I love cats, grew up with them, but this is a big reason I don’t want to get one for myself as an adult. Also I’d feel bad keeping my cat indoors all the time.
You can keep them safe and happy inside though. Also, you can train them to walk on a leash – it isn’t easy, but perfectly doable. My cat enjoys her brief supervised forays into the back yard or basking on the balcony in the sun.
Many cats are perfectly suited to be indoor cats, it really does depend.
Anecdotal: I have a feral rescue who they told me couldn’t be rehabilitated into an indoor cat, but after a month of being exclusively indoors (unintentionally, I had to move out of my house for mold treatment), his anxiety was almost completely gone and he started being friendly and affectionate to everyone who gave him attention.
If your cat doesn’t like the indoors. Too bad.
Imagine if dog owners just opened their doors and let their dogs roam? It would be a nightmare. Not to mention the destruction your cats cause neighbors
I was a kid in the '70s and there were generally no leash laws for dogs, so some people would just let their dogs roam around loose. They would form packs and sometimes be very aggressive towards people and you would get bitten from time to time. It wasn’t like you had to run from place to place to survive or anything like that, but it was certainly a problem that is basically nonexistent these days.
I think most people are missing how much a cat can get out of being in its natural environment, it should be intuitively obvious how important it is to them if you’ve lived with cats that do and don’t have access to that and see how much they value being able to do cat things outside and basically have their own lives independent from their owners.
I feel that the downsides people bring up can be mitigated pretty well. It’s been mentioned elsewhere in this thread that the majority of ecological impact is from strays, so you can negate most of that harm just by having your cat fixed. Danger to the cat itself; use judgment about how safe it is where you live, how adapted the cat is to that sort of environment, and consistently keep it indoors at night. Being responsible doesn’t mean always going along with what other people think or want.
If it was a dog, different story since they can be much more destructive to other people’s pets and property, but a cat I think this is a personal choice.
I agree. I had a cat in the countryside, then we took him to a 2 bedroom apartment. He was miserable and always tried to escape. When he did, sometimes he wouldn’t come back for a day or two. Then when we moved back into a house where he could come and go, he went back to being happy.
Would you mind giving me the source you used? Based on the articles I’ve found so far it seems that no one is really sure about the impact of cats on wildlife in urban areas. Unless it’s an island.
We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually. Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality
Maybe don’t let them outside then? Outdoor cats are absolutely horrid for native ecosystems. The amount of destruction they can cause is insane.
I love cats, grew up with them, but this is a big reason I don’t want to get one for myself as an adult. Also I’d feel bad keeping my cat indoors all the time.
You can keep them safe and happy inside though. Also, you can train them to walk on a leash – it isn’t easy, but perfectly doable. My cat enjoys her brief supervised forays into the back yard or basking on the balcony in the sun.
Many cats are perfectly suited to be indoor cats, it really does depend.
Anecdotal: I have a feral rescue who they told me couldn’t be rehabilitated into an indoor cat, but after a month of being exclusively indoors (unintentionally, I had to move out of my house for mold treatment), his anxiety was almost completely gone and he started being friendly and affectionate to everyone who gave him attention.
If your cat doesn’t like the indoors. Too bad. Imagine if dog owners just opened their doors and let their dogs roam? It would be a nightmare. Not to mention the destruction your cats cause neighbors
I was a kid in the '70s and there were generally no leash laws for dogs, so some people would just let their dogs roam around loose. They would form packs and sometimes be very aggressive towards people and you would get bitten from time to time. It wasn’t like you had to run from place to place to survive or anything like that, but it was certainly a problem that is basically nonexistent these days.
I think most people are missing how much a cat can get out of being in its natural environment, it should be intuitively obvious how important it is to them if you’ve lived with cats that do and don’t have access to that and see how much they value being able to do cat things outside and basically have their own lives independent from their owners.
It’s irresponsible on your part. Your cat’s desires don’t matter more than everyone else. If you feel it’s cruel to keep a cat indoors don’t get one
I feel that the downsides people bring up can be mitigated pretty well. It’s been mentioned elsewhere in this thread that the majority of ecological impact is from strays, so you can negate most of that harm just by having your cat fixed. Danger to the cat itself; use judgment about how safe it is where you live, how adapted the cat is to that sort of environment, and consistently keep it indoors at night. Being responsible doesn’t mean always going along with what other people think or want.
If it was a dog, different story since they can be much more destructive to other people’s pets and property, but a cat I think this is a personal choice.
The best way to mitigate all the downsides is by keeping your pet on your property
I agree. I had a cat in the countryside, then we took him to a 2 bedroom apartment. He was miserable and always tried to escape. When he did, sometimes he wouldn’t come back for a day or two. Then when we moved back into a house where he could come and go, he went back to being happy.
Would you mind giving me the source you used? Based on the articles I’ve found so far it seems that no one is really sure about the impact of cats on wildlife in urban areas. Unless it’s an island.
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380