocide.

Dog owners who are relieved the attention isn't on their inability to pick up poo / stop dogs jumping on people / sheep worrying etc.

Bonus points if anyone who owns a cat, dog, and a bird and chips in.

This is stupid

Death is a normal, natural part of life. Attempting to prevent animals dying is such a weird modern - utterly futile - obsession. Poor dead pigeon! Won’t someone think of the rat babies!

The reason cats are so common in this country is precisely because they were used to kill wildlife and keep the population of vermin down. Cat roaming and killing is a feature not a bug.

Only on Mumsnet do people talk of banning cats roaming (as well as banning just about everything under the sun).

Perhaps the OP would support the government killing wandering cats in case they carried the virus, like they said they “might have to” in 2020, in case anyone has forgotten that, as part of the madness of King Boris. (They would have had to kill ME first!)

Cats and dogs are not comparable.. a dog could kill someone!! They’re two entirely different species of animal.

The vet said to me about young cats dying on roads and their life expectancy being 2. This isn’t a conference, so I’m comfortable with my data analysis thanks. The paper shows that cats die on roads and can have happy safe indoor lives.

you just don’t want to create it. Everyone know that cats go missing and that many of those cats have died in agony from injuries.

its negligence to let your cats roam - they can’t be trained and letting them take their chances is horrible.

What a daft comparison. I wonder what would happen if you let a guinea pig or rabbit roam around the neighbourhood. You’d never see them again. Cats come home.

My cat is shut in at night and roams during the day. He pretty much sleeps all night.

Bloody hate cats. And their selfish owners who inflict them on the rest of us, letting them shit everywhere. At least have the decency to keep the horrible creatures confined to your own home as house cats.

So do people, should we keep them locked up in the house.

This is exactly why I have cats but would never have a caged pet (and also don’t visit zoos). I believe it’s cruel to keep animals incarcerated

The vet said to me about young cats dying on roads and their life expectancy being 2. This isn’t a conference, so I’m comfortable with my data analysis thanks. The paper shows that cats die on roads

It was normal behaviour in the UK in the past, as a child I lived in the North and the South and in both places, letting the dog out in the daytime was normal. Though you did need a dog licence in those days.

Another interesting thing that study concludes is that cats living rurally, near stretches of fast road, are much more at risk from RTAs than urban cats.

I enjoy seeing cats out and about as I go about my daily business. DS loves when we get a visitor in our garden.

And they are handy to deal with the other garden visitors who prompted my username!

I was born in the 90’s and several of my neighbours dogs were free roaming, just like cats. I remember my Mum telling me stories of our next door neighbours dog chasing my pram and biting her ankles as she pushed me.

There was an absolutely horrific aggressive Shepard like dog that used to chase us all snarling when we were playing as kids. My Mum rang the warden a few times but either nothing was done or it was released back to the owners as this went on for at least two summers.

I grew up in a town in the north west, not too far away from a big city so definitely not rural. It wasn’t common as I remember thinking it was weird at the time as we kept our dogs in doors, but it was definitely a thing that was accepted in a way it wouldn’t be now.

Moronic post.

Like show early in Finding Nemo, life comes with risks, you could keep cats completely safe by never letting them outdoors, but they like going out.

Did you even read that before you posted it? 🫣

Yes, as I’ve already posted, ours did in the 70’s ! Seems unbelievable now.

It’s cultural. In some countries cats are indoor pets, in the UK it is (generally) considered ok to let them out.

The impact on local wildlife is the main reason why they are kept indoors in countries like Australia, the cat’s own safety is why they are kept indoors in the US.

British cat owners do not consider either their cat’s safety or the impact on local wildlife important enough to keep them indoors.

No new town in Hertfordshire.

That cat cause of death study is very interesting. The poster needs to learn to understand statistics as it does NOT conclude that average lifespan for UK cats is 2!

It also says this:
“an indoor-only lifestyle may challenge reliably meeting all of a cat’s behavioural needs (eg, engagement in play, exploring, hunting, climbing and scratching), potentially inducing stress.13,14 While indoor-only living could effectively increase longevity, ensuring access to adequate environmental resources is essential to support normal feline behaviours.13,15”