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?

Because an important part of their cat brain works when they are independent of people and roaming about doing cat stuff. They have fights. They pee on trees and other bits of territory. They catch rats and mice. Some meet friends.

Cats are different indoors and much more kitten like. Going outside means being 100 percent cat. My cat is a former stray. These animals like people but they can leave whenever they choose. Better to honour their behaviour than try and change it if you have one.

Because from the age of 4 when I got him from a rescue he has lived surrounded by gardens and woodland with no danger from cars (dead-end lane with speedbumps) and he would be utterly miserable if I stopped him. Yes he catches wildlife but it's mostly rats so I consider it a neighbourhood service.

You can walk a dog…you can’t walk most cats. It’s not at all in their nature. Dogs interact with humans completely differently. Cats are considered semi-domesticated not fully like dogs. Roaming packs of dogs pose a clear potential harm to humans. Cats shitting in your Begonias just like the foxes, squirrels, badgers, rats, birds etc simply isn’t comparable. Indeed, know better. Or maybe know at all?

This!
We are a multi cat household living on the edge of a village in Cornwall. My cats would be utterly miserable if they were not allowed to roam. A couple of them barely leave the garden but we've got a couple who trek miles out in the fields and are sometimes gone for a couple of days. Over the years we have lost 2 cats to traffic outside the house, and one who broke her pelvis but survived. It's a risk we take to let them live their happiest lives. Most of our immediate neighbours have cats too and we look out for each others.

Imagine how miserable we'd be if we were stuck indoors our whole lives. Sure, we'd live longer but why would you want to under those conditions.

Ear cropping and tail docking is illegal in UK but sadly I see dogs with this done ..........

UK doesn;t allow cat declaw but who knows what happens in other countries .

Some cats like to stay indoors. Some prefer to be outside. My childhood cats would bang on the windows, or howl at the door, to go out! Our neighbour's cat used to sit outside our house and wait for one of ours to go out. It's like their version of playtime, they can socialise with other cats, is a way to keep them fit and active, and it gives them more mental stimulation than watching the world go by from a window-sill.

I don't have cats as an adult, but some of my neighbours do. They are very handy for keeping down the numbers of mice (and the odd rat) in the houses and on the farm. (I appreciate that some people will say that farm cats are different, but... they're still cats).

Like PPs have said, humans cause a lot more damage to the environment than cats.

I utterly despise the Americanised practice of keeping cats indoors with no chance of behaving in a natural manner & no fresh air! I I live three streets away from the main road & its relatively safe for my current girl who tends to only go into surrounding gardens & wears a safety collar & bell to discourage hunting.

My friend has a cat who desperately wants to go outside but my friend won't let her due to her having a fight, resulting in a £400 vet bill, last time she went out. This same cat is obese, spends most of the day asleep under a duvet or looking outside and is vicious towards people other than my friend!

If its not safe for a cat to roam independently then at the very least they should have enclosed outdoor space or be trained to walk on a lead.

But at least you give him access to the outdoors & fresh air in whichever way you can! I 100% applaud 👏 you for this.

Most people wouldn't dream of getting a dog and not walk it so why a cat be cooped up 24/7?

I agree with most others, I think it's cruel to keep cats in. Also, I like to open my windows - not compatible with an indoor cat as they'd be out like a shot!

Dogs are very different animals - they are quite easily trained to stay with their owners and obey commands. They are pack animals and want to with with their pack, whether that is human in a house or dog in the wild. Good luck training a cat to stay 😂

Thank you! He’s a very much loved cat and has a very happy life, despite being completely blind since birth. He loves the fresh air and rain especially! He was harness trained from 8 weeks old.

“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.”

Did you miss this bit? I didn’t say keep cats completely indoors. You jumped to that conclusion. Read things properly.

I did read it and I still disagree with you 🙄

A secure garden or catio (or worse, a harness) is no substitute for roaming.

“You can walk a dog…you can’t walk most cats.”

Tell that to the woman in my village who walks her Maine Coon on a harness and long lead, he climbs walls and trees, all safe on a lead.

People allow cats to free roam because they think they should, but it’s not the only way.

Again, dogs would love to free roam, but we know it’s dangerous and irresponsible, so we don’t let them.

The primary reason for that being that dogs can be a danger to the public, not themselves.

Cats generally don’t endanger the public.

Mine always has 'Kitty Business' to attend to.

This consists of visiting the neighbours and sleeping on their drives.

When it is warn I hardly see her. She can get in and out of my bedroom window (bungalow).

And cats aren’t dogs, so I’m not sure what point you’re attempting to make 🙄

We live on a cul de sac but back onto a small nature reserve/woods. We have a high gate at the side of the house at the entrance to the back from the front so DCat can’t jump over it.
She’s seen “out the front” from the front door but doesn’t like it. She runs in at the first sign of a car. But she has a cat flap to get out the back and roams freely there. She hates being confined to the house.

Quality of life, not quantity for me I suppose - a cat lives in the here and now, not in the expectation of living for 15+ years.

But I wouldn't have cats again for this reason - we had two who started as indoor cats for the first half of their life. We then moved house to somewhere where they could go out, and I realised then that they had been living a bit of a half life before. They lived out the rest of their days as outside cats, but I don't want cats again as I have the dilemma that I now don't personally agree with indoor cats, but I don't want to lose a cat young. So our cat days are over for now!

Domestic cats don’t have a biological need to roam, and the idea that keeping them indoors is “cruel” is a UK cultural belief rather than anything supported by animal behaviour science. Modern cats are fully domesticated companion animals, not semi‑wild creatures, and their welfare depends on enrichment, safety, stable territory and stimulation, all of which can be provided indoors.

In many European countries indoor‑only cats are the standard and it’s considered responsible ownership in urban areas. The risks of free roaming are well documented: traffic, poisoning, infectious disease, fights, parasites, theft and intentional harm. Indoor cats consistently live longer and healthier lives. If someone prefers to let their cat roam, that’s their choice, but it isn’t the only “right” way to keep a cat, and it’s simply not true that indoor life is inherently cruel, if anything, the opposite is more likely.

One of mine has been known to smash his way through the catflap if he can't get outside, so somehow I don't think he'd be particularly happy being kept indoors... 🤔A catio wouldn't work with the layout of the house/garden plot.

A point that you’re either unable or unwilling to understand.

This is like playing chess with a pigeon.

I wouldn't have a cat if it couldn't roam free, and I didn't have one for a long time.

I now live in the country with a large garden and my cats go wherever they want. They catch stuff, mainly mice and some rats and pigeons - all classified as vermin btw.

Incidentally, both are currently fast asleep on DSs bed, so local wildlife is safe

Because they are barn cats and live outside the house full time. They have a job to do, and yes, there is some collateral damage to wildlife, which is unfortunate.

They were rehomed as a mum-cat and her feral litter from a nearby cat rescue who are always looking to rehome similar cats. It is likely we would do similar again.