Broader adoption of keeping cats safe at home would have large benefits for cat welfare, human health, local wildlife and even the economy. So, should cat owners be required to keep their pets contained to their property?
The answer to the question is obviously “yes”.
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First of all, anecdotal evidence is not evidence. Second of all, millions of cats are kept indoors 24/7 and they are fine. Thirdly, you need to work with the animal to entertain it, not dump it indoors, ignore it for years and go to work for 8hrs a day.
First of all, anecdotal evidence is evidence, is just rather poor evidence for most arguments.
My dad died last year. My brother took the cat. It used to have basically an entire rural town as his personal playground. (His territory at least doubled in size when dad moved from our large house to the supported housing apartments on the other side of the village, as then the cat just traversed both.)
My brother lives in the city. Definitely can’t allow a cat to be free, especially because he’s not even chipped yet.
To the point, not being able to get outside has stressed him to the point of literally tearing his hair off. Has a bald line on his tail. And no, it’s not about the level of care, he has everything he needs, a large apartment, a scratching complex, with several levels, going from floor to ceiling, 4 or five different levels larger than the average scratching post by itself.
There’s a very nice view from a third floor, he gets to look outside as much as he wants and hears traffic and has an open window.
My brother doesn’t leave him usually for even as long as most people leave their dogs. Very good quality food. Plays with him as much as he wants.
But he gets stressed because he’s never before been limited in such a way. Now it’s getting better, but he definitely wasn’t used to being inside all the time and it definitely was a very stressful change to adapt to.
Domesticated cats don’t much vary in genetics, but in terms of behaviour, some do. To compare to big cats, tigers don’t like captivity as much, and they must have a pool to swim in. Lions on the other hand fucking love lying around and getting fed.
A tiger misses the thrill of the hunt in a nice jungle, a lion is relieved they don’t have to sprint after antelopes in the savannah.
So don’t be pretending it’s as simple ss you make it out.
Yah, uhuh, so much stimulation that the cat is ripping its fur out of frustration. News flash, it’s always the owner.
“I’m not going to accept that I said something so stupid that a third-grader would laugh at it, so I’m gonna say more of equally stupid things, like ‘it’s always the owner’”
How ignorant do you have to be to think that taking an animal, which is used to having several square km as its personal fiefdom, and then limiting it to just one (albeit large and very well equipped) apartment wouldn’t cause stress?
Yes, it causes stress, till they get used to it. It doesn’t cause “rips fur out of frustration” level stress. I know, because I have a cat that was an outdoor cat that went indoors with me. I literally went through it. So yes, it absolutely always is the clueless owner who doesn’t know what they are doing.
Ah yes, so now you think anecdotal evidence is evidence.
Because your personal experiences can be extrapolated to generalisations, but the experiences of others can’t, yes, yes.
You’re the only clueless person here. Do you know what time of the year it just was? Do you know what is in the air, wafts in through the windows, that might make male cats even more stressed out that they can’t do the things they used to.
You be your hypocritical ignorant self, and an ironic one. (What with the whole "anecdotal evidence isn’t evidence, and now I’ll use my own anecdotal evidence as evidence.
Guess your mom is a horrible parent. I mean, when people grow up to be as willfully ignorant as you, it’s always the clueless parent.
So your " outdoors" cat was a male who had a territory of several square kilometres. Literally the town’s cat, more or less. Or was your “outside cat” one of those leash held shivering messes?
You’ve never put as much money into a pet as what the scratching/climbing/chilling complex my brother got cost. It’s the size of a wall. There’s plenty of toys, but for a cat who has actually hunted for himself (my dad wasn’t the most attentive pet owner, so the cat actually hunted, and often) some silly strings waved by people are less than interesting.
When he’s frustrated, he can be distracted for a while with say, cat mint, cognitive activation through games with treats, hell, probably things you’ve never even thought of doing for your cat.
But no, you just pretend that your silly little chant matters and that you know better.
Fucking lol I pity the animals you “take care of”
You pity the animals I take care of, and yet they aren’t the ones ripping out their fur, having issues etc. Yes, I have a male cat that used to roam in the middle of the city and was half-feral when I got him. Had to work hard with him, but he never reached the point your brothers’ cat is at.
It’s funny that you keep going back to the “entire wall is a cat tower” argument and focusing on how much money was spent. None of that matters if the cat isn’t engaged with enough, which is obvious is happening in your brothers case. You can’t throw money at an animal and expect it to suddenly be fine if you don’t do anything else with it.
Your brother is a bad owner, plain and simple. Go ahead, insult me all you want, in the end it doesn’t change the facts.
You’re not only stupid, you’re bad at reading.
This is why I pity any animals you might own. Incredibly much.
Bet your the type to give your cats a sip of wine or a piece of your garlic chicken. Just the type.
The tail is getting better, not that you notice, because your literacy is on the same level as your knowledge of pet behaviour. :D
The cat is being engaged with for hours on end, with more activities than you have ever given your overweight little darling.
There is literally nothing you could ever do to make the transition easier, except prescription drugs, which aren’t necessary. The sprayable pheromones do help as well, and they’re rather expensive as well.
I go over to catsit often just for just a normal workday. The cat isn’t left for even 8 hours. Well, not when it was even worse. As I’ve said, it’s getting better.
So to repeat, no you haven’t owned an actual village cat. You’ve owned a cat who was allowed to occasionally go look outside. Some fat, neutered inside cat, which everyone who knows jack shit about cats knows is an entirely different animal than a wild tomcat with a large territory. Ofc that group doesn’t involve you. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ours was the literal king of a town for the better part of a decade.
The fact you pretend those are remotely the same is why I pity any animal or person you will ever interact with; You’re willfully ignorant. You can’t let go of having said something so childish as “it’s always the owner”.
To pretending like you don’t understand the first thing about territories, pheromones and feline heat.
If I were like you, I could now pretend that you actively have sex with your animals. Why? Well it’s obvious. I just say it’s obvious, and you can’t provide me with 247 films showing you haven’t raped your pets, so thus you can’t prove I’m wrong, thus I’m right and you’re a dirty rapist.
That’s exactly the same as you pretending we aren’t giving the cat the stimuli it needs.
You’re an animal rapist, plain and simple.
“Cats can’t get stressed by environmental factors” - Your entire argument
pathetic
aw. annoying vs. an animal that will kill wildlife when birds are already at enormous risk. huh tough choice buddy. on the one hand, you might be annoyed, oh no. on the other hand we’re looking at collapse of species. hrmm.
well you’ve posited such a great argument… pfft