How Many Cat Owners Do this?

[Kase]

The risks of vehicles and walks are alot less than a cat unsupervised outside.

Maybe it was rude....But very, very true.

Cats can be perfectly happy as long as they have things and quality time to keep them occupied; Some cats do want outdoors, like my 2 that used to be outdoors; So I bring them outside on harness and long leads. They are content with that. They can have the best of both worlds safely, like a dog can.

I understand what you are saying but most people in the area I live in allow their cat's to go outside. Yes, there is the danger of them getting run over but they do have road sense. Like I said before there are no coyote's sp here and very few stray dog's (the only dog's I've seen loose were people's pet's that were lost who I helped to return to them).

It is the accepted norm around here that people allow there cat's out to explore and have outside time, I do however have a friend who doesn't allow her cat out and that's fine. It's her decision.

I will alway's allow my cat's out because if I didn't they would be miserable, yes they would get used to it but they would be unhappy.

A person who lived on the same street as my friend had 2 shelties who NEVER went out for walks or left the garden in their entire life unless they went to the vet's. The owner feared they would catch something or be injured if they did. Personally I couldn't do this to my dog as I know how much she enjoy's her walks, I use the same principle for my cat's.

 

[Kay]

I'm not about to argue as there will always be excuses as to why people can't bring their cats as indoors only.

All I have to say is cats are like kids: They know what they want, but they don't know what is best for them. That is up to their owners.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Maybe it was rude....But very, very true.

There was no need for that comment and being rude will not change anyone's mind.

And yes, the statement is true, according to you. However, others have a right to believe differently. So please be respectful of our rights to believe as we do and we will do the same for you.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

I'm not about to argue as there will always be excuses as to why people can't bring their cats as indoors only.

They're not excuses, they are justified reasons accorinding to our particular situation. I am on the same page as Kase... Apache will always be an outside cat, it's her choice. I could never make her miserable.

If, we were to get another cat(s) down the road, I would like them to be indoors, but all cats are different.


side note:
Kase-look for a PM shortly

 

[Kase]

All I have to say is cats are like kids: They know what they want, but they don't know what is best for them. That is up to their owners.

Very, very true. I alway's do what is best for my cat's .

Edit: I'll look out for it BP .

 

[Kay]

Unfortunately my beliefs are based on factual information that there is an immense amount of danger for an unsupervised cat (I can't imagine what people would say if someone signed up to the forum saying that they have a dog who roams around the city, because it always comes back, and would be very upset if it wasn't allowed to roam.)

Cats lives are, in fact, at risk from reasons listed further back.
These are not uncommon, either. ----- I just sincerely hope your cats don't fall victim as it is a guilt that is very tough to get over (From experience.)

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Just want to add one more thing and then I'll excuse myself from this topic... my oldest cat to live was an outside cat. Go figure.... he got in a cat fight once and then he was king of the neighbordhood, we never had any problems (health or otherwise, except for that one fight) with him.

He died at a ripe old age and was happy as can be... lol.... imagine a giant tabby chasing a dog out of your backyard, that was my baby, Friday.

So, yes you have your facts and I'll have my happy, trail-blazing cats living, happy, fulfilled lives....





RIP Friday-I miss you you little cougar!!!

 

[Kay]

And again, a cats life can be happy and fulfilled indoors as long as the owner commits themself to making it so

 

[Kase]

Just want to add one more thing and then I'll excuse myself from this topic... my oldest cat to live was an outside cat. Go figure.... he got in a cat fight once and then he was king of the neighbordhood, we never had any problems (health or otherwise, except for that one fight) with him.

He died at a ripe old age and was happy as can be... lol.... imagine a giant tabby chasing a dog out of your backyard, that was my baby, Friday.

So, yes you have your facts and I'll have my happy, trail-blazing cats living, happy, fulfilled lives....



RIP Friday-I miss you you little cougar!!!

Aww Friday sounds like a great character. Willow my eldest cat is definitely king of the neighbourhood .

I love the look on there faces when they rush to the front door all excited to go out and play. When I sit out in the garden and watch them play in the bushes with each other I can see how happy they are, I could never take that away from them.

 

[doberkim]

my dog would be a lot happier wandering around outside instead of in his crate, maybe i should let him?

 

[PoodleMommy]

my dog would be a lot happier wandering around outside instead of in his crate, maybe i should let him?

For some reason this logic appears to be "common sense" to dog owners, but cat owners see it different.



We are having a problem with a neighbors cat, which I previously wrote on here about... when we called animal control she said she was trying to get a law passed making "leash laws" for cats. basically outdoor cats would not be allowed anymore it is already in effect in some areas. Just thought Id share what she said, I guess at some point in the future outdoor cats will be a thing of the past regardless of people's opinions on the situation.

Elissa

 

[Southpaw]

That's one thing I don't really understand...it's okay for cats to wander outdoors but not dogs?

My cat would maybe be happier outside, I don't know. But I feel I'm responsible for keeping him safe, and if I let him go outside where he risks being hit by a car, poisoned, getting into a fight, etc. I wouldn't be keeping him safe.

It's not so much a cat being outside that bothers me--but I don't think it should be different from keeping a dog outside. Be out there with them, or keep them so they can't leave the yard. It's still a bit risky but safer than just letting them roam.

 

[Dizzy]

Sorry people, but it is pretty unheard of to have indoor cats here.

Well - aside from most pedigrees (don't ask, I don't know why).

To compare letting cats out and dogs out is ridiclous. Cats are solitary animals and are in NO way similar to dogs. Nothing alike. At all.

If you live near a busy road, then use your common sense.

And cats ARE happier outside, ours are testiment to that. They are kept in (mainly for the Bengals sake - he is a fighter), and they PINE to go outside at EVERY opportunity. And will dash to the door to get out. The cats sit in the windows meowing at the outside world. And these are possibly some of the spoilt cats around.

My cat has only been kept inside when I lived in a bad area, and I didn't trust the neighbours.

 

[PoodleMommy]

To compare letting cats out and dogs out is ridiclous. Cats are solitary animals and are in NO way similar to dogs. Nothing alike. At all.

Cats are just like dogs... you are responsible for their well being.

Elissa

 

[Dizzy]

Cats are just like dogs... you are responsible for their well being.

Elissa

Yes - but cats don't behave like dogs, they are more independent, and therefore I make a rational decision and know they can cope outdoors.

And having lived ONLY with cats that are allowed outside since birth - my birth, not the cats (not to mention not knowing a SINGLE indoor cat throughout my life) I can safely say I don't recall a single one which was poisoned, killed by another creature etc etc. I know of one that was hit by a car. I know of more dogs which have been hit by cars.

Cats can have road sense, some don't of course, but most do. You only have to watch a cat outdoors to see they function TOTALLY differently to dogs.

A dog would not get the same joy from being left outdoors as a cat. And the fact is that we WALK our dogs to replace the fact that we keep them in. Do you walk your house cats? Aside from playing, what stimulus do they get? Being outside is good for them as both mentally stimulating and physically.

I would not keep my cat in, unless some outside factor deemed I had to.

 

[mjb]

My current cats are indoor-only.
My previous cat was indoor/outdoor. He lived to be 19 years old. I do know that cats allowed to go outside are supposed to have shortened lives. I always wonder how old he would have lived to be as an indoor only cat.
One of my current cats escapes occasionally, and we have to let him stay outside for a while before we can get him back in. If we try to get him in, he just runs further away and goes across the street. We have decided it would be safer to let him stay outside for a little while and then get him in when he no longer is running away from us. I'm so afraid he will get too far away or get in the road when we're trying to catch him. In about 30 minutes, he will come to us when we open the door, so that seems to be the best thing.
Of course, the best thing is to not let him escape, and fortunately he doesn't very often!!
Our other cat would rather die than go outside.
The cat who lived to be 19 found ways out of the house when we were trying our best to keep him in. We moved to a 2nd story apartment, and we locked him in a bedroom while we moved our stuff in. This was our first night in the apartment, and he hadn't explored the apartment, let alone the area outside. In fact, at that time we kept him indoor only because we were living in apartment settings, and we wouldn't let him out to roam in the parking lots, etc. Anyway, when we opened the bedroom door to let him come out and explore the apartment, he was gone. He had pushed the screen out of the window and jumped 2 stories down. We found him, and he was all right, but it scared us to death. That was the first of his 9 lives that he used. He used all of them by the time he had to be put to sleep at 19.
He was not happy being an indoor cat. He might have learned to accept it, but we didn't try to.
We decided it would be better for our cats to stay indoors, and when we got these 2, we made that decision. We will stick to it. It's been 4 years now. Charlie is the one who likes to escape, but he seems to be a happy cat inside, too. He has a large screen porch, and he gets lizards and bugs to chase out there, so maybe that helps him with giving up the great outdoors (except the times he outsmarts us).

 

[SummerRiot]

The reason I made this thread was too just how many people allow their cats to wonder.

We have a cat that lives diagonally across the street from us - sweet little cat, is an orange tabby and carries a pink collar on her neck.

The one thing I hate about it - its in our garden consistantly, into our trash, entises Riot to chase it(VERRYYY annoying, since Riot loves cats normally).

I HATE that people allow their cats to wonder. I hate it so much that if I ever catch that cat it will be taken to the HS. OR I'll give it back the first time, second time it will be going.

I'm sorry to say, but around here I think its unacceptable.

I found it sleeping underneath my vehicle one day, then when I went to turn the vehicle on to start it - it didn't move. I had to poke it out with a broom.
I dont want to be the one responsible for running it over. I'd feel completely miserable.

There are other options to having a cat "outdoors" besides just releasing it into the wild. You could put your cat into a harness and a long leash in the back yard.

A friend of mine trained her cat to stay in their back yard. He stayed in it his whole life - never once left the backyard and could be trusted unsupervised out there.

A friend of the family used to allow her cats to go outside until one day her cat didn't come home. Days later it came home dragging the back half of its body along behind it. His stomach was sliced open and had his "inners" sticking out. I have no clue HOW he made it home.
He was humanely euthanized.

I just find it very annoying when other people allow their cats to roam the streets. I have almost ran that darn neighbours cat over a few times as it darts infront of my wheels while I'm driving home. That thing could cause me a car accident from putting my brakes on and someone hitting me from behind, OR someone swerving(or me) swerving to get out of that **** cats way and then colliding with something or someone.

I just dont see it as fair.

What if I had Riot out in my front yard, the cat comes over - Riot tries to chase it and RIOT gets hit by the car.. who is resonsible for that? The cause(cat) or the effect(dead Riot)??

 

[Snark]

Don't think I've ever heard of cats gathering in packs and killing livestock, attacking kids in the park or going after someone walking their dog; so you really can't compare wandering dogs to wandering cats.

I do agree that cats in an urban setting, who are annoying the neighbors, should be kept inside; but we're in a rural area and our outdoor cats are serving a purpose. They keep our barn from being overrun with mice (and yes, we do feed the cats twice a day). Before we had barn cats, the darned mice ate the ignition coil off the lawnmower and built a nest in the tractor's oil filter. And, as I mentioned before, the neighbor blew out her truck engine because of a mouse nest in the tailpipe.

Our barn cats are/were feral cats (they are friendly with us but disappear whenever a stranger shows up), and although they were moved from an urban setting to a rural area, they are quite comfortable as outdoor cats. If we hadn't taken them, the only other option would have been euthanasia (the Humane Society does not adopt out feral cats, they just kill them.) Going by some of the opinions in this thread, that seems to be preferable...

 

[Southpaw]

And cats ARE happier outside, ours are testiment to that. They are kept in (mainly for the Bengals sake - he is a fighter), and they PINE to go outside at EVERY opportunity. And will dash to the door to get out. The cats sit in the windows meowing at the outside world. And these are possibly some of the spoilt cats around.

But that's because they've been outside and know what it is like. Yes, they may like it more than being inside. BUT, a cat that has never been outside will not whine to get outside and will not be miserable. They will be perfectly content inside, and will not miss the outdoors because they have no idea what it is like. It's kinda like what my mom says when our internet doesn't work lol..."I didn't have the internet as a kid and I did just fine." Yeah well, you had no idea what it was so you couldn't miss it.

My cat is rarely outside. Because it's something he's not used to, he hates it. He can only handle a couple minutes before he comes running to the door, and he meows like he's dying lol. I could hold the door open all day and he probably would not step a foot outside...he doesn't really know what it's like out there, so therefore he doesn't care to go out.

I just could never own an outdoor cat. First of all I'd never stop worrying. But my pets are part of the family, they're my companions...it wouldn't make sense to me to own one if it's just going to be outside all day.

Just my opinions though...I'm not going to judge someone who lets their cats outside though, because that's no fair.

 

[doberkim]

Don't think I've ever heard of cats gathering in packs and killing livestock, attacking kids in the park or going after someone walking their dog; so you really can't compare wandering dogs to wandering cats.

no, but stray cats do a BIG bit of damage to widlife, including birds, in the area. have you ever seen the numbers of how much cats will kill, including endangered species?