Cats always getting killed on the roads

[JuliaBrett]

On Facebook not a week goes by without someone saying 'have you seen my cat' or 'cat missing or there is a dead /dying cat on the road.' Isn't it about time we stopped allowing cats to roam free and for their own safety either keep them in the garden with secure fencing, keep them indoors or don't keep a cat at all.
It's cruel, we don't allow dogs out on the road so why do we allow cats? If you love your cat keep them safe.

I used to have free roaming cats and now they are house cats with access to my garden only. I’d never go back to free roaming having seen the injuries caused by cars and dogs to other peoples cats.

You're talking about letting millions of predators out into a non-native environment to wreak havoc among native bird and small mammal species.

Cruel to keep them inside.

You could keep a child completely safe, inside all the time watching TV but we would recognise that as cruel/neglect.

@GodspeedJune
I could draw the same cartoon showing violence against women to mock anyone saying it’s cruel to confine women indoors and that they should only leave the house with a male relative for protection. It might get me banned though so I won’t draw it.

The point is that the world is a dangerous place, but that isn’t a justification to cage any living being whose happiness depends on its freedom to roam outside.

Cats are not native to Earth? What?

I’d rather live 20 years as a free woman than 80 years in captivity and I rather think the cats feel the same.

You’re in for a shock when you find out about Scottish wildcats! Cats are native to the UK.

This

I don't know why people can't just escape-proof their gardens and have a cat flap between there and the house. That seems like the best of all worlds to me. The cats couldn't get lost/stolen/killed, but have the freedom to come and go indoors and outdoors as they desire, and wildlife would be a lot safer!

Millions of stray cats in countries all over the world which generally don’t have an inside cat culture. Where did they come from then?

HeddaGarbled · Yesterday 23:52

My local Facebook is full of “my cat’s missing” followed in about an hour by “home now, thanks everyone”.

Or more often, RIP. Or "my cat's been missing for 7 weeks now and no sightings".

I've had indoor cats, I've had outdoor cats, and I've had indoor/outdoor cats. I had so many cats killed on the roads, far too young, growing up, and we lived out in the country. Two of them were heavily pregnant. Our matriarch, who lived to be 16, was hit by a car and was lucky to survive because my mum saw it happen. We had other young cats killed on the road, and one made it to 9 before she too was killed on the road.

When I got my first kittens as an adult, I kept them indoors. They were safe, happy, healthy and much-loved. I then added a stray boy who was indoor/outdoor and an abandoned boy who was outdoor. He was injured in a car accident too that he fortunately survived, but he needed extensive vet treatment. The stray boy contracted FIV from fighting even though the first thing we did when we took him in was to get him neutered, and died prematurely aged just 10.

Our next cat was an older straying boy, not neutered. He was outdoors but gradually moved indoors. We had him neutered in his early teens. He lived to be 20+. He gradually decided by himself that he wanted to be mostly outdoor, and it was so much safer when he lost the sight in one eye, and developed vestibular disease.

We now have 3 indoor cats. One was straying in a city centre. No interest at all in going outside. One was living outdoors and neglected. She throws a wobbler if you drip water on her washing your hands. The 3rd's owner died and he was indoor/outdoor. He hasn't looked to go out once since he came here.

They're all treated like kings and queens and happy as larry. I don't think I would ever take the risk of having an outdoor cat again.

Keeping cats indoors is the equivalent of keeping them in a zoo, or keeping whales and dolphins in tiny aquariums. Cruel even though they might be safer from certain risks, they aren't having a very good quality of life.

A long life is pointless if it's miserable or unhappy.

It's cruel to keep cats indoors, and yet as a society we cage BIRDS, tank fish, and cage hamsters and rats. These are all animals that in the wild would traverse a huge area span. Birds- HOW can any cage or even aviary imitate what the wild would offer?! Rats- they roam miles! Hamsters- forest animals that have a rich habit that far exceeds a wheel and some sawdust! Goldfish by nature live 20 years - in a tiny tank (and ALL tanks comparatively to wild habitats are tiny) die in but a few years. Somehow it's only cats that we respect their "nature"?! I have indoor cats. They'll live til their twenties. Go on regular walks and explorations. They have a catio and I feed them raw to best meet their "natural" requirements. I find it bizarre and laughable that cats seem so unique in their status as wild but also domesticated. It makes no sense.

I love cats but domestic cats should be indoors, sure wild ones live outside, saves them being killed or killing other animals

So maybe we need to be questioning the whole concept of having pets at all.

If you really drill down into it, is it much different than the concept of keeping human slaves?

NeedToClingToSomething · Today 00:18

Keeping cats indoors is the equivalent of keeping them in a zoo, or keeping whales and dolphins in tiny aquariums. Cruel even though they might be safer from certain risks, they aren't having a very good quality of life.

A long life is pointless if it's miserable or unhappy.

Don't be ridiculous! My last 4 cats have chosen to be happy indoors. I have a microchip cat flap and could use it if any of them wanted to go out. They don't. My late boy did use it for a time until he decided that, actually, life was much more cushy indoors. They have the best of everything, toys, food, love, company. They are far from "miserable" or "unhappy"! I would have let them out if that was the case.

I might add, I am not pissing the neighbours off by having my cats shit in their garden, nor am I decimating the bird population. My next door neighbour also has three cats that go out at will, and one of them in particular is a huge killer of the birds we feed in our garden. I scowl at him and he runs!

Every cat is different. One of mine is perfectly happy to spend all day everyday in bed and the other two are much more active, preferring the stimulation of roaming outdoors. It’s not a one size fits all situation.

Wow what a typical outdoor cat owner post.

Scottish wildcats - Home range size in and around Cairngorms National Park was estimated at 2.44 to 3.8 km2 (0.94 to 1.47 sq mi).

Meanwhile there are domesticated cats crawling everywhere, destroying wildlife around them in numbers that one solitary territorial wildcat would not. Not to mention the Scottish wildcats that ARE left are hardly wildcats at all due to interbreeding with domestic cats. Scottish wildcats do not doom wildlife around them because their prey can sustain themselves from the pressure of one wildcat in that space. Wildcats would also have natural selection, there's no vet. Many would die of infected wounds from fighting, starve to death or die in other horrific wild manners. Tiddles who gets his whiskas topped up every night and twice yearly vet trips does not belong in the eco system.

MaloneMeadow · Today 00:44

Every cat is different. One of mine is perfectly happy to spend all day everyday in bed and the other two are much more active, preferring the stimulation of roaming outdoors. It’s not a one size fits all situation.

All I can say is, I have been surprised by my three. All of them had been used to outdoors. None of them has expressed any interest in going out. The city centre straying one was 5 when we adopted her, 7 now. She sits at the top of the stairs watching us take in our supermarket delivery but makes no attempt to go out! She's just not interested! I think she had enough of life on the streets.

Our neglected girl was only 18 months when we got her, she's around 3 now, and the maddest cat I have ever known in my entire life! She was used to being soaked in the rain, fed by several households, afraid to go into her own home because of a massive dog, mated with by several toms until the rescue took her in. She nearly shits herself if a drip of water falls on her!!

Our most recent boy is also not much more than a baby at 18 months. He's a big placid dote whom we've only had a few weeks, but every day his personality comes out more. He's never looked to go out either.

Cats have been in the UK since at least the Roman times, how long does something have to have been here for to be classed as native?

I'm asking because the anglo saxons arrived after cats, and certainly humans kill a lot of birds and mammal species so Im wondering whether this means we are now allowed to lock the English up?

If Im only 50% Welsh am I native or do i get locked up too? Does it help if I am vegetarian and a non driver so not a habitual killer of small animals?

I can’t really see the point in fussing over the risk to cats from cars. A cat goes about doing what a cat does. If it gets attacked by a dog or a fox or another cat or gets run over, that was a bad day at the office.

People can’t have roaming pets and then get upset at the risks of roaming.

I agree that keeping a cat indoors is considerate to neighbours and wildlife. But to be honest, that’s really an argument for not having a cat in the first place. I can’t imagine that a cat that never saw anything or any other cat outside the owner’s four walls would be very happy.

I agree and have always thought this. Maybe they could be taken for walks like a dog? Or safe places

The words of someone who has clearly never tried walking an uncooperative cat

Everybody’s life would be improved if people were obliged to keep their cats on their own property be it in the house , in a catio or in a cat proofed garden . Cats would be safer , wildlife would be safer and other people wouldn’t have to put up with cat shit in their gardens .