- Joined
- Sep 5, 2014
- Messages
- 137
- Purraise
- 62
Well I know this is more of an opinion question, but I am interested what experience others have with indoor and outdoor kitties.
I have a long time indoor cat and another one that I have been feeding for well over 2 years now in the garden, she was a feral and now she is tame. Recently I had to take her indoors because she had an eye infection and I had to give her antibiotics twice a day. Her eyes are fine now, but I am reluctant to let her back outside because I know it is safer inside of course.
She is getting along fine with my older cat and the question is really now for me, where would she be happier? IN the beginning she was scratching the mesh door to the garden and went crazy, but she quickly calmed down. Now she seems fine, goes to the mesh door often, sits there a few minutes, but is mostly hanging around me and my other cat in my office where I work all day and half the night. she has also stopped meowing all the time.
IN the pst when she was outside, I have often observed her and wondered, what those cats in the outdoors are thinking. Sometimes she was resting on the grass, the nose turned to the bushes, just one step from the hedge and been staring at the bushes for hours. Most of the night she spend either in her house sleeping or sitting on the steps looking inside through the meshdoor for hours.
Clearly, all this Free Willy and Born Free stuff is nothing but disneyfied human emotions transferred onto animals. From my observations I don't really think animals distinguish between "freedom" and "captivity" like certain enthusiasts are trying to make us believe. When you look at lions in the savannah, they lie there for hours and sleep or stare and only get up when they absolutely have to to get a meal.
So my question is really: What have others experienced with outdoor cats that came inside? Do you have the feeling they are happy in the long run? Or do they keep behaving in a way different from indoor cats who have never experienced the outdoors that make you think they miss something?
It's all oppinion, I know but I would like to hear other people's thought on this.
I have a long time indoor cat and another one that I have been feeding for well over 2 years now in the garden, she was a feral and now she is tame. Recently I had to take her indoors because she had an eye infection and I had to give her antibiotics twice a day. Her eyes are fine now, but I am reluctant to let her back outside because I know it is safer inside of course.
She is getting along fine with my older cat and the question is really now for me, where would she be happier? IN the beginning she was scratching the mesh door to the garden and went crazy, but she quickly calmed down. Now she seems fine, goes to the mesh door often, sits there a few minutes, but is mostly hanging around me and my other cat in my office where I work all day and half the night. she has also stopped meowing all the time.
IN the pst when she was outside, I have often observed her and wondered, what those cats in the outdoors are thinking. Sometimes she was resting on the grass, the nose turned to the bushes, just one step from the hedge and been staring at the bushes for hours. Most of the night she spend either in her house sleeping or sitting on the steps looking inside through the meshdoor for hours.
Clearly, all this Free Willy and Born Free stuff is nothing but disneyfied human emotions transferred onto animals. From my observations I don't really think animals distinguish between "freedom" and "captivity" like certain enthusiasts are trying to make us believe. When you look at lions in the savannah, they lie there for hours and sleep or stare and only get up when they absolutely have to to get a meal.
So my question is really: What have others experienced with outdoor cats that came inside? Do you have the feeling they are happy in the long run? Or do they keep behaving in a way different from indoor cats who have never experienced the outdoors that make you think they miss something?
It's all oppinion, I know but I would like to hear other people's thought on this.