Indoors or Outdoors?

[smudgley]

Mine are indoor / outdoor cats - they go where they like, when they like.
I have been through the pain / heartache of loosing a cat in a RTA - Mitten was killed outright & what a terrible ordeal that was for everyone.
However I personally wouldn't have an indoor cat. My Smudge goes off all day, playing, chasing, getting up to mischeif & that's what she loves to do. There are risks with cats going outside, but I think the main risks are being involved in a RTA or being infected with FeLV or FIV from another cat. As for a lot of the other stuff, some of it is rare & other things like worms / fleas can be resolved or prevented by having a regular endo/ecto parasite control programme in place.

[Luke]

I was allways brought up regarding cats, that its best for a more natural quality of life and an unnatural life led for many years-basically the old saying quality rather than quantity
I tried to have Clementine as a house cat...was 'ok' but i could tell she wasn't fully happy with the confines of indoors...and then one day she escaped, got lost and LUCKILY found her way back....wouldnt have a purely house cat again..and surprising as it sounds, pedigree cats differ hardly to moggies in the senses ive known many a siamese and persian who love a good romb out and about!

[Elaine]

Feeling slightly offended here. Winston was an indoor cat for 21 years and had a very good quality of life I feel. I first got him along with his brother Mutley, who was blind, and felt it wouldnt be fair to let one out and not the other, we also lived in a very undesirable part of town at that point. When they were two years old, we moved here and have a safe back garden. Mutley was always much more adventurous than Winston and liked the back garden but Winston always chose to stay indoors. Winston had a few companions throughout his life and was always a very happy and contented cat.
Eva likes the back garden but we only let her out when we are home and she wont go out in foul weather.
Bernie as yet doesnt go out but he will once we get him micro chipped. I have to say I fear Bernie going out as he is much more agile than Eva and may be able to escape the confines of the back garden. As we live in the city centre i dont want this to happen.

[Julie84]

I think it is a very personal choice. I also think it depends a lot on the cat(s) in question.

My two boys are both indoors only for many varied reasons, selfish reasons on my part, and also because I believe the benefits, especially as the situation stands at the moment, greatly outweigh the negative effects that might occur if they were allowed free outside access.

I don't think there are any cut and dry answers - I certainly feel some guilt when Thomas and Murphy watch the world go by through the window (although they seem to have an unhealthy obsession with trying to touch the cars through the glass ) and I think they would love to chase butterflies around a garden and sunbathe on the grass - but at the moment they can't and while they haven't experienced they can't miss it in my opinion.

Everyone (not including people on this forum ) thinks this is wrong - my family, my partner and his family, friends, work colleagues - my vet! One person said to me, surely it would better for them to have a really full life enjoying all that life had to offer a cat, even if it meant they died at a much younger age. But I don't want my cats to die young - maybe it is very selfish but I want them to be with me, happy and healthy, for as long as possible. It's difficult. My mum insists that her cats are fine and go outdoors and always points out that Fluff (who died recently) lived to 18. However, she conveniently forgets that Cuddles died before her 2nd birthday, Carrieanne before her first (both knocked over by cars) and Sammy just disappeared when he was about 1 (he was a moggy but a beautiful English blue colour). Fluff, although living to 18, was never the same after she was knocked over at 14 (having her pelvis broken in three places). She was asleep under my dad's car and he just didn't check before he drove away - I don't think the rest of her life was very comfortable after that. I know lots of people have outdoor cats and never (or rarely) suffer any bad experiences - as I said, I think it is a very personal choice, just a very difficult one.

[Rosie]

I have always had outdoor cats and yes lost one or two on the way but to me a short natural life is better than a "life in prison" although in luxury. Virginia McKenna said in an interview that she would rather see an endangered species die out than live in a captive state and I totally agree with her. Cats love hunting and prowling around at night. My cat has constant access to the outside and is always bring me gifts for the dinner table, bless her, although mice and shrews are not quite to my taste

Years ago I desperately wanted either a Norweigen Forest Cat or a Main Coon and at that time the breeders stated that these were cats had to have access to the outdoors. Now they say that they should be kept inside.

It is for our benefit alone that we keep cats inside.

[Julie84]

Originally Posted by Rosie

It is for our benefit alone that we keep cats inside.

I don't think that is the case at all. As I said my decision is partly for selfish reasons - that I don't want anything bad to happen to them or for them to die a premature death but this must also be a benefit to the cat itself?

I keep my boys in so:-

• they don't get run over, hit or squashed by a car - it's not so much the being killed outright that upsets me but the thought they might be seriously injured and have to lie in agony until someone takes pity, I found them or they died
• they don't get run over - for the driver's sake. I dread the thought of ever killing an animal and I think it would haunt me if I ever did. Cats can not be taught the Highway Code and therefore are always at risk when they are outside. I don't want someone to have to live with the fact that they killed my cat when it is unlikely to have been their fault at all.
• they don't get into fights with other animals - being neutered toms who have not experienced different animals (including strange cats) puts them at a huge disadvantage as well as the fact that they are trained to keep their claws only for the scratching posts
• they are not set upon by the children that live near me. I have three schools very close to my house and although most children are lovely, some seem to take great pleasure out of taunting animals and in some cases causing great suffering.
• they don't go to the toilet in anyone else's garden. I would be annoyed if someone's animal kept using my garden as a toilet, especially if I had children, so why should I allow my animals to go wherever they wanted (you can't guarantee where a free roaming animal will go to the toilet).
• they don't kill small animals. I accept cats do this but I can only imagine the upset a (bird watching) neighbour would feel if my cat killed a wild animal in their garden or a child observed the process. Just because I choose to have a (predating) cat as a pet does not mean it should interfere with anyone else's pleasures/hobbies.

I have other points but I think I'm starting to rant!

As I said before, it is a personal choice and I don't think anybody is 'wrong' whichever option they choose.

I think that was a very judgemental comment to make though. Am I bad because I took a decision based on all the evidence I had to hand at the time and I though was best for my cats?

[Snoof]

Of course not, Elaine. And it's also largely a matter of what your cat's used to. As you said, Winston preferred to stay inside - but then being outside wasn't really part of his life.

I mostly object to "being let outside" being made into a boogeyman with biased propaganda. It's a personal decision everyone makes for themselves, and I have to say I'm glad we live in the neighbourhood we live in because cats are pretty safe round here. For Ninja, being an inside cat is not an option, so I don't know what we'd do (and how much I'd worry) if we lived in a less desirable neighbourhood.

[candyshandy]

Originally Posted by Luke

I was allways brought up regarding cats, that its best for a more natural quality of life and an unnatural life led for many years-basically the old saying quality rather than quantity
I tried to have Clementine as a house cat...was 'ok' but i could tell she wasn't fully happy with the confines of indoors...and then one day she escaped, got lost and LUCKILY found her way back....wouldnt have a purely house cat again..and surprising as it sounds, pedigree cats differ hardly to moggies in the senses ive known many a siamese and persian who love a good romb out and about!

There are many valid reasons for restricting outside access to persians:

1. Tend to have no other animal sense - eg. will quite happily walk up to a dog without realising it may harm.

2. Tend to have rubbish road sense

3. Would you like to have to sort out a persian's coat if it got caught in a shower - this could be quite stressful for the cat

4. Persians are one of the well known breeds and are quite often stolen by idiots

For the first 2 years my boys were 100% indoor only and were extremely happy. The reason I decided to catproof the garden was entirely selfish, it meant I could open the back door in the hot weather. They are only allowed out when I am at home and I do tend to keep an eye on them anyway. Foofoo does venture out but much prefers to stay indoors - as she proved on Sunday. The back door was wide open and she was akip upstairs

[Julie84]

Originally Posted by Rosie

Virginia McKenna said in an interview that she would rather see an endangered species die out than live in a captive state and I totally agree with her.

Virginia McKenna was talking about wild animals. The cats we have living in our homes are domesticated and far removed from their wild counterparts. It would be wrong to try to make a feral cat, or adult cat that has always lived outside (had outside access) become indoors only. Even when it it for their own benefits, I believe it has a negative mental impact.

Kittens born in a loving home environment, with plenty of mental stimulation can not miss something they have not experienced.

As their main caregiver - and the person who chose (selfishly) to have pet cats - it is my responsibility to choose, as I see best, how they will live. What food they will eat, what litter they will use, if they have friends or can reproduce and whether they have access to the outside or not (not a definitive list). I tried to make all my decisions informed ones with the best information I had available to me at that time. We will all have different opinions and ideas but that doesn't mean that someone is right and someone else is wrong does it?

[Hreow]

We've all thought long and hard, at some point or another, before callously keeping our animals in/booting them out into the world. {phrasing joking and intentional}
I have complete faith in all out abilities to do the right thing under the circumstances we find ourselves, just as I believe that a caring owner will be able to judge the health of their animal. That we still ask ourselves if we made the right decision, shows an open mind. I would trust Rover with any one of you (but you **still** can't have him!).


This is why I like this list. No-one is saying one solution or the other is completely wrong. We can all name reasons pro and con, and we do. We all seem to be saying that it depends on the cat and the circumstances - i.e. we all care deeply for the welfare of the cat. Pages of replies, and not one person has gotten their knickers in a serious twist. I may regain a smidge of my long-lost faith in humanity at this rate.