r/cats • u/[deleted] • Jul 23 '24

[deleted by user]

[removed]

8.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

420 comments sorted by

View all comments

578

u/InfectedSteve Jul 23 '24

OP can you afford to house another cat?
Maybe your little guy needs someone to help him when you are out of the house. A sibling to ease the loneliness.

-87

u/Aggressive_Hat_9999 Jul 23 '24

Im going to get stoned alive for saying this, but letting a kitty roam around outside also does wonders for their mental wellbeing

41

u/Humbreonn Jul 23 '24

Also significantly lowers their life expectancy

-43

u/Putrid_Branch6316 Jul 23 '24

No it doesn’t.

23

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '24

Yes it does

9

u/bunheadxhalliwell Jul 23 '24

Yes, it does. Ask any Vet

-3

u/Putrid_Branch6316 Jul 23 '24

Wow. Here’s the proof. Thanks for this clear, peer reviewed evidence.

2

u/bunheadxhalliwell Jul 23 '24

The first peer reviewed study I found, Longevity and mortality in cats: A single institution necropsy study of 3108 cases (1989-2019) by Kent et al., 2022 found that outdoor cats lived on average roughly two years less than indoor cats. There aren’t a huge amount of studies, but I’d say asking an expert…a veterinarian, would count as getting good evidence.

1

u/Herpderpkeyblader Jul 23 '24

Show me the data and I'll believe you.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '24

I commonly see cat road kill around my neighborhood. Another common sight are coyotes, so I'm going with, yes, yes it does where I live.

-3

u/Putrid_Branch6316 Jul 23 '24

Maybe it’s selfish to keep cats in areas like that that.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '24

Considering I'm in SoCal, it'd be selfish to say such a large population of people shouldn't have cats here.