The Indoor/Outdoor Cat Debate

[Road Runner]

The oldest cat I've had was born (on Labor Day, of course) in my house (I took in a pregnant stray) and she was just two weeks shy of her 18th birthday when she passed. She was terrified to go outside for some reason, so that worked out great for both our sakes, I didn't have to worry about her door-dashing.

My current one does like to door-dash, and when he was with his former owner who had just moved, he door-dashed and he went missing for ten months. He was chipped so eventually he was found. I've had him now since 2019. I refuse to let him out. When he has gotten out, the sweetness he shows as an indoor cat changes and becomes a jerk when outside, like his wild instincts take over when outside.

My previous cat was killed by a vehicle, and before that had also gotten into scraps with a rival orange cat that required vet visits.

It certainly is best to keep 'em inside if at all possible. Outside multiplies risks, vehicles, other animals, evil humans, etc.

Sorry to hear about your kitty that got hit.

 

[Road Runner]

Allie, our 12½-year-old Siamese, who has been with my wife and me since she was 13 months old, has been an indoor cat all her life. She occasionally goes out on the patio, but rarely wants to be out for more than a few minutes before she wants back in.

Occasionally, she escapes out the front door, as if she thinks she really wants to go out, but becomes very nervous very quickly, and wants right back in.


Buddy, our ginger cat, was a stray for nearly all of his life, until last year, when he suddenly decided that he's my wife's and my cat. He still insists on going out, usually for a few hours each day. He gets very loud and very demanding about it. We're pretty sure that he visits the people in other apartments.

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Btw, I didn't notice Buddy in the closet before.

 

[petro]

Our fat cat gets let out in the fenced area.
Too lazy to get away.

 

[ScorpioRising007]

Alright I've seen this being talked about a lot on here, so I finally decided to make a thread about it. Should you let your cat outside, should you not let your cat outside, it seems to be divided on here.



Well here are my thoughts on it. It depends on the situation for me. First of all let me start off by saying that we do not let our cat outside and that's for a few different reasons.



In 2014 our last cat escaped through the screen door so now when we have our patio open we make sure to have a barrier up (we use another glass screen) so the one we have now and have had for eight years now cannot get out.



So we have a fear of her running away and we have a fear of traffic since we live in the city and there are a lot of busy streets around here.



We also have other outdoor neighborhood cats around here and due to the fact that we got our cat from friends of the family where she was being beat upon we're also protecting her from them. (Injury wise though as she's up to date on her vaccinations.)



Now why don't we have her harness trained you might ask? Well for a few different reasons. The first reason should be obvious, cats are not dogs.



They don't need to go outside to be walked or to go to the bathroom. The second reason is she's not a door dasher and if we took her outside she might turn into one rather quickly if it turned out that she liked the outdoors.
The final reason is she is a rather lazy cat these days as she'll soon be approaching her senior cat years soon and we're pretty sure that she wouldn't like it. The walk would turn into a drag.



Plus it's like Jackson says in his video. We're selfish people for our cat. We want to know that she'll have a full lifespan (even though it's cut short already because of her heart murmur) and we don't have to worry about where she is and if she's still alive.



So that's the reason why we keep ours indoors. There's some more information in the video below. If you live in the country, I'm not against having barn cats. You just have to do what's best for you and your cat or cats.

I think it depends largely on the cat you have. Like for example Calico stray cats I adopted were definitely outdoor cats. They loved to hunt and could take care of themselves outside and loved it outside. They would hunt baby rabbits, birds, mice, chipmunks. These were high strung cats that needed a lot of exercise which they got being outside.

Now the Ragdoll my 1st Ex-Wife and I owned was definitely an indoor cat and not a cat for the outdoors. We always kept him inside. This was a very lazy low energy cat. Huge furry cat close to 20 lbs in weight.

 

[DudleySmith]

I let a couple of feral cats hang out in my barn, but I never keep them as pets in the house. I usually shoot strays, they think our chickens geese are there to feed them or something. The barn cats leave them alone, which is why there are only two, and they keep themselves fed without much food from us.


In urban areas it's irresponsible to let them run loose; they scratch peoples' cars and poop all over the place. Whe we lived in town we would trap them and turn them in to animal control.

 

[rampart]

Alright I've seen this being talked about a lot on here, so I finally decided to make a thread about it. Should you let your cat outside, should you not let your cat outside, it seems to be divided on here.



Well here are my thoughts on it. It depends on the situation for me. First of all let me start off by saying that we do not let our cat outside and that's for a few different reasons.



In 2014 our last cat escaped through the screen door so now when we have our patio open we make sure to have a barrier up (we use another glass screen) so the one we have now and have had for eight years now cannot get out.



So we have a fear of her running away and we have a fear of traffic since we live in the city and there are a lot of busy streets around here.



We also have other outdoor neighborhood cats around here and due to the fact that we got our cat from friends of the family where she was being beat upon we're also protecting her from them. (Injury wise though as she's up to date on her vaccinations.)



Now why don't we have her harness trained you might ask? Well for a few different reasons. The first reason should be obvious, cats are not dogs.



They don't need to go outside to be walked or to go to the bathroom. The second reason is she's not a door dasher and if we took her outside she might turn into one rather quickly if it turned out that she liked the outdoors.
The final reason is she is a rather lazy cat these days as she'll soon be approaching her senior cat years soon and we're pretty sure that she wouldn't like it. The walk would turn into a drag.



Plus it's like Jackson says in his video. We're selfish people for our cat. We want to know that she'll have a full lifespan (even though it's cut short already because of her heart murmur) and we don't have to worry about where she is and if she's still alive.



So that's the reason why we keep ours indoors. There's some more information in the video below. If you live in the country, I'm not against having barn cats. You just have to do what's best for you and your cat or cats.

"my" cats are mostly feral. they are not possessions but more like friends and neighbors. there is always food on my porch and all are welcome, including the family of o'possums and the stray racoons.

i know they hunt birds and squirrels , but they are felines . that is what they do'