Should cats be kept indoors?

[silva]

What hasn't been brought up is the proliferation of diseases domestic cats pick up in the great outdoors. I've done too many rescues, and fostered too many cats brought down from FIP. Herpes is out of control, and while managable, not very adoptable. Giardia is a parasite found everywhere, including puddles, that's a total evil to treat. It lies dormant, then is shed in the feces, I've had to give liquid meds to 10 cats for 14 days, Twice a day of the most horrible tasting stuff. People hear of all the vet bills had from rescued cats and are becoming more and more wary of adoption. Many of these diseases (esp. FIP) have no treatment, or good tests.
Abuse is rampant. Wildlife are being forced from their own territory, and coyotes are now in suburbs.

I do want to note that I'm in Midwest America suburbs with 10 cats from rescues that didn't adopt. I'd love to a enclosed porch for them, but would never let them out. People basically made cats and dogs for their own purposes, we need to care for them according to their environment and needs.

 

[mlp]

I've been really, really, lucky and haven't run into FIP, *only* feline aids and feline leukemia, which are more manageable.

 

[Wolfie]

We've had 2 rescue cats in the family with FIP. Awful way to die.

 

[K-II]

In my case they come in from outdoors to begin with... so I'm not shutting them in. If I went and bought one for some reason I guess it would depend where I lived. Except I'm not really into pets, so I probably won't.

 

[Alice-Bee]

My veg*n friend T just posted a status on FB saying her cat dragged two new born rabbit kits in and chewed them up in the living room, She couldnt do anything.

Is it even possible to stop that nature of a cat? If not are cats the best animal to keep if you are an animal lover/veg*n because they do tend to bring kills home? Even though I dont own a cat my neighbours cat leaves half eaten birds and mice on our grass. I shouldnt have to clean it up!

 

[AeryFairy]

I've been lucky, neither of my cats have been hunters. But if the possibility of "presents" is something that is going to being upsetting, a cat isn't the best choice. You can't hope to change them completely. It doesn't bother me so much because they aren't people, and the kitty hasn't locked up the mouse or baby bird in a factory farm for its own selfish desires. It's just being a cat.

In terms of indoor v. outdoor, it depends on where in the world you live, and the cat itself. In the UK, people are generally expected to let their cats have outdoor access unless there's a reason not to, such as FIV. Some cats still prefer to be indoors, which is up to them. In places where there's high possibility of disease/being eaten by wild animals, it's probably better to keep them inside for their own safety. In every case, though, it's about what's best for the cat - as it should be no matter what your choice of companion animal.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I'm not sure if you can do anything with a cat who likes to hunt, maybe if he/she had a lot of stimulating toys at home it would seem less exciting to prowl outside. One of the cats I had was a good hunter as he lived on the streets for a while and if he caught anything he would eat the whole thing rather than just play with it even though he was obviously being fed well at home.

 

[Lord Snot]

It's their natural instinct, and many cats have a strong motivational drive to hunt. If you prevent them from hunting and don't give them another avenue to let that behaviour out, like playing hunting games with toys, they will be frustrated and suffer for it. You could even get abnormal behaviours arising.

 

[Alice-Bee]

Do you think its more a case of bad owners rather than bad cats...like the whole dog debate. Dont blame the breed, blame the owner.

 

[Lord Snot]

No, not at all. You can't stop a cat wanting to hunt.

 

[FortyTwo]

With my cats, they get scared when outside anyways. We live so close to a road that we could never trust them going out.

 

[peacefulveglady]

depends on the cat if its too wild , it should be outside, if its more tamer it can be inside.

 

[Alice-Bee]

depends on the cat if its too wild , it should be outside, if its more tamer it can be inside.

If its too wild then a-letting it outside will surely cause more birds and such to be hunted and b-you shouldnt have it in the first place. Why keep an animal that is 'too wild'

 

[Lord Snot]

If its too wild then a-letting it outside will surely cause more birds and such to be hunted and b-you shouldnt have it in the first place. Why keep an animal that is 'too wild'

The other option is usually to leave him/her as a stray, or to be euthanised by an organisation like the RSPCA.

 

[Alice-Bee]

Do cats have classes like dogs can? Unruley dogs can be trained...

 

[Lord Snot]

They will develop something of a hierarchy if in groups, but they are not as easy to train as dogs. Training a dog is just exploiting his natural pack behaviour, his inbuilt tendency to follow orders from a boss. Cats are naturally more independent, less subservient, and they don't get pleasure from being rewarded by the pack leader as dogs do. You can sort out many abnormal or unwanted cat behaviours with time and patience and know-how, but it really depends on what the problem is.

 

[Alice-Bee]

im not up on cats....dogs i know....

 

[Muggle]

Yeah I don't understand cats either.

I know we used to put a bell on the collars of the cats we had when I was a child. But I think I've heard somewhere that people don't like them or something? I don't know.

But as far as this thread is concerned... If I'm going to get a cat it will most likely be allowed outside. It's the norm in the UK. (And I don't intend on ever living in an inner-city )

 

[lucky_charm]

Bells on collars don't really work. Cats are smart. They learn how to hold their heads and how to move so that the bell doesn't ring (cats can move very silently when hunting) obviously it will jingle when they pounce but by then it's too late. Also I think it would be really annoying to have a bell jangling on your neck all the time so I wouldn't do that to my girls.

 

[lucky_charm]

Do cats have classes like dogs can? Unruley dogs can be trained...

I've never heard of cat classes (don't think that would work) but what would you want to train them to do? My girls know to go to the toilet in their litter tray, not to jump on the kitchen counter and not to scratch or bite. They didn't need classes for these things, they learned pretty quickly just from us using approval or displeasure in our voices when they carried out a certain action. I'm pretty sure you can't train a cat not to hunt. It's a natural instinct for them. Best you can do is keep them in at night- apparently reduces the amount of animals they kill by 50%- also apparently there's something called a beeper collar but I haven't seen one before so I don't know if it would be annoying to wear.