Outdoor cats

I have an indoor cat. I dont think it is appropriate for people to have cats as pets then release them on an unsuspecting public. They tear apart people's trash, used to climb into my crawlspace and mate, and climb on cars scratching the paint. They spread diseases to other cats too.

To me, this is just bad pet ownership. Do you have cats? are they indoor/outdoor and why?

Our cat HAS to be an outside one because my father HATES cats and would never let her inside. And, she was an indoor cat but after being abandoned and left in the yard for 3 months, she is more used to outdoors than indoors. We do bring her in at night when he's gone but she makes it obvious she is an outdoor cat, she can only take indoors for so long. But she was both fixed and declawed before we got her so it works, we just have to worry when she gets into a fight with other cats because they DO have their claws.

At age 21, I wanted a cat SOOOO bad. I lived in a complex that required more rent for cats. My friend knew the managers, so it was the month of Feb. that I was allowed to get a cat. Such an odd time of year to find free cats. I could not go to the humane society since I had no official permission from property owners. The managers agreed for me to get a cat for free.

So my friend came into town one Sunday saying she spent the weekend at her friend's inlaws' farm and there were many barn cats. So, that night we drove all the way there to get a cat.

Had I been wiser, I would have known an apartment dweller should not seek a barn kitten. But I did. She was so beautiful. I had her totally declawed. She lived with me for a couple years then did not do well with my having a child. When he was one and she was meaner than ever, I sent her to live with her grandparents.

She is now approaching 15 years old and lives with Dad. She is a mean little feline but she used to hide upstairs when we visited. Now she stays around us but gives my son the business. We have the funniest videos of her from Christmas. She gets so mad at him, but she sticks by his side.

Farm cats are good but cats in the city should be monitored. We had issue with the neighbors feeding kittens but they must have gotten rid of them as we have not seen them in a long while.

My roommates have 4 cats, 3 of them are outdoors, the youngest one isn't quite ready to go outside. They are fixed and do have their claws.

I live in a double culdesac full of neighbors who have outdoor cats. We have had some major headaches from several of them. One cat sure loves to hang around our property, though. It's always perched on the transformer (it's warm) or the top of the utility trailer. We don't feed it but it loves to hang around, anyway.

Now, the neighbors directly across the street raise and breed a special kind of cat, and they keep them in a bedroom.

My friend has a cat that she only keeps indoors. She said that last time she let the cat outside, it came back with fleas.

Our cats have been indoor cats for the past 40 years. They live longer than outdoor cats. We have taken them outside once in a while but they have all preferred inside. The latest Squeak was a stray picked up by the animal shelter here. We took her outside once and she ran for the door as soon as she was sat down on the deck. She loves to watch birds from the windows but when she sees a crow she hides. I think in her stray days she must have tangled with one.

All our cats have always been indoor. In the areas we've lived, letting a cat stay outside is like asking for it to get run over by a car.

Alan Smithee wrote:All our cats have always been indoor. In the areas we've lived, letting a cat stay outside is like asking for it to get run over by a car.

I find that interesting because ours absolutely HATES the sound of oncoming traffic and always runs and hides when she hears a car or truck coming.

I can't fathom keeping a pet outdoors for an extended period of time. And I don't get cat owners who let their cats freely roam around the neighborhood....even if it has a penchant for always returning, you're still running the risk of it not.

Outdoor cats can be destructive. It isn't really safe for them outside between the possibility of disease, dogs & really pissed off neighbors.

Marc™ wrote:I can't fathom keeping a pet outdoors for an extended period of time. And I don't get cat owners who let their cats freely roam around the neighborhood....even if it has a penchant for always returning, you're still running the risk of it not.

In this neighborhood cats are boomerangs, you can't get rid of them.

There is a ferel cat that I have been feeding for the past 3 years so she dosen't tear up anything cause she is full all the time

Suzi wrote:Our cats have been indoor cats for the past 40 years. They live longer than outdoor cats. We have taken them outside once in a while but they have all preferred inside. The latest Squeak was a stray picked up by the animal shelter here. We took her outside once and she ran for the door as soon as she was sat down on the deck. She loves to watch birds from the windows but when she sees a crow she hides. I think in her stray days she must have tangled with one.

i've had 2 cats, both indoors. The one was so pristine that when she followed my mom out the door one day i thought she was going to have a panic attack or something. She put her paw on the grass and then held it up in the air as if she just stepped in something awful... she ran in the house and started wiping her paw on the rug. She kept meowing and looking at me like, "Eww... that was DIRT i just stepped in, why would you allow me to do that???" lol

Cheaps wrote:My roommates have 4 cats, 3 of them are outdoors, the youngest one isn't quite ready to go outside. They are fixed and do have their claws.

If I were to have my own cat, I would keep him/her indoors.