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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Keep your cats indoors, one and done. They shouldn’t be allowed outside (like any pet, outdoor time can be managed under containment such as a leash or enclosure). Indoor cats live longer, don’t bring home pathogens, and don’t wreak havoc on native animal populations.
wreak havoc on native animal populations.
Cats only pose a threat to native animal populations in places where they are not native (or naturalised) themselves, so that doesn’t apply to the majority of the countries in the world. In fact, even in places like the Americas and Australia there is no good evidence that outdoor cats threaten local wildlife populations, except on small islands (source: Outdoor domestic cats and wildlife: How to overrate and misinterpret field data).
The UKs leading cat charity (for example) will not allow you to adopt a cat that you plan to keep indoors unless it has a health problem that prevents it from going outside, as keeping cats locked up their whole lives is deemed to be animal cruelty.
American cat charities won’t allow you to adopt them if you plan to let them outside for the reasons listed in the previous comment. Cats absolutely wreak havoc on local wildlife and arguing otherwise is blatantly ignorant. They are apex predators for their size and they will kill small mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Not to mention it’s also safer for the cat to keep them indoors. Pathogens, cars, larger wildlife, and even humans themselves can be dangerous to them. RSPCA in the UK also says cats should be kept indoors. They recommend taking them outside supervised (on a harness) so as to protect them from traffic and local wildlife. Letting cats out also contributes to the stray cat problem because unspayed or neutered ones go out and breed with other strays. Cats live very healthy and happy lives indoors, it is laughable to claim animal cruelty. There is a far better claim that letting them outdoors is cruelty. Most animal experts and veterinary professionals agree on that. Do not let your cats outside, and stop pushing this irresponsible behavior.
Outdoor cats kill a lot of birds and rodents but - at least in the UK - they fill the ecological niche left empty by the wildcats, weasels, etc whose numbers have been decimated by humans destroying their habitats. Also, the prey species targeted by cats are those whose numbers are disproportionately high due to them thriving in the urban landscape (and the individuals who fall prey to cats are disproportionately elderly, injured, or otherwise compromised, meaning their predation actually increases the overall health of the population).
Seriously, read through the study I linked, dozens of sensationalist articles have been written demonising outdoor cats, but none of them take the time to actually interpret the data in a scientific way.
The cat charity I referenced was Cats Protection UK, and unless they have changed their policies in the last 2-3 years what I said about them is correct.
Plus, they’re cleaner and present more cuddling opportunities.
Amen
