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?

I think people who let their cats roam live with the risk that they might be struck by a car because they feel that it’s going against their natural instinct to be kept indoors.
That said, I have relatives in Canada who have always had indoor cats. They don’t let them out because there is a risk to them of being killed by raccoons and other wildlife. Those cats have always been perfectly content. But they have been house cats since they were kittens. So do they really ‘need’ to be outside? Or maybe because it’s much less common for cats to be out over there, the cats aren’t unsettled by other cats who are outside?

We had a cat when I was a kid and he was allowed to roam. My parents always told the neighbours they had free gratis to keep him out of their gardens in whatever way they saw fit aside from actually hurting him. A giant supersoaker did the trick.

I don’t really get the destroying wildlife argument. Lots of things are harmful to wildlife. Blaming an innocent animal who is behaving in a natural way when corporations are building motorways and data centres is akin to blaming global warming on bloody plastic straws!

All pet ownership is inherently selfish- we keep animals for us, not for them (and I say this as a cat owner!). The animals only benefit because the world is build for humans and animals kept as pets with kind owners are “protected” from that world to a degree. The question of cats roaming is a very difficult one and can be cultural- I know the US & Australia keep cats in a lot more, but I think there many more natural predators for them there. I don’t know the answer but as humans we are definitely the most cruel, brutal, selfish and dangerous species on the planet!

I also think it’s cruel to keep cats indoors all the time. But cats, like people, are all different. We have two and whilst they both go outside, one doesn’t venture far from the garden and on the occasions we have had to temporarily keep them in, isn’t that bothered. The other one is absolutely driven to go outside. When he had minor surgery and had to be kept inside while he was wearing one of those big cones, he was desperate to get out. I saw him standing by the back door headbutting the cat flap with the cone for hours. It was sad to see.

I think it is cruel to have a cat as an indoor cat.

The amount of additional space for hiding/climbing, plus the extra time needed to provide stimulation and exercise through play, all indicate to me that they should not forced to be indoor cats.

For me, its the equivalent of saying that a dog should not be taken out for a walk.

Nearly everything I'd want to say has already been said on this thread, except maybe this:

It is a sheer joy to walk along a side street and to meet and greet a couple of cats. The highlight of our holidays is always meeting the local cats. A cat filled neighbourhood is a happy neighbourhood to me.

@Maryonacidcan we get rid of you instead? 🤔

I don’t have cats but grew up with two cats who enjoyed going out - they tended to stick to the neighbours gardens. I could never imagine getting a cat and keeping it locked in the house for the rest of its life, it feels cruel and against its nature as cats need to roam and be outside in nature. It feels like the equivalent of keeping a small child locked in the house the whole time or a caged bird.

We have a cat who became an indoor cat mostly, she goes out for a few hours then comes in. Very strange that cat toilets in your garden, ours (if she doesn’t go in her litter), goes under a tree and digs, toilets then covers, most owners I know say the same.

I think some people want an end to all pets which means putting them in the vulnerable list with other animals really when it comes down to it. I don’t like that cats are hunters but would guess what they do get (our cat ignores mice and rabbits but I’ve seen others prowling) is a drop in the ocean compared to general nature (other animals or birds or hunger even) or humans (destroying habitats, cars knocking them down, poisoning them due to littering or shooting)

I'm on an international cat fans' Facebook page which is predominantly American. A lot of the indoor cats on there seem to exhibit strange, repetitive behaviours, which the owners dismiss as "Wow, isn't he a little weirdo!" but look pretty similar to some of the behaviours you see in zoo animals in captivity to me. Still, nothing that can't be solved by dressing them up in a little outfit for Halloween and posting more pictures to Instagram I suppose 🙄

Absolutely.

This was a very long time ago. He was happy enough to be inside as a kitten, but by about 6 months, he was miserable (he was neutered by this point). I was a vet student at the time, and my flat didn't have garden access. He actually ended up going and living with my parents for the rest of his 16 years of life and had free roaming access to fields and woodlands.

I don't have cats now but we always had them when I lived with my parents. They were all allowed out. We had Siamese and they are very wilful. I think they would have gone loopy if we had shut them indoors all the time. They loved to explore and are like Houdini, they wanted to go out and would have found a way to get out even if we tried to keep them in.

Yes they had some mishaps, one of them loved to fight and lost an eye 😱 but lived another 15 years after that. One loved to bring in birds (sometimes still flapping!) A couple of them went AWOL for a few days (got accidentally shut in someone's garage or similar). One did get run over sadly.

But they lived their best lives. I would have hated to curtail that!

I have a friend who breeds Ragdolls and I have been sorely tempted but apparently they have to be indoor cats as they are very dippy and don't understand danger. (In contrast Siamese are very smart.) I just ... don't think I'm an indoor cat type of person!

Yes I totally agree with this!

My son lives in Istanbul and it's known as Cat City. The same cats in the same places. Lots are "street cats" who don't have homes but are fed and cared for by the community, immunised/neutered like communal pets (dogs too).

Cats have a legal right to roam. Would you want to stay in the house for 15-20 years, OP? Rescues in my area will only adopt cats to houses on quiet roads with a garden.

I’ve never even considered this. Cats roam free, you cannot stop them. For me the choice is between the cat roaming free or not having a cat because the area is too hazardous/ close to main roads etc.

Mine goes out and only uses the litter tray, he’s just been in for a wee and gone right back out.

Totally agree with you OP. Cats can be given plenty of stimulation to practice natural kitty behaviours whilst still being kept safe. It’s a super outdated practice and pet care has (or should have) moved on!

My cat was an indoor cat for years, we let her out and she got mange. Then she disappeared, presumably run over.

People will bang on about it being cruel to keep cats in, but if we hadn't let her out she'd have grown old, she was quite content.

I'm against outdoor cats now for many reasons including the ones you gave.

There's constantly blurry rain damaged "lost" signs around where I live (stapled to the beautiful trees that have been there since Victorian times, but that's another matter) new ones every week, you'd think people would get the message, but they just buy another victim.

We have 2 rescue cats. In the summer they spend nearly all the time outside. They were probably a lot cooler, last week in 30° + heat, lying under bushes in the shade than they would have been indoors (in winter they spend more time indoors)
They will not toilet indoors.one had a wound last year, and had to wear a cone, and be kept indoors. After 4 days of not using a litter tray the vet said to let him out!

We have two cats. One came to us as a kitten and was hard enough to keep in even while he was having his injections amd wasn't supposed to go out. He was staring out of the window amd plotting.escape every time we opened a door. He is nearly 12 now and comes and goes as he pleases through an electronic cat flap. He mostly chooses to sleep in the house at night though.

Our other cat appeared in our garden as a kitten of indeterminate age and refused to leave. She too comes and goes as she pleases and while she likes to hunt, is fortunately only occasionally successful. We've had her nearly two years now.

We live on a fairly busy road but there are quite a lot of gardens amd greenery around and behind ours where I think they spend a lot of time.

I agree with those who think cats that are kept indoors (as opposed to choosing to do so) are being forced to live a half-life. I don't think it's fair.

Did you use fleaing and worming treatments as I think that's meant to prevent mange

I would love to go to Istanbul and meet the street cats.

I loved the street dogs in Athens, and what struck me about them was that they weren't pets- they were fellow citizens of the city. I remember them seeming incredibly chilled out and wise compared to the yappy, territorial dogs on leads.

I used to live in Venice, when it was full of cats. There was a little house for them in every square, and people used to feed them (however, there wasn't as much neutering going on as there should have been 😬) Imagine my sadness to return and find no cats! Instead of being neutered and cared for while living in the streets, they had all been trapped and removed. We didn't even see any domestic cats out for a wander. It feels like the city's lost its soul.

So what if you had an indoor cat who made itself so sick it nearly died through stress? (Been there, done that, let the cat out in the end).

We don't have cats but we like to see our neighbours cats in our garden. They keep the mice down.

I'm certain my previous cats have decimated the local wildlife...

For the truth about this, read the RSPB website.

People get run over on the roads but we still free roam. You cannot eliminate risk from a life worth living. Cats need freedom and fresh air, I'd never have a house cat.