Outdoor... cats?

[honeybadger]

I hope this won't spark anything like the you-know-what thread, but I just heard about this the other day and had never heard about it before... that a lot of people (in the US) don't believe in letting cats outdoors at all. Is this common? I don't know anyone in New Zealand who does this apart from people in apartments... almost all houses have cat doors here. Our cat is allowed outside whenever she wants but if we lived near a busy road I would definitely have more reservation.

How common are indoor only cats, and what do you think of them? I honestly don't really have an opinion either way, I had just never really heard of it before.

[deidra]

I know a lot of people with cats that are strictly indoors. My cats are not strictly indoors though. When i go out they also go out if they want. Sometimes they want out to sunbath and I let them out for a little then. I would say it is very common to have strict indoor cats only around where I live but I'm not sure about the whole U.S.

[Bookwormbiker]

Our cats are strictly indoor cats. We live on a busy road (mornings and evenings). When we first moved here, our cat at the time was indoor/outdoor, her choice. My husband had previously lived on a very busy road, in a town. She was street-wise. However, when we moved here (rural, but busy at certain times of day) it was only about two months before she was hit and killed by a car. I think there are studies about how much longer a cat lives if it's kept indoors. Don't really know how accurate the study is though. Can only go by my experience. Baby (the indoor/outdoor cat that was hit) was 3 when she was killed. Our current cats (indoor only) are now 10.

[Jan]

You're going to get different reponses if you post this in O&E! Here's an old post on this topic Cat owners.. enlighten me..

I used to have 3 indoor/outdoor cats when I lived in the country -- before I knew better. This is a reply I gave in a previous thread on this topic (and it was the majority opinion).

"At our cabin, fishers and coyotes deal with cats, but in a suburban setting, that's not going to help. Cats shouldn't be outside, period. They are a menace to all living creatures that do live wild, and I would catch them and take them to an SPCA or humane society. I really feel strongly about this, and flame me if you will, but as carriers of disease and killers of birds, I'd hope they'd be humanely euthanized. Even in suburbia, cat life outside is probably brutish and short."

Edited to clarify: I was making a suggestion for the OP about catching the cat(s) and taking them to a shelter. I've never actually done that. With Maggie, she runs off any cat that dares to come into our yard, lol!

[SharonaZamboni]

Lots of people have indoor cats. Some even have the front claws removed to prevent furniture from being ruined. Then of course it would be too dangerous for them to go out ever again. My cat was indoor for the first couple years, first because she hadn't yet been spayed, then because I worried about her, LOL. Then I went away for a week to find that none of my teen/adult kids had taken care of the litter box. The box was immediately thrown out, and Kitstu became an in/out cat.

[MyGoldenBoy]

Most communities have leash laws for your animals, cats included.

Outdoor cats have a very short life.

I have a neighbor who lets their 4 paw declawed cat roam in our city. That is truly sad.

[bebopalula]

Our cat is an indoor cat. He is my first cat. We live near two very busy roads, plus a bus stop (UGH) so ( against hubby's wishes ) I decided to keep our kitty indoors. I do feel bad that he stays inside and am sure he would love to be an indoor/outdoor cat. But I just don't want to risk it with all the traffic nearby. I did not have him declawed, and yes he is putting snags on the furniture but I love him so much it isn't the end of the world for me. I put a cat tree in front of some windows that look at the bird feeders. On warm days I leave the window open so he can smell all the outdoor smells and hear all the sounds. I also take him for rides on my bike. I put him in his carrier and put that in the basket of my bike and off we go! He loves it! So even though he is mostly indoors, I do take him out ( in his carrier) when it's warm enough so that at least he can get some fresh air now and then. Also, where we live people go a bit overboard IMO about maintaining their yards. SO many people use pesticides on their lawns ( we do not ) and I would worry about the cat walking on them and then licking his paws. It is ridiculous in the spring how many pesticide flags are on just about every lawn in town!

[honeybadger]

Most communities have leash laws for your animals, cats included.

Outdoor cats have a very short life.

That seems like a very generalized statement... not all outdoor cats do, I assume. (Sine mine is 10 and our old cat died at 17, of cancer)

As for cat laws, we don't have any, aside from that you can't own so many that it's a health hazard. It's totally normal here to have a cat that goes in and out of the house as it wants... whenever I walk Jack at dusk all the neighbourhood cats are sitting at the ends of their driveways. It's kind of creepy. As for de-clawing, I have only heard of that once and it was in an "only in America" conversation, so it's definitely not acceptable here. I hope.

[honeybadger]

You're going to get different reponses if you post this in O&E! Here's an old post on this topic Cat owners.. enlighten me..

I used to have 3 indoor/outdoor cats when I lived in the country -- before I knew better. This is a reply I gave in a previous thread on this topic (and it was the majority opinion).

"At our cabin, fishers and coyotes deal with cats, but in a suburban setting, that's not going to help. Cats shouldn't be outside, period. They are a menace to all living creatures that do live wild, and I would catch them and take them to an SPCA or humane society. I really feel strongly about this, and flame me if you will, but as carriers of disease and killers of birds, I'd hope they'd be humanely euthanized. Even in suburbia, cat life outside is probably brutish and short."

Wow... I think euthanizing cats just for being cats is going a bit far. Actually, this makes me think of a story on the news a few years ago about a guy who who really hated cats, and used to bait neighbourhood cats, then drown them. He got away with it because they had no evidence he did it, apart from a cage and his gloating to reporters. My cat's life has not been brutish and short, but I can understand that cats who are hit by cars do end their lives that way.

Okay, I read the other thread. Seems like this is a huge cultural difference! People here don't really get to complain about neighboorhood cats, because it's so normal to have cats visiting. We have a lot of native birds in this country and I agree that cats really shouldn't be let anywhere near them.

[Jan]

Wow... I think euthanizing cats just for being cats is going a bit far.

Sorry, I should have been more specific about the OP in the thread I responded to... it related to feral cats that were not fixed and were not "owned" by anyone, and which were also not being given proper vet care. Feral cats can be a real problem, and are difficult to socialize. (I tried at our first home, when a mom cat & kittens were left behind. They were truly wild!)

I love cats, but love dogs more, and Maggie is a cat-hating dog so no kitties for me!