# There's something wrong with letting cats outside? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-something-wrong-with-letting-cats-outside/402307 "2007-05-01T14:10:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-something-wrong-with-letting-cats-outside/402307/101 "2007-05-03T15:33:50Z")
[QUOTE=Batsinma Belfry] Dude, you got wooshed. I was demonstrating how you were overreacting to my post. See, I did that by overreacting to your post and making it look like you meant something other than what you meant. [/QUOTE] Over react all you want. I meant exactly what I said. There is no excuse for not spaying or neutering a pet cat. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-something-wrong-with-letting-cats-outside/402307/102 "2007-05-04T01:27:01Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] [http://wildlife.wisc.edu/extension/catfly3.htm](http://wildlife.wisc.edu/extension/catfly3.htm) For every bird killed, there’s 4 small mammals and other small animals The lead illustration for that article shows a cat carrying home a dead mouse. [/QUOTE] I’m sorry, I should have been more clear. I wasn’t contesting your predation of rodentia claim, I was more concerned about this statement: > [@](#): > > Among the birds killed, most were very common species. Sparrows were a favorite, for example, and there’s no shortage of sparrows. The cite listed many rarer ground nesting and songbirds. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-something-wrong-with-letting-cats-outside/402307/103 "2007-05-04T02:16:40Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Over react all you want. I meant exactly what I said. There is no excuse for not spaying or neutering a pet cat. [/QUOTE] I always have my cats spayed and neutered. With my current cat Billy Bob, My family went without groceries for a week so that he could get neutered. My husband lost his job 3 months after BB was adopted. So don’t rant and rave about how I shouldn’t have taken in a cat I couldn’t afford to take care of. I would’ve had Sammy (the wild), neutered if I could’ve caught him. I tried, others tried. He didn’t want to be caught. ---
**Author:** ![Cattitude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Cattitude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cattitude)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-something-wrong-with-letting-cats-outside/402307/104 "2007-05-04T04:25:57Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] This thread is possibly the weirdest thing I’ve read on the SDMB. There’s a whole nation of a quarter of a billion people that actually thinks keeping cats cooped up indoors is a good idea! I find that totally amazing and throughly depressing. [/QUOTE] What I would find depressing is 3 dead kitties. Because that is what would happen if I opened my front door and let the cats out. I live in a fairly urban area of NY state and they would probably end up as road kill in a matter of minutes. Not that they even want to go out. I would literally have to push them out the door. I’ve tried taking them out when I lived in a quieter area with a nice big backyard. They wouldn’t go! ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-something-wrong-with-letting-cats-outside/402307/105 "2007-05-06T05:20:09Z")
[QUOTE=Batsinma Belfry] So don’t rant and rave about how I shouldn’t have taken in a cat I couldn’t afford to take care of. [/QUOTE] You have me confused with someone else. Your characterization of my posts as ranting and raving borders on deception, and I have made no comment concerning whether you can afford anything at all. Perhaps you would like to review, and apologize as required? > [@](#): > > I would’ve had Sammy (the wild), neutered if I could’ve caught him. I tried, others tried. He didn’t want to be caught. No wild cat ever did, yet, trapping them is quite a common occurrence. > [@](#): > > I had one cat that was outdoors only because he was so wild he would’ve had to been caged if kept indoors. He lived a long happy life and populated the whole neighborhood with gray cats. Nothing here about not being able to trap the cat, only your assessment of how how might behave if confined. How many cats did he impregnate? Were the females untrappable as well? If so, how did the kittens get adopted? If they were trappable, why were they not spayed? How many cats did he impregnate that you knew nothing about, that were feral themselves? Did those kittens get adopted? “He lived a long and happy life and populated the neighborhood with gray cats” shows a shockingly cavalier attitude toward the problem of feral cats. Every one of his male offspring, if left intact, could have been responsible for hundreds more births. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-something-wrong-with-letting-cats-outside/402307/106 "2007-05-07T08:04:57Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] You have me confused with someone else. Your characterization of my posts as ranting and raving borders on deception, and I have made no comment concerning whether you can afford anything at all. Perhaps you would like to review, and apologize as required? No wild cat ever did, yet, trapping them is quite a common occurrence. Nothing here about not being able to trap the cat, only your assessment of how how might behave if confined. How many cats did he impregnate? Were the females untrappable as well? If so, how did the kittens get adopted? If they were trappable, why were they not spayed? How many cats did he impregnate that you knew nothing about, that were feral themselves? Did those kittens get adopted? “He lived a long and happy life and populated the neighborhood with gray cats” shows a shockingly cavalier attitude toward the problem of feral cats. Every one of his male offspring, if left intact, could have been responsible for hundreds more births. [/QUOTE] Soooo, what are your views on beating already dead horses? BTW, the"ranting and raving" thing was directed at anyone who was tempted to do so, since it doesn’t take much to set someone off. You do realize that _other_ people are reading this thread, right? It’s not your own personal soapbox, so don’t assume everything is directed at you. Your use of multiple quote boxes is impressive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-something-wrong-with-letting-cats-outside/402307.md?page=5)