Comment on Keeping cats indoors is a rare solution where everybody wins
DrM@feddit.de 9 months ago
When I adopted my cats the shelter and foster people asked if the cats will stay inside or go outside and when I said inside they all made a sigh of releave and the shelter workers said “thank god, thats definitely the best for them”. I build them a small cage that I put up at the window in my old flat, now I have a balcony where they can roam and when I live in a house with a garden at some point they will get a big catio.
I think that them being able to safely go outside a little bit is important, the outside world gives them so much different experiences. Wind, fresh air, outside noices, smells from neighbors barbecuing. But yeah, leaving them completely outside is not good
Ilandar@aussie.zone 9 months ago
Yes, I think a balance is best. There is absolutely no reason why a cat can’t experience the outdoors during daylight under supervision of their owner. They should also be freely allowed to go outside at night, as long as they are limited to a cage type structure connected to the house.
Anyone keeping them permanently locked inside without any plan to change that really has no business owning one in the first place. The “b-b-but they live longer!!!” argument people use to justify this is also disingenuous. People pretend it’s some blanket truth, when in reality it depends entirely on what the cat is doing outdoors.
JonsJava@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I’ll just harness my cat up, and take them for a brief morning drag…
I get what you’re saying, but you’re just wrong. In my unscientific and anecdotal-driven opinion, there are too many cats outside as-is. They upset ecosystems. If you don’t have the space for a cat to wander inside, you shouldn’t be adopting a cat.
Ilandar@aussie.zone 9 months ago
This is just more bad faith, binary arguing. Why do cats upset ecosystems? What are the actual problems we are talking about here? Pretending cats just magically cause damage the second they step outside is stupid.
My family has two cats. They are trained to come when called. They have an enclosure they can sit in without supervision at any time, day or night, if they want to be outside. If family members are outside during the day and not preoccupied with something else, the cats are also allowed to join them. If they begin to exhibit behaviour consistent with hunting, we intervene. We pay attention to the native animals in our backyard and work around their nesting cycles. Our cats get to experience the outdoors and our garden is absolutely thriving with small birds and reptiles.
In short, we actually put time and effort into the well-being of both our pets and the native animals they share our property with, instead of just moral grandstanding on social media about how we are “responsible pet owners” while doing absolutely nothing to back that up.
JonsJava@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I mean, a couple seconds of googling gives you actual data, rather than your butt hurt feelings…
www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/…/pan3.10073
mentalfloss.com/…/8-ways-domestic-cats-are-seriou…
I can keep going, or you can actually do a little reading. Just because you don’t like my point, that doesn’t make your point valid.