Do you let your cats wander freely outside? Why?

[Mari]

@Humbug

That's an argument I hear all the time, but you should look into it! I don't know which country you're from, but domesticated free-roaming cats are the biggest threat to extinction of small species worldwide, so it's highly possible that there are some species native to your country that are extinct or endagered because of them. Not thinking is not knowing ^^

@AceRagz
I get that it's probably hard because she is your roommate, but imho you should report her to police (if you're from somewhere where there are laws about animal cruelty). With cats you should have more litterboxes than cats, and if she only cleans the ones that the three use once a month, that's animal abuse. Cats are very particular about being clean, and if they only fight it's dangerous to them, and even you guys living in there (since cat claws are notorius for being full of bacteria, so any deeper accidental scratches may lead to severe infection).

[AceRagz]

It is hard for me. I gave her a place to live since her house was foreclosed on. After she moved in I found out she had animal control on her in her home state for animal hoarding. She had 22 cats, two dogs in the house and another 8 roaming the farm. She has spent her whole life with a mother that had an entitlement complex and let her do whatever she wanted so when I stand up to her she often resents me and does whatever she wants anyways.

[Mari]

@AceRagz

that does sound like a very awful situation for you, and I'm sorry for you. Do you need her for rent/Is she a personal, close friend? This may seem very cruel, but there are limits to what you should be put up with as well, and tbh I think it would be best for you to find another roommate, if possible.

That's the biggest reason, even though a roommate would help with my bills, that I live alone. with my clinical depression I won't do it, even if my friends have suggested we could move in together. The chaos my bad seasons cause in my home is pretty much something no one would be able to bear, so I'll keep renting alone

[Humbug]

I never really thought about it. Thanks for bringing it up.

[AceRagz]

She's aclose friend I've had for a long time. I just never seen this side of her until she moved in though. She had a large circle of friends before but after I started talking to them I saw they all just used her for money. As for me if I could get one of my other rental properties rented out I would be fine if she moved out but thing is she has no where to go. Back in Michigan she wore out her welcome with all her family and she was living in a motel when I invited her to move in.

she was going to move out two years ago but the friend she was going to live with put a huge amount of chores and restrictions on her along with wanting 2\3 of her monthly income so she decided to stay here.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I offered up help to her.

[Zaboem]

Fred Flintstone would put his cat out for the night. This scene alone has convinced generations of Americans that releasing a car into the neighborhood part time is both the normal and maybe even preferred way to things. If I so much as suggest otherwise, I get dismissed as a lone who has no idea what a cat is much less how to own one. Cat hoarding inside is an equal problem to releasing sem-feral cats outside, but at least the animal hoarders have mostly come to understand that this is problematic behavior.

Not a month goes by when somebody doesn't ask me if I would like to adopt kitten. They doesn't happen because my community has a two animal limit; I could not even keep three goldfish in my house. My wife's cat and our houseguest's cat bring us right up to that limit. I allow the cats, but I trim their claws myself once a week.

The best solution is to spay and neuter the majority of cats in the country and get the population under control. Unfortunately, spaying is very very expensive to do in the U.S. and far beyond the means of most people with multiple cats. Until somebody invents a cheaper process for feline birth control, this is just a problem we have to live with.

[Mari]

@Zaboem
Is the inflation of medical costs infecting vet costs as well? My cat's sterilization (which is more expensive) was around 200 e, which is around the same in dollars, so that's expensive, but affordable even for a very poor person.

For dogs though, it's over 600 e here. Just because dog owners are willing to pay more, I guess, since I would imagine it'd be around the same amount of work/anesthetics.

[punkarsenic]

its a difficult one for me. my current cat is getting pretty problematic with killing birds and im turning towards being pro-indoor cats, but my dad would never stop her from going outside, so my hands are pretty tied.

but the cat we had previous was a bit feral, as he'd spent the first year of his life living in a garden with a bunch of other cats, so there was absolutely no keeping him inside. he broke out when we tried. he was also pretty good with eating what he caught, though sometimes i had to stand and watch him eat a mouse so he'd stop playing with it. he was a special case, but i certainly think theres some cats who need to roam to ever be satisfied (hes also living on a farm in the country now, which is where said roaming cats should probably be living)

[Mari]

@punkarsenic

If you live in the US, you could always send the documents from American Bird Conservacy about how many species have already become extinct in the US to your father, or explain it to him. Usually when confronted with the sheer amount of damage the loose pets are doing to your own country is as good of a bargaining chip as you can get. If that won't change his mind, I doubt nothing would.

[LordVincent]

I have two cats and for me, they are my children. They remain indoor cats because it's the only way I can ensure that they stay safe from cars, bigger animals and spoiled brats who think cats are disposable toys. I think I would act differently if it weren't for that cats have approx the same level of intellect and maturity as a 4 year old human. Would you let your 4 year old outside without your supervision? Probably not. It would cause harm both to your child and to anything your child gets their hands on, including your neighbors' property.

Imo cat owners should be held to the same level of responsibility as parents, because having a cat is a choice. You choose to hold the sole responsibility over this small creature who may not always know what's best for themselves. It should be your duty to ensure their safety, and if you don't think it is or if you don't feel like doing that, you probably shouldn't take on that responsibility in the first place.

[Mari]

@LordVincent

Well, that's probably a bit of a stretch, but they should be held with the same responsibility as dog owners, in the least. In my country it's against the law to let your dog free in suburban areas, but the same doesn't apply to cats (or it's not enforced), even though cats cause more damage to the enviroment & usually cause more damage to people's gardens as well. Cat pee is not a very good fertilizer, in fact, it's pretty quick to kill most flowers. Also there's the issue where free-roaming cats will go release themselves in sandboxes, so toddlers can end up eating their feces in the worst case, and coming into contact with cat feces is dangerous for pregnant women due to toxoplasmosis.

[Rodimus13]

My cat was a feral. I've be worried I would never get him back. But he still gets to hunt. The garage someone lets baby snakes in (we live in a bayou area and have a creek) so he hunts and kills them.

good little protector.

[punkarsenic]

we live in the UK, though there are similar stats here - and no, they wont change his mind. believes very strongly in Cat Freedom

[HGohwell]

I've mostly changed my attitude on this over the years. All my younger years I always thought it was cruel to keep cats indoors unless you had a good reason like living in flats or on a super busy road or lived in an area where there were predators. Of course this was partly because my parents said so and the cats I had during my younger years were big lazy floppy things who could take care of themselves and never did much hunting. And then we got our latest cat who was a rescue cat from a bully of a kid and is the tiniest little thing and something of a nervous wreck, even if shes calming down in her old age. We used to let her out freely although terrified thing that she was she never actually left our garden. But unlike the others she hunted very actively. We had to compromise and keep her in at night when I couldn't helicopter parent her, for her own good too given how large other cats are I tend to be armed with a water pistol for chasing off other larger cats.

But as she's got older, she's a grumpy old lady now, she's gone totally deaf. When we first saw the signs we decided to bring her inside as pretty much permanently. She still escapes out the doors every now and again since my dad is terrible for shutting doors behind him no matter how many times I tell him but she doesn't stay out very long or go very far and that's only the weekend. Apart from that the only time she goes out these is with us to be social and I always catch her and bring her back in after. And there's not really been any negative effects of keeping her indoors apart from having to play with her a lot more (which isn't really negative) and me having to do her litter box.

[CarolRiverArt]

I have two cats. Right know they are indoors. But i wish to buy a harness so they can go outside. But im not sure. Were i live there's lots if crazy cars, dogs. etc. Also I had dogs before. It was a great experience. I wanted to take them for a walk. I just want to make them happy.

[Mari]

@CarolRiverArt

Yeah, be careful with a harness. My cat was attacked by two huge german shepherds right outside my apartment (she was in her leash ofc, the dogs weren't even though they were clearly aggressive =_=), and she has been afraid of dogs ever since. Thankfully the more aggressive of the dogs had that band around his mouth to stop him from barking, so my cat wasn't hurt badly.

Ideally you should walk her somewhere where you know there aren't other people around. I always go to the forest so she can look at all sorta prey and eat grass and climb trees : p

[ben]

My cats for the most part stay inside since we live right next to a trail that has a lot of people walking off leash dogs.

But we have one cat that comes out with us anytime we take our dog out to run around in our yard because all he does is roll around and eat grass and we take him back inside with the dog.

Also when we lived in a more rural area we would let that cat and another cat who was a former barn cat run around outside with us. They’re lazy and old and just lay on the porch but we also don’t just leave em out there to do whatever they want. Like, we take them in when we go in.

[ryoko]

Our cats have always been indoor only, but we did take them outside on a leash and harness from time to time. In the city where my parents live, all cats need to be licensed and tagged the same as dogs. We were taught to keep our kitties safe. They are part of our family.

[vothnthorvaldson]

I have half a cat, a stray who won't enter the house even if we wanted him to.
I need him to control mice; I'm actually thinking of getting more cats. I'm in the case of the farming situation, though.

I'm concerned about the birds, but not immensely with this cat because he is mostly going after mice and voles, probably because it's easier (he is hunting for food, he's only coming to us for extra food, mostly when it's very cold). I actually never saw him with a bird, but it may happen anyway.

I'm a biologist, so I try to avoid emotional thinking and take only facts. I need that cat. I need to kill some wildlife, as difficult for me as it is, to be able to stay in business.
If I stop controlling pests, I'll be broke in one season, and my customers and myself will have to buy food somewhere else, where people likely poison mice (the most common here), killing the raptors in the process.

I'm not sure what I would do if I had a cat going mostly after birds, though. That would be a huge issue, as I could not keep them inside either (farmhouse.. always open somewhere...)

[jahillinbox]

best thing for cats is a screened in porch/deck. They get the enjoyment of being outside (sounds, smells, weather, some interaction with outside creatures), without the danger