[alt text: an illustration of a person with a head-empty expression on their face, who is saying, "Not letting your cat outside is CRUEL!" Around the person are various gruesome scenes of different cats in distress. From the top and going clockwise, the scenes include: a cat being carried away by a hawk; a cat that is on fire; a dead cat in the road that has been run over by a car; several dead kittens; a cat that is missing an eye and various patches of fur; a cat that is feasting on a songbird; and a cat that is being carried away by a coyote. The person appears to be completely oblivious to these scenes of distress.]
how is it cruel? There are many, many, many ways to provide enrichment for a cat without letting them outside to get run over by a car. I'm all for catios and taking cats for a walk on a leash or in some sort of covered carrier, as a form of enrichment. But I don't think the absence of those activities is inherently cruel.
Sure, I could buy some live mice for her to ‘play’ with, but I don’t want that mess inside my house.
your cat does not need to hunt live animals to be happy and healthy. That's what cat toys are for. You should be playing with your cat at least 20 minutes a day, if not more. I get that some cats get lazy and don't want to play for 20 minutes, and I got no judgment for stopping early if your cat is super uninterested. But you gotta at least try every day. That's just part of responsible cat parenting.
To @Faydaikin@beehaw.org's point, I think that if you can't do that, you shouldn't adopt a cat.
It’s a predator, of course it needs to hunt to be happy.
yep. which is why you should play with your cat with toys, which won't give them disgusting diseases like wild animals will.
Nah. She’s this fluffy little murder machine. She needs to sow death and destruction on the local mouse population.
i guess, if you enjoy being a menace to your local ecology. Then go off, king.
That’s a funny way of saying ‘pest control’.
Trolling, intentionally obtuse, or just dumb? Because as we all know, cats never kill anything but pests. Native animals would never become endangered because of domesticated cats. At least put a bell on them or something so they don't kill the wildlife.
That depends entirely on where you live. Cats are pretty much native animals here in Europe.
Tell me you’ve never owned a cat without telling me you’ve never owned a cat.
even if they are native animals, the SIZE of their population is caused by humans, and so they are disruptive to their local ecology. and bell or no bell, letting your cat outside unsupervised is leaving them to get hit by a car, or tortured by mean kids, or scooped up by a predator, or stealth-adopted by someone who cares about the well-being of cats more than you do. I'm assuming you wouldn't be happy with any of those things happening to your cat.
I own two cats, and they both have bells. They haven't killed any wildlife since then. Cats are not native animals in Europe, they are very much invasive and devastated local populations of birds and small mammals.
if you consider endangered songbirds to be pests, then sure i guess.
You don’t even know where I live. What endangered songbirds? Also: very few cats are actually capable of catching birds. We mostly have jackdaws around here, and they are way too smart to get caught. They like to taunt the cats.
read the study yourself. The most commonly preyed-upon species by cats is birds. It's a global problem. I will grant you that perhaps cats fit slightly better into the urban ecosystems of Europe, but this is a minor point. They still have an outsized population due to human influence, so they will always be massively disruptive to local ecology. And none of this is considering the danger posed to the cats themselves, whom we all love.
The guy mentions "destruction of the local mouse population" and this is your answer? So you think those mice are native? They'd exist if humans weren't here?
They are the same issue as cats... They're only here and only thriving because we accidentally give them too much safety/places to live/food. They would also be invasive.
you're fooling yourself if you think that cat is only catching mice. if you let your cat roam outdoors, put a camera on them and marvel at all the creatures they kill while they are "exploring"
There are native mice all over the place. Yes, some are introduced/invasive, but there are also plenty of native ones too. If you live in the Americas, here's the subfamilies they make up:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_rats_and_mice
Mice serve as food for animals like owls, hawks, falcons, snakes, skunks, etc. Cats killing these animals' prey makes it harder for them to find food.
Didn't know that "owls, hawks, falcons, snakes, skunks, etc." all live inside of buildings.
It is. They need to be outside as much as you do.
Nobody thrives in an exclusively indoor environment. They go crazy. Sterilization can help a bit, but they still need to go out sniffing stuff and at least play at hunting daily.
There's a reason even prisons have courtyards and outside activities. It's downright dangerous for everyone if they didn't.
I also rarely go outside, I am a perfectly normal human.
And that's a choice.
But animals tend to enjoy the outside. They don't surf the web, watch TV/movies, play or listen to music. They need stimuli, outside input.
Edit: I do go outside and not even I claim to be perfectly normal. XD
Maybe yours do. If that is the case, take them for a walk on a leash or in a covered stroller. Build a covered patio. You could even play with them in your yard and bring them inside once you can no longer supervise them. There are many, many, many ways to provide this enrichment without leaving them to get hit by a car or scooped up by a predator.
Skill issue. My cats haven't been outside since they were adopted, and they live happy, fulfilling lives full of enrichment. That's what cat toys and puzzle feeders are for.
Walk harness. Cats should be taken on walks outside, on a harness, like dogs are.
Wrong. That is NOT how cats operate...
yep all those thousands of people that walk their cats on harnesses are just imagining it.
Prove it, provide sources
You simply don't understand cats and their needs. You are also obviously very highly prejudiced and unlikely to hear anything someone like me might say to answer your question.
That's a funny way to spell "educated". Nothing I am putting out here is my opinion - these are objective facts. All cats can get enough enrichment without being let outdoors, and there are plenty of ways to give a cat outdoors enrichment without just leaving them unsupervised to go and get run over by a car. If you disagree with me, you're gonna have to provide hard evidence to change my mind. Like actual scientific studies or the medical opinion of at least a few vets. Because that is what my stance is rooted in.