The age old debate about letting your cat out

[furmonster mom]

It really comes down to a question of risk.

There are risks in every environment, cars, mean kids, predators, mean adults, electrical wires, plants, etc.,. I have a friend whose kitten was killed by an ironing board! My cousin's dog was killed in their own backyard by another neighbor's aggressive dog who had broken through their fence.

So, really, the question is what risks are you okay with? And is your pet equipped to deal with those risks? Are you willing to train your pets to avoid those risks?

Personally, after assessing the risks in my neighborhood, I've decided to keep my cats indoors: there are too many dogs, kids, and cars that I don't feel comfortable letting my cats roam. My dad, on the other hand, had an indoor/outdoor cat that lived a full and active life for several years. His home locations had lower risks than mine, and the cat was allowed out at an early age, so it developed the necessary survival skills.

So, I agree with the posters who have said that each situation should be evaluated on its own merits. And anyone else's judgement should generally be reserved.

 

[ArchyCat]

I live in a suburban area. The best argument against letting your cat outdoors, is seeing a dead cat laying in the gutter. Or seeing the latest addition to suburban wildlife, buzzards, tearing at the body of a dead cat.

 

[goingpostal]

When I was a kid we had indoor/outdoor cats. We lived in town, it's very small, they went out during the day and came back in the afternoons. We named them after Disney characters. Minnie never came home one day, maybe six months later Mickey came home with a bleeding and broken leg. He got a cast, we got a ginger kitten called Daffy and our cats became indoor, both boys lived very long natural lives. The loss of one cat and injury to another was all the evidence my family needed that indoor was better.

As a teen we lived next door to a house with several cats ranging from almost entirely outdoor to indoor for about four years, they "lost" a few cats in that time but I saw the amount of kills and attacks the totally outdoor cat accomplished on the local wildlife, including the chipmunks that lived under our house. Plus got to hear the cat fights frequently. There's not usually cats killed by traffic or dogs here, occasionally owls or eagles but it's more the damage they cause plus being an annoyance. My cats have always been indoor, I have a fenced backyard so they can go out with me and the dogs in nice weather supervised to eat grass and play chase.

 

[Erin80]

When I got Kaia, I figured she’d be an indoor cat.....as all my others had been while growing up, without issue. We got Kaia as a kitten, being inside is all she knew. Spring came and she was just about to turn a year old. She went NUTS. Relentlessly clawing at and ruining multiple screens and weather stripping (yup she’s spayed!), darting our the door, pacing and meowing all day long. Never have I ever had a cat like this. One day, after our screens had been shredded....I crossed my fingers and let her out. We live way way out in the country on a dead end dirt road....very safe from cars, but I worried so much. I worried she’d never come back.
Turns out letting her out was the best thing for her. Her life now had balance between inside and outside (and I made sure she was in by 7pm in the summer, and 3pm in the fall!!). She is a super happy cat. She goes out after breakfast, and comes home by 3pm for her afternoon meal. I then just keep her in and she sleeps the rest of the day away.

My black and white cat Binx has an interest in going out, but he isn’t desperate. He watches out the window but does not claw at the screen and seems pretty happy with indoor life.....so at this point he’s strictly indoor. As for our tabby, Tea....we havent had a spring with him yet, so I’m not sure how he will be.

Kaia is so much happier with her part outdoor life. Now that it’s cold, she doesn’t even ask to go out anymore....she stays in all day without issue....but I know come spring she will be back to spending full days outside.