Pets form an important part of many people’s lives, providing meaningful companionship. However, our pets can sometimes also be a source of unwelcome pathogens and diseases, particularly if they frequently roam outdoors.
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And yet, the vast majority of animal experts and veterinary professionals disagree with you. Cats aren’t filling a niche. They didn’t evolve to be part of the ecosystem you’re introducing them into. You are bringing in an apex predator to an evironment where they get almost free reign to decimate anything smaller than them. Cats that were meant to be outside evolved alongside their environment (bobcat, mountain lion, lynx). Common house cats have spent the last several thousand years alongside humans who have taken them around the entire globe into environments they are not native to. Don’t pretend like it’s just culling weakened or elderly overpopulated species. That is emphatically false and you are using it to justify your bias. It has nothing to do with sensationalist articles villifying cats. It’s about the reality that animal experts and veterinary professionals see every day. Seriously go ask your local vet if they think you should let your cat out. 9/10 times they will give you a big list of reasons why you shouldn’t. Even the charity you are referencing says they should be let out supervised. They also say if you are letting them out, to do it at dusk or dawn because that’s when they are least likely to hunt. Even your own source is not advocating for just letting them out. In an ideal world, they would get to spend time outside, but letting them out unsupervised is completely irresponsible. This is why taking them out on a leash or having an enclosed patio is great for them. Not to mention, the law in the UK can actually charge you with tresspassing if your cat is on someone else’s property. Ultimately there are just so many reasons not to do it and just because you may feel like it’s cruel doesn’t make it so.
I did highlight that I was mostly talking about p laces in which cats are native or naturalised, ie pretty much the entirety of Eurasia and Africa. The genetic differences between domestic cats and wildcats are essentially negligible. Please, please read the study I linked. My cats can’t currently get outside without my supervision, which is something my vet (in the UK, which has had domestic cats for around 1,000 years and wildcats for tens of thousands of years) was actually not pleased about.
Native cats and wild cats are not domestic cats. Domestic cats did not evolve as part of the food chain in these environments, so when they are introduced, they literally contribute to the extinction of species.
https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/pet-talk/cats-and-wildlife/
“Research has estimated that as many as 4 billion birds, 22.3 billion mammals, and 1.1 billion amphibians and reptiles are killed by free-roaming cats per year in the United States,” Guyette said. “Domestic cats have also been implicated in the extinction of at least 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles.”
The raw numbers mean nothing though, and the extinctions are all on small islands. Again, for the last time, read the study I posted, which analyses the data about cat predation in a scientific manner. The fact that predators kill prey animals is entirely to be expected.
Domestic cats are basically identical to the African wildcat from which they are descended. Eurasian wildcats are also incredibly similar. Wildcat does not refer to any wild feline species, they are a specific species of cat from which domestic cats are descended (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat)
Even taking the ecological damage (which is immense) out of the equation, it is significantly safer for cats to stay indoors. The ecological debate is just one of several reasons not to let them out. From the link I posted:
“Cats that freely roam live a significantly shorter lifespan compared to cats that live inside – only 2-5 years compared to the lifespan of an indoor cat of 10-20 years,” Guyette said. “This is due to a number of factors, whether it is contracting illnesses from other animals; picking up worms, fleas, or ticks; or being injured or killed by cars or wildlife, including coyotes and dogs.”
If you care about the safety and well-being of your cat, and you care about the environment, don’t let cats out, full stop.