Hey. So… i live rural and my cats are pets but also are working cats to keep the rodents out of my house.
Just saw some saltiness going on in the comments and wanted to address it.
Didn’t make this post with the intention of making anyone upset and I apologize to those I did.
I keep my cats indoors to keep them healthy and safe, and prevent the decimation of local birds.
Does the bird decimation happens in the wilderness too? When birds have trees enough to hide? The cats we’ve had very rarely brought birds home. I think our livingroom windows have taken out more birds than our cats ever did. They brought back mouse often instead.
So my guess is that it is also the lack of cat-safe hiding spots that get small birds killed in cities. Not all birds are able to stay on roofs when its a bit of wind. And cats can easier sneak up buildings than out on a thin tree branch.
Cats are an invasive species in much of the world. They’ve driven species of birds, mamals, and reptiles to extinction, and many more to the brink.
If someone let’s their cats run loose outside, they are an irresponsible pet owner. Not to mention the risk of the cat(s) being hit by a car or mauled by a dog or something. Bonus irresponsibility if one let’s non-spayed/neutered cats roam free and lead to more invasive strays.
Cats are very effective and sadistic predators who kill for fun. Keep them contained and instead of contributing to a the decimation of birds and small wildlife in your area. (Meaning the universal you btw, not directing this at you personally!)
Cats kill many billions of birds annually just for fun whether there are trees or not.
You only really need to do that in spring when there’s loads of baby birds about. Birds are pretty good at evading predators, just don’t feed birds in your garden if you have a cat.
Not sure it’s healthy to keep an animal locked inside for all of its life. I rescued my cat from some nutter who had 20 cats in a flat. The charity wouldn’t let me take her without a home visit to check it was a suitable home.
You can also have them supervised outside or on a leash. You’re presenting this as a false choice between two options: keep them locked up forever, or let them roam unsupervised.
There are ways to be a responsible cat owner. Letting them decimate local birds, reptiles and small mamals is irresponsible.
Also, allowing pets to wonder and be hit by cars is very irresponsible pet ownership as well. I get so pissed off at whoever the guardian was any time I see a cat or dog hit on the side of the road (happens too often around here). If someone let’s their animal wonder freely and it’s struck/lost/killed, the pet’s guardian is fully responsible.
“My cat/dog knows better…” Yeah, until they don’t and they’re dead…
Maybe you could choose a pet more suited to your environment instead of having what you want
My roommate had a Persian that wasn’t allowed out unless on a leash. It tried to hang itself at the first opportunity.
Then maybe don’t have a cat if you can’t care for it properly?
Mine lived to 18 and I only had her put down because she went blind and the vet advised to.
Maybe get a pet that suits your home?
We took the ability to live in the wild away from them, now it’s our responsibility to keep them safe.
Safe from what? they’re an urban apex predator
Vehicles mostly, but also predators that are larger than them. I live in what is essentially an urban forest and cats absolutely get picked off by larger predators. Domestic cats are only predators to small, essential ecosystems now.
True. I grew up in a village and cats got ran over often. I live in town now and rarely see it. Town cats are different, one sits in the middle of the roundabout near me and stares down every dog, car or pedestrian lol
You should keep your cats inside
Sounds like a prison. Don’t listen to this one.
Sounds like not cutting a cat’s life expectancy in half while contributing to the decline of local wildlife to me
Quality over quantity. Always.
Don’t get a cat at all then? Leave them in the wild where you think they belong
Exactly. Or get one but leave it a way out.
Still sounds like a prison to me. Leave em cats alone if you wanna keep them in a box. That’s no animal life.
They’re either domesticated or not. Letting your cats outside is deliberately introducing and invasive species into the wild.
They’ve always been outside since they started living with us. What the hell are you saying?
Housecats aren’t native to North America at all, dude. ‘They’ve always been outside’ only applies to North Africa, where they come from.
They’ve always lived outside since they started living among us, all over the world.
Starling live outside therefore I should release 1000 into the wild
Yeah, bedtimes are authoritarian and my mom making me eat vegetables is totally fascist
You’re comparing stuff that isn’t even in the same ballpark. Cats are animals, they fight for territory, they reproduce, they explore. You’re negating all this to a reasonably sentient beast just to have a pet. It’s like those idiots who buy birds to keep em in a cage. It’s revolting. You wanna a pet? Buy a Tamagotchi. That one you can keep home.
Are you under the impression cats like fighting for territory and eating garbage?
They like sex and exploration for sure. Fighting gives em a chance to prove their status as is natural and it’s exercise. And they can eat mice and birds and lizards whenever they want.
This is called an ‘appeal to nature’ and it’s very misguided. By the same logic, humans enjoy dying in childbirth and hosting dozens of intestinal parasites.
Again, ridiculous. Their habitat even one hundred years ago was not being secluded in a house. Before you accuse me of using the appeal to tradition think of what your life would be if you were constricted inside four walls for life. That’s cruel. We tried two months during lockdown and it was terrible. And it wasn’t an appeal to nature but describing their character or the things they like to do: they obviously like and crave sex, they like to explore and they even like to hunt because they’re predators. That’s not an appeal to nature but describing the animal. If their usefulness inside human society is over stop buying them. And don’t even try to tell me they are useful as pets. They’re living beings, not stuffed plushies.
My cats are not allowed past the catio because they will either destroy everything in sight or be destroyed. If you love your cats, don’t let them roam.
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The local birds and I appreciate you.
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Neither my previous (dead of cancer) nor current cat exhibit any sort of hunting behavior not even bugs. The previous cat was all of 6lbs. and didn’t have claws when I adopted her. Perhaps I should not have taken in the one-eyed starving cat that came to my door begging for food and a home? Keeping them inside was not an option. (See below.)
My street is on the edge of town, a rung in a ladder. No traffic but people that live here, and there’s only a few.
Both were fully vaxxed with a clean bill of health and regular vet visits.
Now here’s the part where HamSwagwich@showeq.com explains that, none the less, I’m an asshole.
If these people want to argue the morality of allowing cats outside, let’s hear them defend keeping them inside. Their cats are not behaving normally, but they think it’s cute and funny.
“LOL, my cat’s so neurotic and weird! I love him so much!”
Yeah, about that. Cats that allowed outdoors don’t do any of that weird shit. They’re content and calm.
While we’re at it, I had an outdoor cat 25-years ago. Killing machine, barely ate his cat food. He caught all the mice in my house and hunted the industrial area out back for more rodents. Ya know, the whole reason we domesticated cats in the first place? (Never killed a bird for whatever reason. Dunno.)
He was another rescue in dire straits. Hook, round and tape worms, fleas and ticks, blacked ears with mites and feline leukemia. Vet told me to kill him. I saved his life instead.
And it’s not like I have a choice given the giant dog door for the pigs. But remember kids, I’m an immoral asshole, circumstances be damned. Enjoy your nervous, freaky, fucked up indoor cats.
Yeah, mine is a stray that came from living outdoors and decided to adopt us. Now living the good life with clean blankets and lots of chicken.
I’ve tried keeping him in, because the overwhelming opinion of people online is that it’s better for your cat and for local wildlife.
He screamed at the door for roughly 12 hours a day for 6 weeks before I gave up. I’m just not capable of torturing my little furry friend like that. He just wants to sleep in the garden. Occasionally he kills a mouse or a chipmunk, and I thank him for it.
There are plenty of cats that can be happy indoors. Mine cannot.
You’re a monster. ;)
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Yikes, you know people that hurt other people often start with animals, right? I feel bad for your pets.
You can choose to sit idly by while someone wrongs you. Others of us will do something about it. I feel bad for your pets. You won’t protect them.
My pets don’t need protection, they are safe inside :^)
My husky screams when I say “space camp.” I think she wants to be an astronaut.
Tbf huskies don’t need much reason at all to scream
I mimic their sounds and am not ashamed of it :-) Whether cats, dogs, or birds, or the pair of wild crows i feed outside, it doesn’t matter. I even mimic the sound of danger that our wild doves make when they see a sparrow hawk. So, if i see one while hand feeding a dove, i point and make the sound and look up very obviously so they know there is one circling around our garden (but often they notice before i do).
I sometimes address my cat as “blessed child of Bastet”
Not pets, but I greet the wild birds around here with “Gmorning, boids” or something. The reason is simple: I hate being a bother, even to animals, and the birds are less likely to be scared and fly away if I speak to them.
Also when I lived with cats, no cat who was let out would ever forget to say “mrr”, which I interpreted as a “thank you”. Of course I responded to them like I would a human.
I do this with crows because i dont want to piss them off… They remember
I sometimes call our family cat fat pussy.
I’ve been known to tell my husky-mix “Return with the survey results” when I let him out into our fenced yard. Every time he goes out he seems to do a systematic grid search of the entire area.
When I take my dog outside and he shuffles around looking for the perfect spot to crap, I tell him to “get with the program.” He seems to understand that I’m becoming impatient.
My pig is 4-yo and I’ve never seen him poop, not once. He has his own spot of yard and packs that shit in like Teris bricks. Once an area is full, he moves on. LOL, you should see the plants out there!
We like to say that our dog is searching for their poop, then when they finally actually poop somewhere we congratulate them for finding it.
Hey man I feel you. I should have added that I live rural and they are working cats as well as pets.
I’m sorry I caused you such anger.
Be well.
When my cat comes in, I always say “All hail the Cat King!”
EDIT: English not my native language. “Heil” was not intentional.
