Should You Let Your Cat Go Outside?

www.petplace.com/

I found this pet site recently with all sorts of stuff on it. A lot of you probably already know most of this, but there are some interesting articles.

Here’s another one for the cat lovers:

Should You Let Your Cat Go Outside? by:_Karen Commings

Cats who live solely outdoors live about three to five years on average, while the average life expectancy of indoor cats is 14 years or longer.You've just adopted a cat who will be your companion for many years. One of the big decisions you must make about your cat's care is whether to allow him access to the outside. You'll find cat lovers on both sides of the indoor vs. outdoor fence.
This decision will have a serious effect on the quality of your cat’s life – and may well determine how long your cat lives. Those who live outdoors have a far shorter life expectancy and are at far greater risk of contracting serious illnesses.

The Outdoor Life
Long viewed as independent creatures, cats are still considered by many to need the freedom of the outdoors to stay happy. Outdoor living, or even visiting, offers natural stimuli that cats may find exciting and fun – trees to climb, mice and bugs to chase and sunlight for leisurely naps.
Cats allowed outside may choose to relieve themselves in the nearest garden thus eliminating the need for you to clean the litter box as often or buy as much litter. The outdoors is an appropriate environment for a cat to exhibit behaviors such as scratching and spraying to mark territory. If your cat exhibits the same behaviors indoors, they become problems that must be solved to maintain a happy and livable household.
If you adopted a stray or feral cat (one that has never lived with humans), he may be more insistent about continuing to go outside than a cat that has always lived indoors. A stray or feral cat may be more likely to make your life miserable or cause you to reach new heights of creativity to keep him content indoors.

The Dangers of Outdoor Life
On the other hand, the health of outdoor cats is threatened by contagious diseases such as feline leukemia, feline immunodeficiency virus, feline infectious peritonitis and rabies.
Feline immunodeficiency virus, or feline AIDS, for example, is a fatal disease that is carried by up to 14 percent of the cat population. It is transmitted from cat to cat by blood and saliva. This happens primarily through biting so outdoor and male cats that fight with other cats are at greatest risk.
Parasites such as fleas, ticks and worms most commonly attack outdoor cats. If you allow your cat to go in and out at will, he will carry these parasites back into your home. Outdoor cats are more likely to contract diseases such as toxoplasmosis, ringworm and roundworms, all of which are zoonotic meaning they can be transmitted to people.
Outdoor cats may be attacked by wildlife or free-roaming domestic animals. As unpleasant as it is to think about, they may succumb to traffic accidents, pet-theft, poison, mutilations, traps and animal abuse. Cats living outside must deal with harsh weather and the physical problems that go with it such as frostbite or hyperthermia.
Neighbors may not appreciate your cat digging in their gardens or making deposits on their property. As a result, your outdoor cat may be the victim of neighbors who take matters into their own hands.
Cats are notorious hunters, and even if fed, may seek out wild prey to satisfy their instinctive urges. The American Bird Conservancy estimates that cats, along with other factors such as loss of habitat by land development, threaten many songbird species. The ABC has developed an initiative to encourage cat owners to keep their cats indoors. Other major animal organizations promote indoor living for cats as well.
Sexually intact cats allowed to roam freely contribute to pet overpopulation by reproducing indiscriminately.

The Indoor Life
Perhaps the biggest argument for keeping a cat indoors is his life expectancy, which is dramatically greater than that of a cat living outside or even one allowed out via a pet door or other access method. Cats who live solely outdoors live about three to five years on the average while the average life expectancy of indoor cats is 14 years or longer.
If you've adopted a cat from a shelter or purchased a pedigreed cat from a responsible breeder, you may have signed a contract requiring that the cat be kept indoors. Both may follow up with you after a few months to check on how the cat is doing and ask if you are keeping your new companion indoors.
Putting an indoor cat out is not the solution to a behavior problem, and letting your cat outdoors is no insurance that he will not develop a behavior problem when he comes inside.
Keeping a cat indoors is not completely without risks and is no insurance that the cat will not contract a contagious disease. By weighing all the factors, you will need to arrive at your own decision about the environment – outdoors or indoors – in which you want your cat companion to live.

john

Quote:

---

Originally posted by jonza
Cats who live solely outdoors live about three to five years on average, while the average life expectancy of indoor cats is 14 years or longer.

---

This is as far as I had to read. 3 - 5 years is not near long enough for me. Tubby is 17 and I want him around for at least another 17.

I'll have to send a copy of this to my mom so she brings Goofy in, at least sometimes.

Thanks for the info John. :)

Cubby is my first cat that has ever been an indoor only cat. Growing up all of our cats had the option to come and go as they wish. After watching Cubby and seeing how happy he is being indoors only I will never let any future cats of mine go outdoors when they please. I will also never leash them and take them outdoors for the fear of them loving it so much and want to go out more and more and one day or some day escaping my home. My Mom which I got Cubby from belives that cats should have the choice to go where ever they want. I told her Cubby was only going to be indoor due to apartment living, and she took him outside twice because it was really nice out and he was about 4 weeks old. He was very cute outside because he didn't like it that much he hated the grass and the dirt and all the noises that go along with being outside in the middle of the little city we live in. Now when he trys to go outside he runs into the apartment hallway and tell him if he doesn't want to go to the vet he better get back into the apartment sometimes it works but now always every now and then I have to go grab him. He knows the hallways leads to bad things that happen to him at the vet so he is learning that is not a good place to be. :) Attached is a happy indoor Cubby who just loves being around me and my hubby when he wants some lovings.

I wish I could keep all of mine indoors. One, Wobbles, is exclusively inside-only, and always has been, always will be. She doesn't like it outside, and when she's there, she sits by the door and cries. She's a happy cat indoors, and we're quite content to keep her that way.

Minette, on the other hand, was an outdoor kitty for a while, then became indoor-only for over a year and a half. When we moved back in with mom, she started urinating in inappropriate places. As in EVERYWHERE. On the bed, on the table, on walls...we couldn't get her to stop. Nothing we did worked, and the vet said she didn't have a urinary tract infection. At whits end, she's been evicted. I let her in as much as I can, when I can supervise her, but twice in the last month or so, while inside, with me watching, she's urinated. She uses the litterbox, too, when she's doing this. As far as the vet can tell, she's healthy as a horse. Go figure. So, she's outdoors almost exclusively.

Tinkerbell, we tried. We honestly tried to make him indoor only, but 15 years of old habits die hard. He's over 15, and has been indoor/outdoor his entire life. When we moved back in with my mom, we tried to make him indoor only, but he was supremely unhappy, and drove us up the walls. So we gave in, and he comes and goes as he pleases.

As for Ozzie...heh. He hates being inside. He was indoor-only for the first two years we had him, then he started going outside. Now, he freaks out indoors, and stares at the ceiling like its going to eat him. He's more than a little psychotic anyway, so we let him do as he pleases. LOL.

Ah well. That said, I advise anyone to keep their kitties indoors if at all possible. They are always catching worms, and getting in fights with the neighborhood cats. Tinkerbell's a scarred old tom (or rather, he would if he were whole;) ). As it stands, all of my kitties would be healthier if indoors. Not to mention rabies scares, cars, and neighborhood dogs that aren't at cat-friendly as mine.

And please, please, please, for your kitties' health and your sanity, have them all spayed or neutered. When Tink was young (he was neutered at 1 year) he would disappear for days meeting his lady friends. When we got him fixed, he stayed at home and got in fewer fights. And please, don't contribute to the feline overpopulation problem. Kittens are cute, but you wind up ith little sickly babies that are unloved and have little chance for survival. Tinkerbell has lived more than the average life expentancy for outdoor cats, but that's only due to our care and good feeding. Unwanted kittens don't have that luxury.

So be a responsible pet owner, please?

Ally is definately an indoor only cat.....

When I look out of my window I see
1. A very busy road right outside
2. A pack of dogs which live in the waste land behind my house
3. A crown of stray cats which I feed every day

All of which represent real dangers to Ally!

She goes out on her leash occasionally, but last time she went out she got bullied by two of the strays in the garden, so now she is sulking! (I think they must be jealous - they didn't give her a very nice welcome!)

It depends if you have an area where they are enclosed and nothing can hurt them! But on a crowded street ! No! Or where thereare Welfare Drunks and thier Scum Kids! NOOOO!