Cat controversy in my town...

[B-Fly]

Curious as to why you let your cats outdoors. The bad really outweighs the good for cats outdoors: disease, other animals, vehicles, cruel people, etc...

Because it makes them happy, no?

[Mithrandir]

Because it makes them happy, no?

My cats are happy as hell in the house. And they don't have to deal with getting poisoned, getting hit, getting into a fight, getting disease...yeah real happy place that outdoors

[B-Fly]

My cats are happy as hell in the house. And they don't have to deal with getting poisoned, getting hit, getting into a fight, getting disease...yeah real happy place that outdoors

My wife and kids would be a heck of a lot safer never leaving the house, too. Maybe I'll start locking them in when I leave for work. I'll just make sure I've left out enough food.

[bryanbutler]

Because it makes them happy, no?

this.

and i just grew up in a house where that was the case - many cats, and all of them were indoor/outdoor.

i've never been particularly worried about disease, other animals, vehicles, cruel people, etc. i keep them vaccinated (including feline leukemia), and i assume they are smart enough to avoid the rest, and if they aren't it's natural selection and there are more (smarter, faster) cats to be had. that may seem callous, but it's just my viewpoint. i lost one kitten to a neighbor's dog when i was in pasadena (made me very sad of course, but his replacement was the best cat i've ever owned), otherwise all the cats i've owned have been OK (~10 by now).

[Mithrandir]

My wife and kids would be a heck of a lot safer never leaving the house, too. Maybe I'll start locking them in when I leave for work. I'll just make sure I've left out enough food.

not a real good comparison.

[B-Fly]

wow... from you, that's a really piss poor rebuttal.

Trying to keep it light, but if you want to discuss seriously, aren't cats naturally inclined to roam and hunt over larger areas than most homes provide? Not that I believe hamsters, gerbils, mice, rabbits or whatever other small pet likes being cooped up in a cage for life, either, of course. But as someone who would be perfectly happy to never own a pet, it just seems a bit cruel to me to deny a cat the ability to get out there in the world and enjoy being a cat, at least every once in a while.

[Mithrandir]

Trying to keep it light, but if you want to discuss seriously, aren't cats naturally inclined to roam and hunt over larger areas than most homes provide? Not that I believe hamsters, gerbils, mice, rabbits or whatever other small pet likes being cooped up in a cage for life, either, of course. But as someone who would be perfectly happy to never own a pet, it just seems a bit cruel to me to deny a cat the ability to get out there in the world and enjoy being a cat, at least every once in a while.

forgive me for being glib in that post.

that's why Purina exists and cruel to me is exposing cats to the perils of the outside world. My cats can be cats in the house without resorting to killing.

I have a 19 year old cat...a 12 year old cat who has never been to the vet since being spayed..and a 2 year old cat that we found wanfdering around the hills near my house (obviously dropped off by someone). They aren't missing anything outside.

We never seem to agree on anything do we

[senorsheep]

My daughter has three cats - Eli, the alpha/hunter; Bear, the scaredy-cat; and Charlie, the Siamese trickster (all fixed and tagged, by the way). We let Eli roam the neighborhood because we know he can handle himself. We let Bear out whenever he wants because we know he's too chickensh!t to ever leave the back yard. We keep Charlie in the house because he's overconfident - he thinks that because he can outwit and psychologically torment our stupid dog, he's ready to take on the world. He isn't.

[Gregg]

My wife and kids would be a heck of a lot safer never leaving the house, too. Maybe I'll start locking them in when I leave for work. I'll just make sure I've left out enough food.

Like your wife lets you have keys lol.

[Wonderboy]

My daughter has three cats - Eli, the alpha/hunter; Bear, the scaredy-cat; and Charlie, the Siamese trickster (all fixed and tagged, by the way). We let Eli roam the neighborhood because we know he can handle himself. We let Bear out whenever he wants because we know he's too chickensh!t to ever leave the back yard.

It's amazing that non-cat people think all cats are alike. Their personalities are so different that it's amazing. We've got three. One indoor and two outdoor. One outdoor never leaves the deck except to pee. The other is an amazing hunter -- we live on a lot of wooded acreage and I haven't seen a mouse since he showed up. Unfortunately, we can't "bell" him because there are two packs of coyotes in the area that he threads his way through every day.

Eventually, he'll end up as the main course, but he will not convert to an indoor cat. We tried and he just bangs his head against the door until we let him out. They are what they are.

[Wonderboy]

not a real good comparison.

Hey, you've never met his wife and kids...

[B-Fly]

We never seem to agree on anything do we

Yeah, it's weird, isn't it, because we often disagree about issues that don't fall into neat categories based on political ideology. If anything, you'd expect that as a guy from denser-population environments that I'd be more likely to support the indoor cat default and you the outdoor cat default. But hey, I also happen to think that Hanley Ramirez is a pretty good baseball player.

[TranaGreg]

I've had an indoor/outdoor cat, and now an indoor only cat (living in a condo makes it kind of tough to let her outside).

I have no issues with the outdoor element & certainly don't think it's cruel (my outdoor cat lived 15 years & had no problems navigating the dangers that are dogs, cars, birds, etc.). I can understand people wishing to keep their cats indoors, but based on my experience most cats are happiest outside where they can do what comes naturally to them - hunt, whether its mice, birds, or whatever ... whether they actually catch anything tho is largely irrelevant.

[Mithrandir]

Yeah, it's weird, isn't it, because we often disagree about issues that don't fall into neat categories based on political ideology. If anything, you'd expect that as a guy from denser-population environments that I'd be more likely to support the indoor cat default and you the outdoor cat default. But hey, I also happen to think that Hanley Ramirez is a pretty good baseball player.

I paid $55 for Hanley..so I think he's pretty good too.