I have to admit I read some of the numerous "cat(s) shitting and peeing all over the place - What to do? "threads and I’m stunned by the fact that people will live like this, and put up with cats turning their living space into virtual bathrooms. When did this whole weird up-is-down- left- is-right “cats belong indoors” mindset evolve?
I feel for the cat one level. It’s highly unnatural for a cat to be penned indoors, then told to squat in this filthy little box. Cats are not dirty animals by inclination and being presented with this tyranny of standing in their own shit and pee to do their business must be annoying for them. People seem to think they are doing cats some huge favor by keeping them imprisoned indoors as little jester slaves for their amusement and emotional gratification. Cats are not human invalids or retarded children and the entreaties to consider them as such when they are “revenge pooing” is absurd. They’re animals.
Uhhh Astro - that’s developedmentally challenged children, not retarded…
Oh and you know full well posting something like this, in this ferociously feline dominated forum may get you digitally castrated…but hey it will be fun to watch…
Oh and my siamese attack kittens love having the run of the house, I don’t mind that they climb on the wooden walls, destroy our curtins, shit in the tub after they are yelled at and generally behave like schizoid affective steriod laiden badger’s in heat …it’s all really fine in my mind…
**HONEY!!! DO YOU HAVE MY HALDOL???
I am completely fed up with the continual crap* that I have to put up with just because my wife thought it would be “cute” to have a cat.
But I do think that all cat owners should keep this cats indoors. Some of my neighbors do not, and so I must deal with their cats’ crap in my yard and garden. Ugh!
We put our cat outside, on a leash, so she can stalk and kill (but not eat) the mighty moths and various garden bugs that threaten our domain.
*Metaphorical crap, that is. So far we’ve only had to deal with peeing in the corners of our living room and family room. So far, TerrorKitty™ uses the litter box for her poop, but I’m not sure how long that will last and I’m afraid that she will up the ante, so to speak, any moment now.
I really do understand the POV of the folks who wish to protect their pets, I do. De-clawing, de-barking and keeping a cat or dog indoors are beyond me, and comparable in my mind. Mine’s a happy and healthy indoor-outdoor model, works just fine for us.
Well, ah, cats have been domesticated since before the days of Cleopatra, so keeping the kitty indoors isn’t exactly a new idea.
Besides, some of us live in areas where it would be, if not unsafe, then at least ill-advised to have an outdoor cat. You know – urban areas, and places where coyotes roam around at night? Coyotes eat other animals, you realize. I’m not in the habit of replacing my pet once a year just to give my pet a sense of false entitlement.
Define “highly unnatural.” Highly unnatural by the standards of whom or what? Again, cats have been domesticated for thousands of years. While they might have urges to go outside, they’re also not the sharpest knives in the drawer when it comes to anticipating what might be dangerous.
I think you’re thinking that because other cats are outdoors that all cats have to be outdoors. There’s really no right or wrong answer here.
Put another way: If your child decides to put his hand on the stove, do you let him so he can pay a potentially very high cost, or do you slap his hand and tell him to never put his hand on the stove? Cats don’t know about the dangers outside, and don’t understand that outdoor exposure puts kitty at risk for fleas, ticks, and predators.
You also seem to be under the impression that cats have no interest whatsoever in being indoors and loved and fed by the humans. Rest assured, this is simply not true. My cats aren’t captives – they receive regular feedings, brushings, pettings, and are regularly talked to. When I’m sitting at the computer writing, my smallest cat will frequently climb up on my chest, and rest her head on my shoulder and sleep. This does not scream of “captive jester kept for my amusement.” This speaks of love.
Since this isn’t in The Pit, I won’t tell you how obtuse and wrong-headed I feel this statement is. :rolleyes:
However, I will say this – own a pet, once in your life. Have this pet for a year or more. Then come back and tell us how you feel.
Our cats prefer not to go outside in the heat. They have become quite nicely adapted to air conditioning. So we have a deal, I keep their cat boxes maintained and cleaned on a daily basis, in turn they use those instead of the carpet.
Our cat is an indoor cat, and has been since we got her as a kitten from the SPCA. She sneaked outside exactly once on a day when it was pouring rain. Luckily we’d just gone to the grocery store, and returned within the hour to find her mewling pitifully under the porch, resembling a drowned, Holstein-colored rat. We swooped the poor thing up, towelled her off and snuggled her until she stopped shaking. She has not displayed any interest in going outside since then. She greets me at the door every time I come home, and I can stand there with the door open and have a conversation with her and, while she likes to sniff the breeze and look around, she doesn’t cross the threshold, ever.
She has a litter box, cleaned daily, which she uses without fail. Cats are creatures of habit, and they like to keep their environment clean. They like having a litter box. They don’t even have to be trained to use it! Just bring the cat into the house, drop it into the litter box first thing so they know exactly where it is, and instinct will take care of the rest. Cats who have litter box problems are, happily, the exception rather than the rule.
Like Philosphr, every time I see a dead cat on the shoulder of the road–particularly a black and white one–I’m glad that our cat is safe and sound inside. Issues like disease, fleas and ticks, fights with other cats, dogs and predators, as well as songbird predation and the potential for our cat to be a nuisance to the neighbors just reinforce my preference for an indoor cat.
We adopted both our cats from the Defenders of Animal Rights, and one of the papers we signed was an agreement to keep them as Indoor Cats. We were not to let them roam.
It’s also against a local county ordinance to let pets run around unleashed. Dogs and cats, mind you.
I literally am not allowed to just let them out to run around.
My next-door neighbor walks his cat on a leash. I’ve never done that - I bought leashes and harnesses for them with the intention of walkies, but they were not pleased with the idea of harnesses, so it was not discussed again.
I’ve known cats that were happy living indoors, and those that like the outdoors, so I do not think it’s intrinsically cruel to keep a cat indoors.
However, it may be cruel to other animals to have a cat outdoors: regardless of how well it is fed, a cat can try to catch smaller animals, such as mice and birds, and can be quite cruel to them if it manages to catch them. So keeping a cat indoors may (on balance) significiantly decrease cruulty to animals.
Indoor cats seem to be more common in America than Australia, as I’ve seen a horrified reaction by a number of Americans on the internet to stories about outdoor cats, yet the opposite from my Australian friends and relatives who think it’s cruel to keep them indoors.
I’m torn, and I’m an indoor cat owner. I think it’s sad that my cats will never know the pleasures of the outside world, and I worry that I’m doing the wrong thing by imprisoning them. However, I know that keeping them indoors is likely to prolong their lives (especially considering that busy road out the front of my house, but also by sheltering them from disease) and more importantly it prevents them from hunting and killing native animals. I feel that my cats are more contented with my company than they would be if they had divided their time between the house and the yard, and so are more of a joy to be around - more “human”.
I have no trouble with my cats making messes around the house. They seem happy enough to use their litter tray. Once, we let it get too dirty for their fastidious taste and the poor little soul that couldn’t bear to use it relieved herself on the lid of the litter tray instead, as if that was the closest she could get to her toilet without becoming soiled. We haven’t let it get to that state ever again.
Well, our cat was an indoor/outdoor cat earlier in her life. When my SO moved here to Baltimore and got a third-floor apartment, it became difficult to let her out, so she became an indoor cat and seemed to adjust perfectly well. Now that we are in a house it would be possible to let her out, but other circumstances make it difficult.
The cat is diabetic, so she has to have an insulin shot every 12 hours. If she wandered away and we couldn’t find her, she could end up dead. Also, she’s not especially fast or strong any more, which would leave her at the mercy of the considerable number of younger, more aggressive cats wandering the neighborhood.
We let her out in the back yard quite a bit, but usually only when we are out there and can keep an eye on her.
When I was growing up we had several indoor/outdoor cats. They were very happy, if a bit scarred from the occasional territorial rumble. So when I moved in with my friend who kept her cats indoors 100% of the time, I was really creeped out by the whole thing. The barn cat simply lived in the space under the bed or behind the couch, and the kitten would just sit in the windows, climbing the screens and wailing for freedom. I thought the whole thing was paranoid and sad. It didn’t help that my ex-roommate also suffered from anxiety. I would never do this to a cat.
Funny, I’ve owned, and sometimes been owned by, pets my entire life. Had a veritable menagerie of them growing up, all were given free reign of our house and the surrounding areas, seemed to work out just fine.
I’ve had my 3 year old cat since she was old enough to leave momma, she’s been indoor/outdoor since she first showed an interest in the great outside world.
I feel fine, and from all indications so does she. The one problematic issue of her bringing home prey was solved by simply adding jingly bells to her collar. She’s healthy, has never contracted fleas, is fastidious enough to come home and use her litterbox rather than depositing presents for the neighbors, plays vigorously with us indoors or out, has access to food, water and vet care and has yet to suicidally dash into traffic.
Guess you didn’t want my opinion, since obviously it’s not a topic I’m qualified to know, thought I’d offer a different perspective anyway.
