# You’re wrong about your outdoor cat **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 14, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766 "2019-10-14T22:27:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![AwesomeJim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AwesomeJim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwesomeJim)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/101 "2019-10-19T17:16:43Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Well, that’s a start. Perhaps your neighbors could help you continue to raise your awareness of your irresponsible behavior by bringing their dogs over in the mornings to take a shit on your doorstep. You could ask them to bury the shit under your doormat. I think that would be a bit much! In our neighbourhood we have a community Facebook page; about 40% of the posts are people complaining about violent dogs, or dog shit on the pavement. About another 20% are photos of people’s cats. I have yet to see a single post from someone complaining about cat shit in their garden. From this I conclude that (where I live at least), cat shit is a minor irritation at best. And lets face it, everyone does something that annoys someone. At least I don’t have a baby that cries all day, or 3 cars blocking up the street. Putting up with other people is part of what being a good neighbour is about! ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/102 "2019-10-19T18:57:39Z")
We once had a dog who hated cats. I mean, HATED THEM. We did warn the neighbors that she would not stand for a cat coming in her yard and we kept her leashed outside our backyard to make sure there were no incidents, but our next door neighbors didn’t listen, got a kitten, let it wander, then threw a holy whirling shitfit when the cat got into our yard and the dog snapped its neck. I mean, how much more warning were we supposed to give to get the fucking people to keep their animals OUT of our yard for their own safety? Where I live now there’s a mean AF pitbull that gets out pretty regularly, not sure exactly who owns the critter but I’ve seen it take off after a cat more than once and I can pretty much guarantee if he catches it kitty is not gonna survive. What the dogs don’t do the local coyotes will and I’ve seen quite a few rags and wisps of cat hair with blood on it scattered down the bike trail. Our street is quiet but I’ve seen several smashed cats who didn’t mind the cars over the years. People who won’t keep their cats indoors are negligent pet owners and that’s just a fact. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/103 "2019-10-19T19:29:45Z")
> [@AwesomeJim](#): > > I think that would be a bit much! In our neighbourhood we have a community Facebook page; about 40% of the posts are people complaining about violent dogs, or dog shit on the pavement. About another 20% are photos of people’s cats. I have yet to see a single post from someone complaining about cat shit in their garden. From this I conclude that (where I live at least), cat shit is a minor irritation at best. And lets face it, everyone does something that annoys someone. At least I don’t have a baby that cries all day, or 3 cars blocking up the street. Putting up with other people is part of what being a good neighbour is about! Not making YOUR shit someone else’s problem is what being a good neighbor is about. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/104 "2019-10-19T19:53:47Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > Why isn’t it ok? My cat benefits me personally. Random flying rats of a particular species - what are they doing for me? the world does not revolve around you. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/105 "2019-10-19T21:44:07Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > There are a lot of coyote sightings every day within the city of San Francisco, on the actual streets where we live, and yet cat owners still have cat doors and let their cats roam at will. Then we see weeping moaning posts on Nextdoor about how their cat hasn’t been home for 3 days, and has anyone seen Whiskers? > > I would think if they didn’t care about the birds, they would care about the cat. I would think that, but apparently I would be wrong. We’ve had a big coyote problem in the last few years. Small dogs were snatched while being walked on the leash! People with cats were warned. There was a ton of publicity about the coyote issue. But some people said they couldn’t possibly keep their cat indoors. But, oh, their poor toddler who was traumatized to find their cat’s head on the lawn one morning. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/106 "2019-10-19T22:16:53Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I need proof that the average overfed house cat could catch a full gown, healthy flighted bird. Now ferals are another thing. > I had a bird fly in my french doors one time. My cats went berserk but they never got anywhere near the bird. Birdy had the best defence, a pair of wings. YMMV. > > (My Siamese are strictly indoor cats) Hmm. I don’t know about the "average overfed house cat, but my house cat, who gets as much food as she wants, killed a lot of birds when she was younger. I had to move a birdfeeder because it was too much of a cat feeder. She mostly took the gold finches that the birdfeeder attracted. After I moved it, she didn’t kill many birds. She still killed a lot of small mammals, though. Now she’s old and slow and rarely kills things. We had a young male who killed chipmunks. Like, the painter claimed he killed one every hour. Certainly he averaged more than one per day. I had no idea there WERE that many chipmucks in the neighborhood. I miss him. The chipmunks eat my garden. Alas, he was killed by an owl. > [@Ulfreida](#): > > Yes. Wildlife biologists estimate that cats kill between one and four BILLION birds a year in the US. Bird populations are plummeting everywhere, direly. Habitat loss, pesticides, and pollution are also to blame, but cats do enormous damage as well. > > It is the main reason I no longer have a cat. There were a lot more cats outdoors when I was a kid. Yes, cats kill birds. And in some areas they may be a serious threat to some endangered birds. But there’s no way that cats are responsible for the decline in the US bird population, which has taken place as it’s become less and less common to let cats roam outdoors. > [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > …Cats host Toxoplasma parasites. > … Mine doesn’t. This surprises me, as she eats outdoor animals. (Or did when she was younger.) But my husband is a regular blood donor, and one of the things they’ve told him he tested negative for is Toxoplasmosis. There’s no way he’d stay negative if the cat had it. > [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > In my case they bury it where I grow (or am trying to grow) food. Otherwise they just shit on the lawn and if I’m lucky I see it before the lawn mower hits it. If you don’t care to clean up an animal’s shit, don’t have an animal. You have a weird cat in the neighborhood. Or you are blaming a cat for something a dog or fox or skunk left. I’ve never seen a cat take a shit and not bury it. “On the lawn”, and big enough that the mower doesn’t just glide over it? Neither of those sounds like the work of a cat. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/107 "2019-10-19T22:20:18Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > …My wife and I are debating getting a mouser for inside the house to help deal with the mice that sneak into our 75 year old house from the surrounding field but we only want a killer and a 50/50 odds is too much for my wife who doesn’t really like cats. When I used to foster kittens, I gave them rodent-like toys to play with, and avoided toys with feathers. Like most predators, cats usually learn what “suitable prey” is when they are young. (Okay, because I have a chipmunks problem, I took “mouse” toys and drew chipmunk stripes on the back with a sharpie, and let the kittens play with those. The one foster kitten we kept who became an outdoor cat in fact, mostly killed chipmunks. So I think it worked. But a larger-scale experiment would be interesting.) ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/108 "2019-10-20T20:07:29Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I have a (fortunately distant) relation who qualifies as a “crazy horse person”. Horses are too expensive to “hoard” but her horses were and are her first priority. In fact, her husband eventually left her because it was clear he came third in her priorities behind #1) horses and #2) their children. She’d spend all her spare time out at the stables, and would want to vacation separately doing horse things. And then she wondered why he left. Tell me about it. I have known some horse-mad people. With an emphasis on the mad. Some people are really attached to their dogs, so don’t blame the cats too much. I’m a cat person myself, and don’t like dogs - because I was scared silly by one at age two and it took YEARS to even be near a dog. Anyway, cats and dogs do seem to be genuinely fond of their owners, although I suspect that cats think they they are the owners and we are just their devoted slaves. It could be true. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/109 "2019-10-20T20:24:37Z")
I’m all in favor of feeding the birds, especially in winter, yes, cats have been blamed for the decline in bird population, and they certainly have something to do with it. Basically, there are a lot of pet cats, and even the best fed kitty will still go for a supplement of vitamin M or Vitamin B1rd. So, help the birds, but make sure the the bird feeder is not a bird lure that cats can take advantage of. Make sure that it is high enough, and not near trees, and that the cat cannot climb up to it. Regarding the cat shit debate, the only cat shit we find is that in the litter box. Outdoors they bury it neatly and we hardly ever find it. However, we were not too happy to find that a pile of building sand was also the ideal place for kitty to take a dump ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/110 "2019-10-20T20:51:26Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Tell me about it. I have known some horse-mad people. With an emphasis on the mad. Some people are really attached to their dogs, so don’t blame the cats too much. I’m a cat person myself, and don’t like dogs - because I was scared silly by one at age two and it took YEARS to even be near a dog. Anyway, cats and dogs do seem to be genuinely fond of their owners, although I suspect that cats think they they are the owners and we are just their devoted slaves. It could be true. There are horse hoarders all right. All you need is cheap land and the willingness to starve the horses and you’re in business. Just like with any other animal. There are horrendous cases every year. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2019, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766/111 "2019-10-20T21:08:34Z")
Not all cats bury their shit–the cat that considers himself to be dominant doesn’t bury his and some are just terrible at it. I have a big tomcat who’s 12 years old and has never buried a turd in his life. Also, well travelled outdoor areas can get really full but do the cats stop using that area? No, they do not, they just keep piling and scratching until every plant is dead and the smell can become pretty unbearable. It’s not too bad where I live–its rainy and there’s plenty of outdoors for the cats to spread out in but in more arid urban areas where it’s mostly hardscape with only small islands of dirt? Yeah, cat shit city. It’s pretty gross. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-re-wrong-about-your-outdoor-cat/841766.md?page=5)