Is your cat an indoor or outdoor cat?

[LiveLifeToTheFull2]

Just that really....

I posted a post on Reddit about advice and tips on how best to let 6 month old kittens out for the first time and got an absolute roasting 😳
Apparently it's a thing to not let your cat outdoors and it's bad for the environment and dangerous for the cat etc

I'm already so anxious about letting them out for the first time soon but am also aware they are cats and have an instinctive nature to explore and enjoy the outside world
They keep looking outside in the garden at the birds, bugs etc and I can tell they desperately want to get out on our garden.
We live in a semi rural area with fields surrounding our harden garden and I hope that is enough to keep them out the back and not the front where there is a cul de sac road
Neighbours are all lovely and cat owners so not worry about any weirdos farming the cats

🥴

Yo, it's not either or. You can take your cat outside without risking your cat getting run over or becoming a menace to wild life.

Earlier this year when 2 of the cats were due their boosters, there was a worldwide shortage of cat vaccines. Some of the local cat shelters had to close their doors to new arrivals for a few months with particular concern about cat flu.

And if you have 3 cats like we do, then flea treatment is the devil, as they have to be all done at the same time.

At this house (here 7 years) we lost one cat to the road and another cat who had to be put down after she was attacked by a roaming cat coming into our garden. Presumably that attacker cat is still in the neighbourhood. And countless cats in the houses before that disappear or be run over. These were all daytime wanderers and we would usually call or look if they didn’t return home at night. One cat got stolen by a neighbour who started feeding it! That cat had such a beautiful personality and the neighbour was a lonely elderly man and they developed a bond.
So yes, I think being an indoor cat will have benefits from that point of view,

I am not gung-ho about indoor cats though like some owners are but a fairly recent convert to it who is pleased with the results and seeing no signs in their behaviour that they are depressed. I think this is more likely to happen in a cat originally an outdoor cat.

I can see you have very strong feelings about it. But the more I have seen in the world, the more I can see that people do stuff differently depending on what works best for them. When I visited relatives in Hong Kong, I was amazed that people kept large dogs in flats - even German Shepherds. You would see dog walkers leaving these huge, tall buildings with their charges on leashes. Somehow they make it work.

It's not cruel at all

Our new recruit is going to be ab indoor(although going to try and do a catio). We got a kitten last year, who recently got runner. It broke our hearts. Knowing myluck that'd happen again, even though their are several cats living closer to the semi main road she got hit on than we do.

Mine are indoor with the whole garden catproofed, I find the effect on wildlife disgusting otherwise. Less about the numbers they might kill, more that I would be heartbroken if my cat was rearing young, and a dog came and mutilated them infront of her. Dogs are better at vermin control than a cat so I'm fine on that front. I own ragdolls though, wouldn't own a moggie because they need to roam to be truly happy imo. My raggies are happy with a nice sunbathing spot to listen to the birds chirping and they never want to go further. Getting two more this month because they're such lovely addictive cats

I live in the country and have two very outdoorsy cats. I live next to a hobby farm so they keep the rodents down. As there is such a plentiful supply of mice, they don't tend to bother with birds ( which is nice). However, the RSPB state that cats do not have a significant impact on the garden bird population in the U.K., despite the common myth that they do.
Different environments dictate the decision for cats to be kept indoors or not. Lots of people out there can only see things from their own very narrow experience and will be very assertive about giving you the advice that applies to them, so make sure you think about your own situation and take advice that suits it.

Also, my outdoor cats are incredibly healthy. They are lean and strong and fit as fiddles. Anyone claiming that indoor cats are healthier is just being daft. Both types of cats can be fit and healthy.

The issue with the whole "indoor cats are healthier" thing is that it depends on how you define it.

Yes, they generally live longer and are less prone to disease and injury, but many are also overweight and under-stimulated.

I personally don't agree with cats being allowed out to roam - I think we should go down the same route as Australia - which is that you have to keep your cats contained on your own property, just like we (generally) do with dogs.

That could involve catios, cat-proofing or only allowing cats out on harnesses. I really don't think it's fair that people can have a pet that they can practically ignore while it roams the streets and shits on other people's property.

Last time I posted that on here I got a lot of criticism though so I'm bracing myself 😂

Always had outdoor cats. I think the quality of life of an outdoor cat has to be higher than one kept indoors, and I balance that against the risks.
Fortunately we've never had a cat die from 'outside risks' anyway, but I still think a shorter fulfilled life is better than a long boring one.
Last two lived to 17 and 20 so they do alright.

I'm happy for those people whose cats never came to any harm going outside. I wouldn't say that's the norm though.

Every single one of my childhood cats either went missing or got run over. It was just a normal housing estate in a suburban area, not a particularly busy road.

Recently my friend started letting her cat out and it was attacked by the dog next door. Thankfully both my friend and the neighbours were home at the time and were able to stop it, otherwise he would have been killed. Poor thing is now absolutely terrified and a shadow of his former self.

Another friend's cat got poisoned last year while roaming around.

Another was shut into a shed for two weeks and came back skin and bones. Friend was beside herself with worry while the cat was missing. I'm sure it wasn't a pleasant experience for the cat either.

In my experience, if you let a cat out it's highly likely that something will happen to them.

@DirectionToPerfection same, every cat my family had while I was growing up got struck by a car. It wasn’t a particularly busy road either. I also recently had to bag my neighbours cat up when I found it dead in the road.

I think it’s a matter of luck.But I have friends who have never had anything bad happen to outdoor cats, reaching their 20s even. they are all pro-outdoor cats.

I'm nearly 50 and have had cats all my life. Apart from a couple that had tumours and died young all my cats have lived to their late teens, and they've all gone outside.
I also know lots of other cats (all my friends and family seem to be cat people) and I only know two that have been hit by cars.
So in my own experience I think it's quite rare for cats to be run over and this is why I take the risk with my cat now.

It all boils down to luck and personal experience.

Someone who has been lucky with letting cats out will probably consider the risks very low.

Someone who has lost several cats to the road will feel differently and it's understandable that they would want to keep their cats in. People calling them cruel are being really unfair I think, as from their perspective it's more cruel to put them in danger.

For me the issue is that cats don't know they are being restricted because their owner is trying to protect them. I would rather mine had a potentially shorter but happier life, however heartbreaking that is for me.

I have three indoor cats. To be fair two of them would like to be outside to, however two lots of neighbours around me have 6 little dogs between them, all let off lead with no recall and have killed cats before.
They don't care and have said so. They also don't pick up after their dogs.

I worry about my reaction to my cats being hurt, so they stay in. I am building a catio though.

We have had literally dozens of cats ,ferals, rescues, strays and dumped and they have all been indoor cats. They have been all ages from a few weeks old to geriatric and they have all been happy to be inside. This is in the UK by the way. Finding a dead cat on the road is no fun and especially not if its yours.

Don't be keen to put the kitten out just because other people reckon its the right thing to do. You wouldn't send a 5 year old out to play on their own and just expect them to have road sense.

A friend of ours who thought she lived in a good area had 3 of her cats shot (one died) and the other 2 had to live with shotgun pellets because they were in too risky a place to be operated on.

With the old adage of what you've never had you never miss, it is more than likely your kittens will be very happy as house cats, just give them plenty of toys, boxes and scratchers and all will be fine. Presumably you have two so they are company for each other.

It's a difficult decision. Both my childhood cats had short lives as they were run over.

I've had a rescue now for a few years, and decided early on to let her outside, but only to the back of the house, not roadside (mid-terrace). To my relief she only wants to stay in the garden anyway, she has only explored further twice, and that panicked her enough not to try again.

As far as I'm concerned animals are part of the family, would you tell a 5 year old child to go outside and play on its own? so why would you turf out a 6 month old kitten. They are not born with road sense, the only way they get road sense is by nearly being hit by cars.

A neighbour's young female cat was raped by the local bruiser tom cat on her first journey outside. Her screams were blood curdling and she was found and taken inside. Fortunately she had been spayed, otherwise she would have been pregnant to add to her trauma. She never even looked at an open door again.

I've only just got mine and I don't know what I will do! They're too young at the moment but I'm concerned about the area because just beyond the garden there is a railway line, and out the front there's a road which isn't busy but there's some speeding. I don't really want to make them stay in all the time so perhaps it'll be supervised garden outings?! I have no idea how to do this cat stuff as these two little ones are my first experience of it all!

Cats are more than happy to stay indoors and much safer. It is just stereotyping of animals to think you have to "put the cat out". Cats like to find the smallest boxes they will fit in because they want to feel safe and secure, they do not feel this roaming around outdoors. Over the years we have had literally dozens of cats, all rescued, some were feral and they were more than happy to stay indoors. We had the back of the house "caged in" (at great expense) to provide a safe outdoor space with beds etc if they wanted them and some cats were so happy to be inside that they didn't even venture out there. Others panicked if the back door was closed and wanted to come in straight away so don't feel guilty about keeping them in as given the chance that is what most cats prefer.

So had my catio installed for two weeks now. One cat is in and out the catflap into the catio and enjoying it. The other is terrified and won’t go in on her own and if we put her in skulks about for a minute and then dives back in the house. She’s certainly not sad that she’s not an outside cat!

A neighbour's young female cat was raped by the local bruiser tom cat on her first journey outside

I don't really think it's fair to call it rape - cats aren't humans with human morals, they're just animals following their instincts.

The Tom cat was just doing what Tom cats do - yes it's brutal but it's nature. Let's not trivialise actual rape cases 😬

Outdoor, I got the older one when she was 13 and she has been allowed out all her life so I didn't think it was fair to keep her locked in. She doesn't go far, she just likes to pop out into the garden and sunbathe, then comes right back in.
My house is in a very safe cul de sac nowhere near any main roads in rural Somerset.
None of my neighbours have any cats or dogs.
The kitten - now 2 years old wanted to go out the minute she got here.
I let her outside on a leash until she was sensible enough to go out on her own. It was the happiest day of her life, her first day out. She's never been out before.
She climbed the tree, sunbathed and had a lovely time. She doesn't go very far away.
Male cats do roam, no doubt about that, but females stay close to home generally.
If someone shut me in my home and I could never feel the wind on my face again or the grass under my feet I would slowly die. Given the pleasure it gives my two to go out I cannot take that away from them.
I've had 10 cats over the years before now, only one got run over - I think. She was found dead with no marks on her at all. But I've moved from that house now. They all lived to around 19/20.

So you don't think that animals can be traumatised by appalling things that happen to them. They all feel the same emotions as us: joy, sadness, fear etc, so don't trivialise this. Do you think that "actual rape cases" only happen between humans?

You can argue that a human committing an act of rape is just "following their instincts". It doesn't make it right anymore than an animal being pinned down and violated by another animal is right.

My argument is that if the cat was indoors it wouldn't have happened.

Rape in marriage only became illegal in the UK in 1992, but it was still rape!

There are many instances of animal rape. In the spring many ducks are gang raped by drakes, often on the water and they are drowned in the process. I have found them with their eyes pecked out and other terrible injuries which have resulted in them being put to sleep and this happens on any local duck pond.

RAPE HAPPENS IN ALL SPECIES its just that most people don't care if it is an animal.

@VeryHappyBunny I'm saying we shouldn't put human emotions and actions onto animals.

Cats aren't people and don't behave or think or feel like people.

That doesn't mean they don't get scared, or traumatised, or hurt, but comparing their to that of humans doesn't help anyone.