Yep, some neighbor, I’m not yet sure who, lets his cat roam at night. Sometimes at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning I’ll hear mine escalate from a low “Yowl” to a high pitched “Scrrrrream” that scares the livin’ crap out of me and is one helluva way to wake up.
indoor only at casa scubaqueen. i live in a residential neighborhood bordered on two sides by two of the busiest streets in my county. not good for unescorted small, furry creatures.
like lisacurl’s bunch, you couldn’t get the current superkitties anywhere near the great outside with a cattle prod. both were once tiny strays headed for a bad end when they were rescued and i think they remember that.
otoh, murphy, one of their predecessors and also a stray from the streets, was fixated on getting out and became quite the escape artist. damn cat hastened the arrival of all the gray hair i have today, chasing his ungrateful ass all over the neighborhood… 
i finally had to resort to weapons - a water handgun of uncanny accuracy. i got really, *really *good at shooting a certain moving target with fur at 15 feet or so discourage him from trying to force open the back porch screen door.
today’s superkitties have a window perch and a screened front and back door to look out of especially in the summer; since neither are inclined to make a break for it, they get a safe taste of the great outside on a regular basis.
One day at breakfast we were treated to the sight of two coyotes fighting over the body of our neighbor’s indoor/outdoor cat. Fairly traumitised the kids.
So when we brought home our kitties from the pound, it was clear to everyone that they would be indoor kitties.
That would traumatize me for sure.
What Nava said - mousers. Cats that are kept around to keep a place free of vermin, but aren’t usually treated like lap pets. Barn cats, ship cats, etc.
A coyote was right on my dog’s heels. My mom whistled up the dog and shot the coyote on his way by - it was pretty badass.
I like 'em enough to not want them eaten by coyotes, mauled by possums, riddled with parasites, drinking antifreeze off someone’s driveway or run over by cars.
I don’t exactly trust my pets to make sound logical decisions out in the real world.
I think it depends on the cat. I have a cat that I captured as a feral kitten and tamed. She hasn’t got any inclination to be outside, and I really prefer that, as it’s safer for her. My other cat was indoor raised but refused to stay indoors. I got tired of chasing down all her escapes and having to look every time I opened the door that she didn’t dart out, so she’s now an indoor-outdoor cat. I understand she will probably have a shorter lifespan, but she’s very happy now, so I figure quality over quantity of life is best for her. I don’t feel very guilty.
We lost a number of cats because they picked up diseases from feral cats in the neighborhood. We smartened up and will only have indoors ones from now on. We are in a semi-rural area.
The worst sounds I’ve ever heard my cats make came when a strange cat was bugging them outside the front door - I picked up the broom, expecting to have to start swinging at buzzsaw balls of fur. Another problem with strange cats bugging them is that it sets my cats off against each other - they tolerate each other normally, but when a strange cat comes around, they’ll take it out on each other.
If my cat’s a troublemaker when she’s outside, there’s no way I could ever tell. She alternates in and out with no real schedule, and while she does explore the condo complex and probably the park next door, she spends most of her time hanging out in the yard. Sometimes she’s in during the day and out at night, sometimes vice versa. The yard is sealed off with a gate she can slip through but larger animals can’t, so she’s got a safe haven.
I know outdoor cats have shorter lives, and every time I take her to the vet for a checkup the vet admonishes me to keep her inside, but my house is pretty quiet and uninteresting. What good is living 20 years if you’re terminally bored the entire time?
Mine are 100% indoors.
If you love your cat, why going for the risk that s/he might be hit by a car :rolleyes: ?
If you love your cat, why would you keep her/him imprisoned?
I get the rationale behind indoor-only cats I just don’t find it personally compelling.
Part of having a pet is teaching it life skills. My cats weren’t trained like dogs but they were appropriately wary of cars, didn’t wander too far from home, etc. They had to be taught those skills just like I had to teach them to go to the bathroom outside.
I imagine I’d feel differently if I’d been raised in a big city with indoor-only cats. My problem is that I’ve seen how much cats enjoy being outside. Also, the indoor-only cats I have known have all been a bit neurotic - that’s a small sample though and maybe I’m just projecting my own fears of confinement or something.
It IS actually possible to give an indoor-only cat an interesting life. It takes a bit more work than simply opening the door, but an indoor only life does not = life in a cell. At least it doesn’t if the human in the equation puts a small amount of effort into it. Cats sleep approximately 15 hrs a day, that other 9 isn’t that hard to fill especially if there are other animals in the house.
Even though I’ve already weighed in, sometimes I read a post and there will be a line I cannot resist responding to. Kind of like this unnecessarily provocative line in my first post:
Or this line which prompted my second post.
So please forgive me for cluttering up the thread but,
Ouch! Indoor/outdoor cat owners don’t play with their cats? Come on, I/O cats have everything that Indoor cats have plus they have the freedom to come and go.
You do make a good point though saje, and it sounds like your cats have a pretty sweet life.
It’s a cat, not a teenager. You’re not going to over-ride the “chase squirrel” instinct that leads it into traffic or “Don’t eat the half-rotten dead bird” instinct. Dogs I could maybe see this being an argument for. Not cats.
I’ve owned indoor cats, outdoor cats, in-between cats, adopted barn cats, etc. Overall, a lot less veterinarian money was always spent on the indoor cats because they lived much safer lives than the ones who needed stitches, antibiotics and parasite medications. Cats are content with a relatively small territory they know is their own and function just fine indoors. They never seemed any less happy either, especially if they were raised as an indoor cat. I’m not one of those people who thinks it’s a crime against nature to let your cat outside where it’ll be immediately eaten by an eagle or kill every songbird but, if I had to get another cat today, I’d use my years of experience and keep it indoors.
It’s the second time I hear that. I’ve only ever been familiar with indoor cats so maybe neurotic cats seem usual to me. I realize that critisizing pet owners is a quick way to attract hostility so realize that I am genuinely curious and not defensive when I ask the following. In what way are they neurotic, in your experience?
Two indoor cats here… 3 1/2 yr old tabby’s that seem purfectly happy indoors. On occasion I do let them out in the semi-private backyard but pretty much hover over them the entire time and not let them get too close to the road, neighbors yards, etc.
Almost every time Harry will stick to the foundation of the house and want back inside w/in 5 minutes while Lloyd would stay outside forever if I let him.
I also have a sun room/porch that they cannot get out of but they still get the ‘feel’ of being outside… so that to them *is *outside…'specially during the winter.
Like I said, small sample. Between friends and family I can only think of 7 indoor only cats that I’ve known well.
High energy and destructive top the list. All but one of the cats I’m thinking of are just crazy; running laps, climbing everything, chewing up toilet paper, generally making an excess of mischief. Maybe they’re just rowdy cats but all other felines I’ve interacted with display way more calm and seem to sleep a lot more.
Four of them are fat and getting fatter all the time. Three of them live in apartments and can’t be trusted on the balconies alone despite being on the 3rd or 4th floor. My friend has to supervise hers to make sure they don’t leap to their deaths. My aunt fenced her balcony in completely over the same issue.
Abbey doesn’t like loud noises, she tries to hide under things. Unfortunately this includes things that aren’t tall enough to accommodate her so she almost always has a head wound from trying to dive beneath short furniture…like bookcases.
Where other cats seem to be aloof or curious, this group of cats seems to freak out. “OMG change!” Ollie is dead now but he used to wait for someone to open the refrigerator and then he’d try to get in there. Abby gets in the dryer whenever she can - someday that might end badly.
Libby chases her own tail and chews on it. Really chews, they have to bandage her tail because she does real damage. Hilde jumps at the windows and bonks her head, I think she just hasn’t figured out that glass is transparent but still a barrier - she’s 5-6years old though.
When I visit these people their houses are often chaotic because the cats are being weird or clawing and chewing things they shouldn’t - Charlotte tries to dig holes through the carpet to get under doors.
Again though, this is a handful of cats. I know ALL indoor cats aren’t insane but my life experience sure doesn’t help my low opinion of an indoor only existence.