to think that not allowing a cat out, is cruel?

[StuckInTheMiddleWithYou]

An aquaintance of mine lives in a third floor flat. It is quite small and has small, high windows.

She has a cat and wonders why it is incrediably clingy, in between trying to climb out of the windows everytime they're opened....

Get a goldfish for god sake! grr.

A big attraction of cats is that they are the pets whose poo you do not have to worry about.

SITM- no. We're now in Asia. About 1% of people in the city where we live have direct access to outside space so we are more likely to have outside space ourselves in a year than find someone else who does and who wants 2 cats and who doesnt already have their own.

Also, with rehoming there's always that thing that you'd have to be sure they'd be better off, and that the new owners were properly committed, and that's really hard if you're just finding someone through an advert or similar. Everyone we "know" is in the same situation as us really.

I think I'd be more upset about it if either had ever shown any inclination to head outside but they haven't, despite both being strays at some stage.

I've just got 2 kittens and have/will let them out, though my garden is fairly secure because I think that both of them are not the kind of cats to sit indoors all day.

Interestingly though, after their second booster the vet asked me if I was going to let them out (in a non-committal kind of a way) which would lead me to believe that he didn't consider keeping them indoors the height of cruelty..

My parents have two Birmans, they are indoor cats, never been outside. They are so soft I'd worry for them if they went out. One is so dim that my mum says he has special needs. They are bred from an indoor cat so maybe the instincts are gradually bred out?

JBB but im not a cat

Ok, when I lived in a flat, I had an indoor cat, she was being ill treated and I "saved" her and brought her home. She never went out and seemed really happy. Then I moved into a house, after a week or so I let her out into the world. She was terrified, and dissapeared 2 days later never to be seen again. Which was cruel?

I think it's cruel to keep rehoming pets, uprooting them and affecting their stability.

MrsC is that comment made to me?

This thread reminds me of how much I love David Thorne

My ex-housemate had a cat who was deaf and blind in one eye so couldn't go out in case it got ran over as it couldn't hear or see much of, the traffic. It was very nervous and used to claw us if it got startled, which was alot.

We had to keep the place sealed in the summer in case it escaped. A very high maintenance moggy.

Oh how I hated that cat.

One of my cats is hardly ever in, except to eat and give me dirty looks. The other one never goes out even though there is a catflap, acres of fields and about a million fieldmice within half a mile. He's a right lazy bastard. Some cats don't really like going out that much I guess.

Expat - Lol I LOVE the naming of 'NEWMAN' with Paul Newman blue eyes! What a col cat he must be!

I just love cats - brilliant creatures

'cool cat' Doh!

My two cats are indoor cats, one is a Ragdoll and one is a moggy. I don't think I am cruel to protect them from FHIV, car accidents, bullying from local kids, being attacked by dogs/other wildlife. One would probably quite like to go out, one is more than happy to stay in, but both are very happy and laid back, not in the slightest bit 'demented'.

I also think I'd be selfish to let them out. If I let my dog go and crap in someone's backgarden, no-one would fine that acceptable, yet for some reason plenty of people seem to think it'd be OK to let my cat do the same. Plus, cats kill lots of wildlife each year, some of which is becoming rare or endagered as a result.

Newman is a lovely cat! He was just was Mid needed. Mid was a grumpy old man, even at the age of 5, and when Newman came along he was only about 14 months old and still quite kittenish. So he didn't do any dominance threats and Mid soon realised all Newman wants to do is play.

He keeps Mid young, even now!

Newman is also the only cat I know who will eat any people food, including: lettuce, melon, grapes and undressed pasta. He also drinks any liquid, including orange juice, beer, Coke/fizzy drinks, whatever.

Mine is an indoor cat - when I moved out originally I lived near a very busy road and, knowing the general feline policy of "we don't believe in traffic therefore it doesn't exist", I rang the local Cats' Protection asking if they had any older indoor cats for rehoming. I also said I was a sucker for a hard-luck story - which makes cat rescue people squeal with delight I discovered.

I ended up with the tripod - she's got a back leg amputated so she can't up-jump properly, therefore wouldn't stand a chance running from a dog or something (hah hah whoever described her as this hasn't seen the speed a three-legged cat can clock up!) - it was a specific condition of rehoming her that she was kept as an indoor moggie for her own safety.

She's a very clingy people-oriented cat anyway, was described to me as a total cuddle-kitten and she's never more than about 2 feet away from me when I'm at home (right now she's curled up next to me and keeps sticking her head on the keyboard shelf of the desk for an ear scratch). Drives me crackers sometimes - but I love her to bits - and she's in no way harmed by being an indoor cat, it's not cruel, it's what she was homed as to keep her safe.

I have to say it's cat-central round here and there are always cat scraps going on overnight - I'm glad she's not caught up in that kerfuffle.

Before I had our present cat I would have believed it to be cruel but our cat decided to move in with us when we lived in a basement flat in the city centre. She was a starving stray kitten. We weren't looking to get a cat, of the whole litter only she and one other survived, they were all either killed on the road or put down such was the sad state they were in.

So, we gave her a home and because we were about to move and we didn't want her to also die on that road we kept her in.

It was 8 months before we moved, she was an indoor cat all that time. So then we all go and live in the countryside and of course there is a busy road, no bounderies, stoats on the doorstep, foxes and feral cats. Since because of her bad start our cat was a nervous wreck (the vet had said he'd put her down she would take too much patience to look after) she jumps when the kettle boils. We keep her as an indoor cat.

She has a lovely life, is played with lots by dd, never has to scratch at fleas/ticks. Also she is neat and trim whereas my family pet growing up which had a huge garden was obese.

We'll probably move again and I hope to get a safer place for her with an enclosed garden. But for now, it was this or nothing, she had no options. She is a very happy, loving cat. Our vet here said it's fine to keep a cat indoors, there are lots of them in lots of major cities round the world.

At the moment mine is an indoor cat. We didnt know when he'd last had any immunisations, so the vet asked us to keep him in until his second jabs are done next week (will be around 6 weeks in total)

The vet asked at his first set of jabs if we were planning to keep him indoors as it means a different amount of worming and defleaing. There was no mention of it being cruel.

TBH I think he's more or less an indoor cat anyway (hes 4) and he went straight to my room to sleep, and is very happy with the litter tray etc. He did get out the other night briefly, but ran straight back in very nervous so dont think he likes it very much!

My sister had a rehomed cat with FIV too, which wasnt allowed out and was a very happy cat

YABU I think.

My two are house cats. They are siblings.

We live on an estate that is known locally as being rough. Shall we just say that when people ask where I live and I reply there is a sharp intake of breathe and the inevitable questions "And you have had no problems?"

It is also the route driving instructors take with their students, also all the idiots showing off to their mates with their wally cars come speeding around as well.

My dh and I both work full time and when we discussed getting cats, we decided to make them fully house cats as, to us, it was cruel to shut them out all day in all weathers in an area which is dodgy, which is what would have happened.

I have had experience of outdoor cats, my mothers' come and go as they please. It pleases Molly to be a six-dinner-Sid and Jesse-James has the avian equivilent of a bounty on his sorry head. We have also lost two of our favourite cats to road incidents, in one case deliberately when the driver mounted the pavement to hit Paris.

We are fortunate to have a nice sized 3 bedroom house with lots of light and sun patches for the furballs to lie in

Every evening we come home to a lovely welcome and they genuinely love the house and people. In summer, if we are sitting in the garden, they are able to come out, but all it takes is a car going past on a different street for them to go streaking into the house.

In our circumstances, house cats are a much better option. They are happy and healthy and very much spoiled. As I type my boy is draped over my left shoulder and licking my arm, while his sister thunders up and down the stairs attacking her tail