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?

Really 🤦🏻‍♀️ my cat is indoor. He only goes outside on his harness and lead or in his buggy. Disapprove all you like 😂

I feel obliged to back my cats up by shooing away the other cats from our garden, I think they expect it of me 😆

(Except for the black Tom from 3 doors down who looks like Slinky Malinky- they've both got a crush on him even though they were neutered years ago. He sings them love songs from underneath a Bush, but he's got quite a circuit of admiring ladies to visit, the bounder 😆)

Have wildcats not been here even longer?

I loved Kedi!

In general I agree with you but there are exceptions, eg cats that live in very busy urban areas or like my DD's adopted Romanian street cat, who only has 3 legs.

This post says it all. I've had cats all my life btw - I'm nearly 67 - and have never had any hit by a car. I feel sorry for cats forced to live inside. I did keep my last cat inside at night when he got older, but he really didn't like it.

I live in an upstairs flat and have what would be considered an ‘indoor cat’ even though I have a large roof terrace upon which she can run and hunt insects and whatever. When I first moved in I had a different cat and I felt horrified that this might be the last place she resided without access to ‘proper’ outside space.

But having lived here a while now and seeing my cat reasonably happy, I ask:

if there’s a choice between getting a rescue cat (both of mine were rescues) and giving them a better life than 24 hours in a cage - because, let’s face it, not every rescue will be adopted - then surely living with me in an upstairs apartment with access to at least some outdoor space would be preferable?

I used to let my cat roam. Then I moved somewhere it is illegal. Both dogs and cats must be on a lead if they leave your property. My cat adjusted without any issues. In fact, behavioral problems diminished.

she was also infinitely safer.

I now look back and can’t believe I was so careless with a life entrusted to me.

I think it’s cruel to keep cats indoors - they enjoy being outside, roaming, exploring and hunting etc, it’s their nature.

Keeping them shut in a house 24/7 seems so wrong. At least with Catios or Cat-Proofed gardens they get to experience the outdoors to some degree so that’s not as bad as totally house bound.

I have a cat who I let out, although admittedly I live in a quiet area with very little traffic. I’m honest enough to say that if I lived in a built up area near main roads etc would either be a lot more concerned about letting a cat out, or I wouldn’t have one in the first place.

We have a cat flap so my cat can come and go as he pleases but he still spends the whole night outdoors - he loves it. He does have a very fancy outdoor cat-house though with food and water supplies too I’m pretty sure he sleeps in there when he wants to 🤣

I also have outdoor litter trays for him to use overnight that are placed near his outdoor cat accommodation (which he does use) which relieves my worries about him using other people’s gardens for toileting as I would hate that.

I understand there is always the risk he may get run over or hurt as a result of being allowed to go outdoors whenever he wishes, but him having his freedom as an animal is important to me.

Cats need to roam. You don't have the right to cage an animal for your own pleasure, it's cruel. If you live somewhere where it is too dangerous for a cat to go outside, then don't have a cat.

I hate those internet cat videos with Americans who have clearly miserable, often overweight cats being treated like soft toys, it's so upsetting.

My next door neighbour when I was a kid had three cats run over in quick succession. She used to blame car drivers for the deaths- we lived right near a main road 🙄

Its fine to have an outdoor cat but you cant blame car drivers for knocking them over if they suddenly run out in front of them with no warning

This is not a black and white issue. I have taken on three stray cats after the farmer at the bottom of my garden died and his wife moved in with their daughter three counties away literally leaving all the animals to fend for themselves (long story).

Over three years I have got them tame and have provided boxes in sheds, bedding, three meals a day plus snacks, worming, grooming etc. for them but would not consider having them in the house as they were born in barns, thrive outside and have a wonderful natural life. They lie in the doorway if the door is open only.

They have gone from thin, manky looking, worm ridden starving misery to sleek, chubby, shiny critters that I have come to love out of all proportion and they give it back in spades. I had no idea cats could be so wonderful. I have always had dogs with one exception.

I took on a third hand Devon Rex years ago that didn't even groom herself and had to have a bath every Saturday in the kitchen sink to wash off the build up of grease and grime and to have her claws filed.

She would never have survived outside. She had no clue how to be a cat. Even her purr was defective.

Broadly, kittens are taught by their parents how to do whatever the parent cat did. Luckily for my current three farm cats, their mother presumably taught them how to take down anything up to the size of an adult pigeon and they do this on the regular. The only thing I take off them is rats for fear the neighbour had put down bait as they eat the entire thing with the exception of the stomach and the bile duct and gland.

Some cats are outside cats and some cats are not but if a cat has lived outside and has it's own manor, I can't imagine the stress they have when they are shut in, especially if they have no access to herbage. I see all three of mine eating Fat Hen and grasses and other greenery quite often.

most cats prefer to roam and I think it’s cruel to keep them in if they want to go out

that all said I wil never understand why it’s not ok for dog poo to be left anywhere whereas a cat can poo wherever it likes

My cats are now 8yo (brother/sister)
They have their garden and microchip catdoor .
We don't use collars .
They were born as garden cats . Then rescued by CPL.
They come indoors to use the litter tray and go back out .
The female is very indoorsey - her choice entirely . The male loves his garden.

They don't go out the front and don't tend to wander .
If he was to get knocked over and killed I'd be devastated of course . But for him a short life full of what he wants to do would be preferable to a long life of four walls .

And often de-clawed ( to stop them wrecking furniture) which removes their defences

It’s their natural state. Some cats love to hunt, others don’t.
I’ve had cats who’ve stayed within the garden and another who went so far he’d follow me halfway to the station. Our current one does a circuit of the estate but she’s getting bullied so we keep an eye on her. She doesn’t hunt.
We are near a main arterial road but she stays well away from it - our actual road is quiet.
Sadky an old cat of ours did get run over. At the time we lived in a road that lead nowhere (not a cul-de-sac) but you’d only drive up if you lived or were visiting the area . He was the victim of a hit and run 😔 only a young cat, very sad. Cats are prob more scared of main roads and keep away.

Because it’s what they do. Mine are pedigree and I’ve always allowed them to roam. It’s not without risk, especially when they are learning but cats tend to sort out a territory and for most it comprises of their own and a few surrounding gardens. I think living indoors is a bit of a half life. I think cats have good quality lives compared to a caged pet.

Our cats have always been outdoor cats. We have a litter tray inside that they all use (they frequently come inside just to use it 🤣).
They have a great life, coming and going as they please, murdering the local rodent population, chatting up the neighbours, and playing in the fields on the other side of the very quiet road, or watching the waterfowl on the river. It's a great life for a cat. In about 40 years of cat ownership we've had a small number of outside injuries (none fatal) from of which the cats involved have recovered and continued enjoying an outside life.
Risk against reward - cats live for the moment, and my view is better a short active life than a long bored one - but having said that our last two lived to 17 and 20 and our current two older cats are 15 now and showing no signs of slowing down just yet.

For clarity- de clawing is illegal, both here and in the US, where it was common at one stage.

Because the law states that cats have the right to roam whereas dogs don’t.

Dogs are also genetically hardwired to roam, hunt and explore their territory, but as a responsible society we no longer think it’s cruel to keep them locked up inside or even locked in a secure garden.

It’s perfectly possible to keep a cat secure and safe, allow it time outside and provide stimulation indoors, but not let them free roam to decimate wildlife and get run over and crawl away to suffer a lingering painful death from their injuries.

Laws can be changed. Know better, do better.

This isn’t true - it’s illegal in the UK but still perfectly legal in the majority of the US. There are only 7 states that ban it completely.

Well, I don’t agree with you and neither does my cat, who became so stressed indoors he developed urinary crystals that almost killed him 🤷‍♀️

Nah, I’m good.