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Briefing Room Polls (Guests Welcome!) => The Briefingroom Polls => Topic started by: corbe on April 05, 2019, 12:43:33 am
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How Bad Is It to Let Your Cat Outside?
Andrew Small
2 days ago
What does your cat do when it goes outdoors?
The question may linger in the mind of anyone who has an outdoor cat, and the answer has become quite a bit clearer in the age of YouTube and GoPro cameras. It’s not a pretty picture, though—just take it from this 2013 New York Times headline: “That Cuddly Kitty is Deadlier Than You Think.†An alarming study cited in that piece estimates that cats kill about 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals each year in the United States. About 29 percent of those bird deaths and 10 percent of those mammalian deaths could be attributed to house cats in particular, according to the study.
“Some cats don’t kill anything, some cats kill 20 animals a week,†says Peter Marra, a conservation biologist who co-authored the study as well as the book,Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer.
So should you let your pet cat outside, whether it’s to hang out in the backyard or to wander around the neighborhood? CityLab spoke with Marra to find out just how much damage these “cuddly killers†can do, and why he thinks it’s time for outdoor cat owners to do what many outdoor dog owners did about 50 years ago. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
So this starts as a kind of kitchen table debate: If you own a cat that you normally keep indoors, should you ever let it outside?
<..snip..>
http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/pets-animals/how-bad-is-it-to-let-your-cat-outside/ar-BBVxZsa?ocid=ientp (http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/pets-animals/how-bad-is-it-to-let-your-cat-outside/ar-BBVxZsa?ocid=ientp)
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Growing up, our tomcat, Puss in Boots, would disappear for a couple of weeks at a time. He would come back, battle scarred and all tired out. He'd stay home and recoup and then disappear for a while again. Once he brought my sister five live baby rabbits and she bottle fed them. None of the dogs in the neighborhood would mess with him. When he got older he stopped disappearing as much.
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I went on strike last week and refused to clean my young Cat's litter box, It worked. She accepts my demand that she do her business outside (I have a doggie door).
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My old gal likes to go outside for about a 1/2 hour or so most days.
If she wants to catch the sun in the back she can go out herself through the dog's door.
If she wants a bit out time out in the front, she let's me know.
When out front she won't leave this property or the two adjoining, doesn't want to wander far, just check up on what is going on.
She doesn't chase any prey, too old for that, content to just stare them down!
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(https://www.equipmentworld.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/Caterpillar-336E-L-excavator-review.jpg)
Sorry, don't let it in the house.
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@EdJames
I have pack rats living behind me and on one side. Terrible varmint problem. The dogs take care of the possums and the coons but the Cat is necessary for the rodents.
If I see a mouse in my house I'm dumping the cat near Peking Restaurant.
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@EdJames
I have pack rats living behind me and on one side. Terrible varmint problem. The dogs take care of the possums and the coons but the Cat is necessary for the rodents.
If I see a mouse in my house I'm dumping the cat near Peking Restaurant.
Well that young'un needs to earn her keep!
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We don't 'let' them. They have learned to open doors and trick us like two velocoraptors. One distracts us as we walk in while the other bolts out. They take a stroll around the hood and come right back.
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@EdJames
I have pack rats living behind me and on one side. Terrible varmint problem. The dogs take care of the possums and the coons but the Cat is necessary for the rodents.
If I see a mouse in my house I'm dumping the cat near Peking Restaurant.
(https://pics.me.me/hunan-dynasty-chinese-we-not-see-your-cat-stop-asking-20335481.png)
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Farmers know the trick to getting a good cat, keep the ole grandmother cat (she teaches the younger cats how to eat and kill mice instead of just playing with them)....
Now we have an uneducated cat that plays with her food... but she sometimes will kill a bird or mole... but in the day, grandma cat in the barn kept the other cats in the killing business... used to take a 22 rifle and thin the herd down every so often (yes, we shot the extra cats from time to time). Grandma cat though was treated as royalty.
No barn now, just an in and out cycle... pretty good cat but I let the wife and kids baby her, I love my Beagle dog most.
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(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a1dcd16671873dba2c41987db7631232ae281cc67dfa3073a39f6619992873a3.jpg)
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Nope. If the 'yotes don't get them, a vulture will. Both of them set my driveway alarm off regularly.
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no no no no no
@Hopalong Ginsberg 8888sitting kitty 8888spinning cat
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No.
A few problems with letting cats outdoors:
1) They get hit by cars.
2) They pick up diseases.
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My cats' job is outside so they stay outside.
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All my cats are/have been inside cats. They live longer that way.
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IMHO, and no offense meant, locking a cat up indoors is nearing cruelty. How can a cat be a cat in that condition?
Barn cats are always outside, but even the house cats are free to come and go. They keep the mice out of the house alright, but they go hunting every day. It's what they do. :shrug:
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IMHO, and no offense meant, locking a cat up indoors is nearing cruelty. How can a cat be a cat in that condition?
Barn cats are always outside, but even the house cats are free to come and go. They keep the mice out of the house alright, but they go hunting every day. It's what they do. :shrug:
See my post.
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IMHO, and no offense meant, locking a cat up indoors is nearing cruelty. How can a cat be a cat in that condition?
Barn cats are always outside, but even the house cats are free to come and go. They keep the mice out of the house alright, but they go hunting every day. It's what they do. :shrug:
Our catz have always been indoor catz, and have been very firm abut staying away from outside doors when they are open ever since they first heard the 'yotes howling when we first made the move to the Castle. Protecting them from the predators is the height of loving them, not cruelty at all.
Mrs. Liberty had several resin statues of lions that we put outside, and I think they might be scaring the little desert rats away.
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See my post.
Nah. As a general rule, cats are not only extremely resilient, they are also pretty smart.
There is pretty good traffic coming by our place, where folks often exit off the bypass...
Lose way more cats to eagles than to cars - and those lost to eagles are still few.
As to disease, not much. Even barn cats, which require little maintenance and are treated as expendable, similar to guinea hens... Even our barn cats are sleek and healthy, and seldom require treatment beyond the once-a-year visit by the vet for general purposes.
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Our catz have always been indoor catz, and have been very firm abut staying away from outside doors when they are open ever since they first heard the 'yotes howling when we first made the move to the Castle. Protecting them from the predators is the height of loving them, not cruelty at all.
Mrs. Liberty had several resin statues of lions that we put outside, and I think they might be scaring the little desert rats away.
That's why the dogs. Ain't no coyote setting foot on our place, nor any cats other than our own. Anything foreign does not live long.
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See my post.
Yep. I don’t have a cat right now, but I had two who both lived into their teens. Wouldn’t have happened if I’d let them out. Growing up, we had a big screen porch, and they were happy with that.
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We don't 'let' them. They have learned to open doors and trick us like two velocoraptors. One distracts us as we walk in while the other bolts out. They take a stroll around the hood and come right back.
Lol
They do learn fast.
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Nah. As a general rule, cats are not only extremely resilient, they are also pretty smart.
There is pretty good traffic coming by our place, where folks often exit off the bypass...
Lose way more cats to eagles than to cars - and those lost to eagles are still few.
As to disease, not much. Even barn cats, which require little maintenance and are treated as expendable, similar to guinea hens... Even our barn cats are sleek and healthy, and seldom require treatment beyond the once-a-year visit by the vet for general purposes.
This may be true for rural Montana, but it's a whole different ballgame for suburban Boston. I"ve seen enough cats either dead or actually struck by cars to know that they don't understand the true speed of automobiles. And we have a lot of rats eating out of garbage around here, hence disease.
If I lived in a rural area fine... although cats are preyed upon, successfully, but all sorts of predators like hawks, coyotes, etc.
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I went on strike last week and refused to clean my young Cat's litter box, It worked. She accepts my demand that she do her business outside (I have a doggie door).
We call those "Skunk doors".
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...And we have a lot of rats eating out of garbage...
See, you need more cats outside....
;-)
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I had a cat a couple of years ago that had been an outside feral cat. She was a very smart kitty that lived outside for 10 years...and wouldn't have anything to do with inside. She raised a litter, I trapped her and got her and the kids fixed.
One day she decided she wanted to come inside...so I let her. She wanted to go back outside for a couple of days but then I couldn't boot her out. She was the most polite cat I have ever had. Never made a mess, destroyed anything or caused a problem. How she knew after living outside for 10+ years I'll never know.
The moral to this boring story is...I'm not sure they really want to be outside. Of course it was her decision...
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We call those "Skunk doors".
LOL! "Coon door"
Mine gets shut and latched from the inside every night.
:beer:
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This may be true for rural Montana, but it's a whole different ballgame for suburban Boston. I"ve seen enough cats either dead or actually struck by cars to know that they don't understand the true speed of automobiles. And we have a lot of rats eating out of garbage around here, hence disease.
I will cede the point - Though I will point out that we have always had our house cats able to come and go to the outside - even in suburban Chicago in my youth...
If I lived in a rural area fine... although cats are preyed upon, successfully, but all sorts of predators like hawks, coyotes, etc.
That is true - it does happen - but not enough to impact feral cat populations, as an instance - which can breed to the point of real nuisance. Farm cats (to include house cats) live in a rather rarified environment, under the protection of hoomin beans (and their structures, and their dogs). It ain't the same. Charlie, the old tom that runs our barn, has been king-of-the-hill for nigh on a decade. He's fifteen by now or more... I don't think we've lost a barn cat in three to five years. It doesn't happen all that much.
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See, you need more cats outside....
;-)
roving bands of terriers.
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One day she decided she wanted to come inside...so I let her. She wanted to go back outside for a couple of days but then I couldn't boot her out. She was the most polite cat I have ever had. Never made a mess, destroyed anything or caused a problem. How she knew after living outside for 10+ years I'll never know.
The moral to this boring story is...I'm not sure they really want to be outside. Of course it was her decision...
Old Charlie, the chief tom at our barn is starting to show his age... He's been mighty for a long time, but he is getting close to where he can't handle the throne much longer. Left to the natural cat order of things, he'll either be killed or exiled by whichever tom finally beats him...
I am hoping he can get along with Chewy (my ozzie shepherd). If so I will take him on as a house cat and let him live out his years. He's never been in the house, but won't have any problem with him, I'll dang near guarantee... And I won't need to keep a litter box either, as long as he stays bright. As he is, to a very old age, he will effectively police my cabin and grounds. He's a great cat.
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This is "Fred." Not the oldest, but the biggest Alpha we have in our home:
(https://i.imgur.com/KLnJ70a.png)
Here he is "helping" Mrs. Liberty make the bed.