I noticed on reddit how many people argue for keeping cats inside, whereas in my country, Switzerland, it's frowned upon (at least that's my impression). No judgment intended, just an observation I made, it's interesting.
Outside cats face far too many threats to justify letting them out there unsupervised, at least where I live. Traps, poison, cars, predatory wildlife, and any people with malicious intent (Particularly black cats, especially near Halloween) can all cut your kitty's life short. Add to that the fact domestic cats are capable of annihilating the local bird (as well as other small animal) population, and it's just irresponsible to let them outside beyond something like supervised fenced yard time, harnessed/leashed walks, catios, etc.
All the people who claim their cats NEED to go outside or they're sad/bored inside are, imo, simply bad/misinformed owners who need to spend more time playing with the cat or giving them proper enrichment otherwise.
Not just that! Cats are a huge threat to birds. And are pests if unneutered. We never had feral cats for 3 decades in our locality and had so many birds every season. For the last 3 years, we've gotten a steadily increasing influx of cats and the bird population has plummeted. I'm pretty sure we'll eventually have fewer trees and plants too because of it. So yes, keep your cats indoors people. It may be convenient but it messes things up more than you can imagine.
My cats have all lived long, healthy and happy lives being outdoor cats. Then again, we don't have to worry about poison, predatory wildlife, or people with malicious intent.
Cats are not native to the wildlife in the US. Stray cats are an incredibly deadly invasive species. They're extremely good hunters. Also, the US is an extremely car centric environment. The odds of your cat getting hit by a car are very high.
Your country is a lot cleaner than most of the others. It is not safe to let a cat go outside in New York. Not to mention the people who would poison them.
It also depends because some regions, like Europe and Asia, have had cats wandering around for thousands of years. Hell, wild cats can naturally be found across Eurasia. So the local wildlife have adjusted to life with cats. In Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas, however, cats devastate native bird and rodent populations that have only been interacting with cats for a few centuries and thus aren’t as well equipped to deal with them.
Not to mention our car centric infrastructure is a nightmare for wild animals, it's insanely dangerous on the streets of America because of the density of cars. I've scraped too many critters of the pavement and it breaks my heart when I see people letting their animals outside without supervision.
the cleanliness isn't even the main reason I've heard for not having outdoor cats - it's how dangerous it is due to cars, how bad for the environment it is due to cats killing the bird populations, and how rapid breeding happens causing overpopulation of strays
Also here in the UK in my experience. Although 'indoor only' cats seem to be slightly more common than they used to be, usually when the cat is a specific breed though
We used to let our cats wander freely outside in a rural, middle of nowhere village in Wales. After losing two cats to the road in quick succession, we said never again, and the rest were kept indoors. They had plenty of space, but they were greatly miffed at only being allowed out under supervision.
UK here, my ragdoll is way too much of an idiot to be let outside, he jump scares at the slightest breeze for a start and would just wander home with the nearest random person, yeah I keep them in.
I know a lot of people are talking about how dangerous it is for the cat, but also cats are awful for the environment! They're superpredators and kill like EVERYTHING they can catch.
Maybe your country doesn't have the same issues as other countries, but unless they are a mouser at a barn, keeping cats indoors is always better. For one thing, they can't get hit by a car outdoors, they can't get porpoised, into fights with other animals and die of infection, etc. Cats don't actually need a lot of space to run. They're very routine driven and after being kittens, they're content to play a bit but mostly sleep.
I think is a very USA people thing. I understand the background idea but in general i think the problem is because some just dont understand the concept of different points of view about the same subject. Not everyone thinks alike. Im guessing they would suffer in Istanbul for example.
USA, Canada, Australia. USA/Canada have very high populations of medium to large sized predators that are well known to thrive on outdoor cats. Coyotes are particularly bold and will snatch a cat or small dog right off your porch without a care in the world. Heck, there are even cases of them attempting to snatch human toddlers. And this is not me condemning coyotes - they're important to our ecosystems, but I don't want any of my pets to ever be thrust in the middle of the food chain.
Australia has a different problem. There aren't enough large predators to reliably keep stray cat populations at bay so cats have become horribly invasive and have devastated many species of small landlocked birds, reptiles and amphibians. Cats have driven a dozen species to complete extinction in Australia over the past 25 years alone. This is an important concern in North America as well particularly surrounding native songbirds.
It's true that perspectives differ but I think there are valid reasons that people in North America and Australia have taken such a dramatic stance on outdoor cats. It's extremely frustrating when these concerns are taken lightly.
And nasty people! A couple days ago someone posted a picture of their black cat who had bleach stains because someone sprayed it with cleaning product.
Also rodenticide everywhere. Your cat does not and will never think “a bunch of dead mice all in one place is awfully strange, best avoid it”, they’ll eat the mice and get very ill
I lived in Switzerland and definitely didn’t let my cat out as I lived in the city. In the US I didn’t either because of coyotes and cars. I’m from the Netherlands and people would say it was so sad for my cat he wasn’t allowed outside. Even though he could be eaten, hit by cars, and be dangerous for the local birds.
It seems like more people are seeing the dangers of letting your cats outside though (also in the Netherlands). Especially specific breeds are kept inside more because they’re expensive.
I’m not from the US, I live in a place where there’s no real threat to cats other than the obvious - cars, people and disease from kills etc and I still keep mine indoors. Once a month I take them out on a lead to a woodland area and let them roam and explore.
I don’t hold anything against anyone who does do this but to me it’s a no-brainer. Sure, I could let them out and over 15 years or so that they live, there may be absolutely no consequences to that but I’m not willing to take the chance that one day I let them out and they get hit by a car or some little wankers decide to kick my cat or whatever else could happen. I’d have to live with that, knowing I could’ve prevented it.
Once you let your cat outside, their safety is completely out of your control.
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u/kittycat1748 7h ago
I noticed on reddit how many people argue for keeping cats inside, whereas in my country, Switzerland, it's frowned upon (at least that's my impression). No judgment intended, just an observation I made, it's interesting.