If you still do it, why do you allow your cat to free roam?

[TreacherousPissFlap]

To be clear, we had cats all through my childhood and early adulthood and they were always free to come and go as they pleased.

I've just seen yet another post on the local FB page of a cat being run over. Now we don't live in a massively built up area or have particularly fast or busy roads, but every day there is at least one post about cats that are either missing or have been run over.

DCat is the love of DH's life and doesn't leave the garden. She's naturally lazy, we have 8ft high walls and we've actively discouraged her going out. She wears a tracker in case she does make a bid for freedom but she doesn't really seem bothered (she was a stray from the RSPCA and had clearly been a much loved house cat that had managed to get out and get lost, so I think that maybe plays a part in her being such a homebody) She's therefore easy to manage and hasn't required a catio or additional fencing, although I absolutely would do that now if she was more determined.

I'm certain my previous cats have decimated the local wildlife and shat in my neighbours gardens and I'm a bit WTF that I ever thought that was ok. Personally the risks now feel too great to allow my cat to free roam so any future models I have will also be confined to barracks.

Ive just cleaned up cat shit from my front garden and it got me thinking, why do people still allow it and will you continue to do so when you have new cats?

Not at all. I asked should we consider whether they are suitable house pets.

There are plenty of barn cats living and roaming quite happily on their owners land.

If you buy an animal that needs to roam, should you be making sure you have adequate space for it to do so?

I live in London. I’ve had over a dozen cats since childhood (I’m in my 60s). Some from kittens but most older adopted from rescue centres. Only one has been killed by a car. And that’s was a fluke as I lived on a cul de sac off a Cul de sac and was probably because he was a black cat that my then boyfriend let out the front door (rather than him going out the back where me - mid terrace - and all neighbours had long gardens.
Anyway my current cars are five and they go out. They dint wander far as I call them in and they are there within 30 seconds. They don’t hunt, and they toilet in my back garden (I know as I see them do it - they have ruined a square metre of my raised beds which must be toxic now to any plant)!
I just can’t imagine keeping a cat in. How do you keep it active? How do you stimulate it? How do you cope in the summer when you want the doors and windows open? I’ve also never had an overweight cat or had furniture ruined as they run around outside, climb trees and chase leaves and butterflies. My oldest cat lived to 23.

Fine, it’s daft to consider getting rid of all cats for living in houses 🙄

I've always had outside cats before as have my family. But the downside to that is that they go missing and at times, there is no closure about what happened to them. I lost a cat (a wanderer) and the same happened to my granny.

Consequently, my current mogs never go out. Well, I say never. Periodically one of them will escape and then it's a race to get them in again before they get lost.

They were both strays but I got them youngish. They'd prefer to be outside cats but they'd decimate the bird population.

All my cats have access to outdoors and are free to come and go as they please. The 14 year old one prefers to sleep in bed all day or sit by an open window; the fat lazy one likes to sleep in his cat tree; and the one I got from a farm is out all day, climbing trees, visiting neighbours, hunting in the fields, but comes in to sleep with me at night. It would be immensely cruel to lock him indoors.

Mine is only allowed out back (to a block of about 50 gardens) he actually only roams over a few. He’s terrified of cars thankfully.
We tried keeping him in and he was utterly miserable. Started pulling his hair out.
I know some cats are happy to be in but most are not. They need the fresh air and stimulation.

Until the rescues are empty because all the cats have been neutered/spayed there will continue to be thousands upon thousands of cats needing homes every year. While that continues, I'll continue to have a cat.

The best thing for cat welfare would be a complete ban on breeding.

We all as humans face risk everyday whilst outside but we wouldn't want to be confined to avoid danger.

Because it makes them happy (on the whole).

They're not suitable pets to live solely indoors, no IMO because the cat is living half a life. IME a happy cat has unlimited roaming opportunities and comfortable, warm resting spots.

I think it's better to live a free life with risks, than to be safe but caged.

My cats love it here. 🥰

They have a cat flap so can come and go as they please and a big dog to stop cat/fox intruders. We’re also surrounded by fields with a 200m driveway inbetween two fields and the nearest neighbour is half a mile away.

It’s bliss!

On the flip side, my friend has cats in a flat, they are obviously indoor cats. Every single time she opens her front door they make a bid for freedom. They’re always howling at her and being ‘naughty’ probably because they’re bored shitless! How would you like to be confined to one building for your entire life? Our cat has a chipped cat flap, he comes and goes… I love watching him climb a tree, roll around in the sun, sleep in the shade on a hot day. Yes him being run over is a risk, I’m lucky he chooses mostly to stay out the back - but it’s still a risk I’m willing to take in order for him to live however long a life he does have happy. I’ll be devastated if anything happens to him but he would be utterly miserable locked inside the house for the entirety of his life.

I feel so sorry for indoor cats.

I'm questioning the sensibility of having an animal that needs to roam without also providing it with space to do so and whether or not we should be having a wider conversation about if it's cruel to keep cats in most of the situations we (collective we) have them in.

It's only cats that we seem to allow this for and I'm wondering why.

If I bought a small pony and let it out in the morning to roam (horses roam many miles a day) and graze in the park and other people's gardens because I don't have space for it in my garden then people would - quite rightly - object. And if I kept it in the garden I'd - quite rightly again - be accused of cruelty. So therefore I don't have a pony.

Why is it different with cats?

(I quite like cats by the way, I'm just questioning the logic.)

Because I live in the country. I would not have a cat if I lived somewhere it was too dangerous for it to come and go as it pleased. I cannot understand keeping cats indoors.

I agree,the only way I can keep ours in is if we drug home with Gapepentin which we need to do after vet visits.

One of mine would go absolutely stir crazy if he couldn't go out.

I've had both indoor and outdoor cats, and they get to choose what they do based on their personal preference. One likes to lie for hours under a bush in the front garden watching the world go by. One is freaked out by the great outdoors and hardly goes out at all. Both of those are in all night. The other one has the wanderlust in him and disappears into another dimension as if by magic.

We live rurally and I once had a cat who would go 'walkabout' in the summer and be gone for a week. He'd come home exhausted and absolutely filthy, eat like a horse, sleep for 24 hours, clean himself up and then a few days later he'd decide it was time, and he'd be gone again.

Cats have the legal right to roam in the UK, and for good reason.

It’s selfish to keep cats in. Yes-it’s probably riskier for them to be outdoors-but they don’t know that. We’re doing it for ourselves, not for them.

👏 👏 👏

Because cats are different animals to pony’s and dogs, rabbits, birds, and have their own needs. The same way I can’t treat my dog like a rabbit. It’s not like cats are the only animal people have issues with, many hate other people’s dogs as they’re afraid of them.

Cats already exist as well established domesticated house pets, so the discussion to get rid of them from that environment doesn’t really work.

Cats have to roam. We cannot simply ban domesticated cats.

I swear some people on Mumsnet just want to suck all joy out of life. It’s the same people who get up in arms about a dog weeing on someone’s wheely bin, or people having a BBQ in their garden, socialising after 9pm, people having gatherings on the beach, children in a restaurants, dogs in a dog-friendly cafe, etc. etc. Pick up the cat poo and move on. Lighten up!!!!

It’s human nature to have pets, hence why dogs and cats have both been domesticated for thousands of years.

Life isn’t an Intro to Ethics class, where you have to score 100% or you’ll be shot in the head. Not every part of your life (and other people’s lives) has to be 100% morally flawless, at the expense of all joy.

Totally agree with this. My cat would hate not to be able to go outside and roam. His quality of life is much better for it.

I'm loving the answers on this thread! I thought you'd all be pro catios and indoor cats! We've had many cats over the years and only lost one in the road (he was a feral rescue and never really took to being indoors). They've all been rescues, most as kittens, and lived to good ages, some only wandered next door and some a bit further but they were all happy cats. Perhaps we've just been lucky.
Edited to add they've nearly all used an indoor litter tray!

I wouldn't want to live in a prison and I wouldn't expect my pets to either. For this reason I don't keep other animals.

You’re right about the routine
One of mine every morning would go through our back garden through the neighbours into the local primary school and sit on the window staring in at my son in his classroom 🤣
Regular as clockwork
Holidays must have been confusing 🫤

Id never cage an animal