Cat Chat 2

[Anaphea]

No accidents with the fish pond thus far! Buddy was sitting at the edge of the pond the other day (he's not ours - he just decided to wander into our garden and tease the dogs) but he didn't catch the fish or fall in, luckily. Arty has lost a lot of weight, and is very lean at the moment. Which, of course, makes it easier for him to catch birds... we've had far too many presents these past few days. Not appreciated presents either. At least he's not chubby anymore, I guess...

[DoubleONothing]

Hey! I've been seeing things about indoor and outdoor cats, but I was wondering, is keeping your cat inside better? Because my cat is an outdoor cat, but she comes inside during the day sometimes and is nearly always on my bed at night. So she does spend a lot of time outside.

[Thalassic]

Hey! I've been seeing things about indoor and outdoor cats, but I was wondering, is keeping your cat inside better? Because my cat is an outdoor cat, but she comes inside during the day sometimes and is nearly always on my bed at night. So she does spend a lot of time outside.

A cat hanging out outdoors is both a danger to itself, and to the environment.

Depending on where you live, there may be natural predators lurking around. And even if not, then cars, roaming dogs/cats/other animals, as well as nasty humans are a huge danger as well. Not to mention your cat could come across to some sort of poison and decide to have a taste. It's just not something you can ever be sure of if you let them wander around.

And regarding the environment, cats are not natural predators anywhere. The ecosystem doesn't need them to "keep things in check" the way it needs other animals. Essentially what outdoor cats end up doing, is hunt and kill too many animals, lowering their population numbers from where they should be, often to near extinction in that area.
And just so you know, cats only bring home a small amount of their kills. They are predators after all, so killing is what they will do, a lot, and often, even if they decide to not share with their owners.

So short answer: yes, it's better for a cat to be an indoor cat. It's easy to make sure your cat is entertained and happy indoors, just provide them with enough toys and scratching and climbing things so they have stuff to do around the house.

[Saracirce]

Also, cats can spread FelV and FIV to each other. These are contagious diseases that can not be cured and have to be managed by complete isolation from other cats who do not have the diseases. There are vaccines for both of these but they aren't guaranteed to protect your cat. The only way to protect your cat is to keep them separated from infected or untested cats and the only way to be sure you're doing this is to keep your cat indoors.

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_I ... re_fiv.cfm
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_i ... e_felv.cfm

[Lunarsnow]

Hey! I've been seeing things about indoor and outdoor cats, but I was wondering, is keeping your cat inside better? Because my cat is an outdoor cat, but she comes inside during the day sometimes and is nearly always on my bed at night. So she does spend a lot of time outside.

Haha this has been a real touchy subject on the last thread. My opinion is that cats should not go outside unsupervised (farm/barn cats are my only exception, they're complicated). As a pet owner, I'm responsible for them and if they get hurt it's my fault. But my personal feelings aside here's some info why an inside cat is better for everyone.

Safety Impact
The bottom line is that an outdoor cat is exposed to more things that can harm them than an indoor cat. Cars, other cats-feral or otherwise, any wildlife that wants to pick a fight, disease and parasites, even questionable humans. Not that there's no danger indoors - cleaning chemicals, toxic houseplants, and electrical wires could all harm your cat but it is frankly much easier to ensure your cat's safety if they do not go outside unsupervised. You can alter you house to be cat-safe but you cannot alter the entire outside world to be safe.

Environmental Impact
Fact is, domestic cats have no natural niche in the wild. By breeding and domesticating them we've removed their place in the ecosystem. They're technically an invasive species. Just look at the mongoose in Hawaii or the nutria in Louisiana. Species not native to an area roaming around wherever they want causes a lot of issues. Yes your cat is only one cat but they're still killing wildlife in your area. So while your outdoor cat alone is certainly not the number 1 contributor to the Felis catus menace (that would be the many many unfixed cats - feral, stray, or otherwise - roaming about and increasing the wild cat population) they still are part of it. You can't guarantee that your outdoor cat isn't killing wildlife, a scratch or bite from a cat can be deadly to small wildlife even if the cat leaves them alone after injuring them.

Enrichment/Mental Impact
Yes cats are entertained by the outdoors, but they can also be unnecessarily stressed out by it. And yes, the same can be said for the indoors. But going back to the safety paragraph, you can alter you house to be less stressful and more entertaining. You can't control who or what interacts with your cat outside so if there's a family of mockingbirds that divebombs your cat every time they go outside or there's a big bad neighborhood tom that comes and marks his territory in your yard, that can really stress your cat out. Cats also like routine, so even if they're not happy they are still going to want 'patrol' the territory they consider theirs outside - even more so if they feel like it's threatened!

Tl;dr: There's way more reasons why you should keep a cat inside than why you should let them out. The only real "argument" I've seen for the other side is "the owner can do what they want" which is true I suppose but it doesn't negate the reasons why a cat should be indoor only.

[plum]

^ There's also less severe things like URIs that can be spread, and it's not the most fun to deal with cat snot when they're having a herpes outbreak.


Frisk thinks she likes pretzels, but she doesn't even know how to eat them lmao

[Saracirce]

@Plum: Koda is such a food hound. She loves all the food. I find it most hilarious and ironic though that she adores cheetos, which are just cheese flavored corn chip, and we actively avoid corn in their kibble and treats. Yes, cat, eat the thing that is really bad for you.

[Transkitty]

@Plum: Koda is such a food hound. She loves all the food. I find it most hilarious and ironic though that she adores cheetos, which are just cheese flavored corn chip, and we actively avoid corn in their kibble and treats. Yes, cat, eat the thing that is really bad for you.

I'm more amused by her rushing to get fresh spinach when we drop it on the floor accidentally lol

[DoubleONothing]

Thanks to everyone for your replies! I hope I didn't sound stupid, or like a bad owner.

I do try to keep her inside as much as I can, and she doesn't mind staying in my room at night, and when I'm sick she'll stay with me. But the problem is that she was an spca cat who lived on the street for a while, and it's quite hard to keep her inside for long periods of time. She doesn't like being made to stay inside, and gets quite feisty if we try to keep her in. Do you have any tips for keeping her inside?

(She has a cat bed and lots of toys to play with, and in case you were wondering, we live in New Zealand, in a quiet street with not many cars and basically no predators. She's also up to date with all her shots)

Also I'm sorry if this sounds bad and I don't want to start a fight c:

[Thalassic]

Thanks to everyone for your replies! I hope I didn't sound stupid, or like a bad owner.

I do try to keep her inside as much as I can, and she doesn't mind staying in my room at night, and when I'm sick she'll stay with me. But the problem is that she was an spca cat who lived on the street for a while, and it's quite hard to keep her inside for long periods of time. She doesn't like being made to stay inside, and gets quite feisty if we try to keep her in. Do you have any tips for keeping her inside?

(She has a cat bed and lots of toys to play with, and in case you were wondering, we live in New Zealand, in a quiet street with not many cars and basically no predators. She's also up to date with all her shots)

Also I'm sorry if this sounds bad and I don't want to start a fight c:

Do you play with her often or otherwise engage with her? If she wants to leave, she likely gets bored so you should find a way to entertain her. There are some special entertaining toys for cats that aren't as simple as just chasing a ball, and you could even try teaching her a trick or two (there are many guides out there, just gotta google them).