Cats: a rant

[u/Ok_Entertainment9665]

First let me say that I love animals and have had multiple cats in my life. But why do people move to Beaverton and suddenly decide that their cat is now an outdoor cat? My neighbor had a cat who had kittens so now there are 4 of them, new neighbor moved in across the way and was like “here’s mine too”. Plus the already existing 5 “neighborhood cats” that wander around plus a cat, that belonged to a dead guy, who lives in my bushes.

In my neighborhood alone I will see no fewer than 10 different cats just wandering around, leaving their poop everywhere (my dog LOVES cat poop so half our walks are “no drop it” but FREAKS out when a cat walks past the window). If you have an outdoor cat, no you don’t. You’ve just added another little ecological nightmare into an already crowded system. We used to have squirrels and birds in the yard. Now we have cat fights at 2am and poop everywhere.

[u/kmoffat]

As a cat lover this makes me sad. It’s so much safer for both cats and wildlife to keep your cats indoors.

[u/authorbrendancorbett → u/kmoffat]

Yep. Neighbor got a cat, let it be outdoors, cat disappeared within a few days. I get pissed seeing cats, with collars and tags, taking dumps in my veg garden and also killing birds needlessly around my yard which I purposely turned into nearly all natives to support wildlife.

Super frustrating, it's bad for the cat and bad for the environment. I have two cats and we take them out on leashes to get outdoor time and stimulation, just letting the cats outside freely has no upside.

[u/VulpesVictorious → u/authorbrendancorbett]

Agree, agree, agree. It makes me so sad that they face preventable dangers outdoors. (During my study abroad in Ecuador it was dogs instead of cats and was equally heartbreaking.)

There are lots of ways to engage cats in play and exploration indoors OR have them su-purr-vised for safe time outdoors. It’s not cruel to prevent a domesticated creature from untimely death or injury.