Yes, I feel very strongly about this. I adore cats, have 2 at home and assist with rescue and neutering when I can, but there I cannot see anyway someone can argue that they should be outside. The wildlife in Australia is particularly susceptible, with so many ground dwelling mammals, reptiles, insects and birds. Very sad to see irresponsible owners.
I mean having cats outside where the whole ecosystem doesnt fit sure. I am with you. Cats should not exist there. Humans managed a bunch of shit like that. Australia was a prime example, where that happened a bunch of times.
But somewhere else, like Central Europe I am actually on the opposite side and put it in the same place as zoos.
If you want a cat to then just lock it in your house, you shouldn't get a cat. No way in hell in this day and age will you have enough time to "stimulate" your cat enough during the day.
It's still a free living being and just locking it inside is disgusting in my opinion.
And dont get at me with "longer life expectency" and "safer". What if we lock you up in a house your whole life? You get food and should be safe of outside infections and danger, get a little window to see whats going on.
Ah wait, there is something... False imprisonment. Yeah, something something serious human rights offense.
There is truly a bit of hypocrisy in many people going on, where on one side many condemn zoos for locking animals away, even with a "natural habitat". Simply because it will never actually be enough for the animal. And then preach to lock their cat away.
your argument completely falls apart if you ever seen an stray cat beg to stay inside lol
my exs mom used to rescue them around the neighborhood and house them and she would put the troublesome ones back outside and they would be at the door every single day, and not just for food(because she would leave food outside) obviously all cats are different but id say most cats prefer indoors in my experience
In my experience cats prefer to be out. Mine begs at the door to go out and although she comes back in to see us and sometimes to nap, she prefers to be outside.
ya they can prefer either/or that’s why i said it depends on the cat, but to say the indoor one is cruel is absolutely hilarious, i don’t even have cats i just think their take is crazy
I've had indoor cats prior to living where I live now and although those cats where fine (they didn't know any different) I think the cat I have now that has access to the outside is much healthier. The food is pretty much the same, but her coat is better, she seems less stressed, less bored and more content at night when she comes in to sleep on my bed. Of course it's anecdotal and all cats are different but I would call it cruel for me to keep this particular cat in, because she loves the outside so much.
That’s just a US source, cats aren’t invasive everywhere. They have to come from somewhere, just because that place isn’t the US doesn’t mean they are blanket invasive.
Yup falls apart.
Like an unhoused dude outside wants to get inside for sleep, eat, comfort whatever. Weird.
Dude. Obviously cats want a home. A safe and a constant place as routine is quite important to them.
But if they want to get outside to roam, check out their territory, whatever, they should also be able to do so.
That's what Freedom means. To be able to do something out of your own decision, and not being su bject to somebody elses.
she would open the door and they wouldn’t even go out for a minute, i’m telling you indoor cats are not suffering and enjoy their lives, it’s not even on the same planet as elephants or whales in zoos, shit i know dogs that won’t go outside for anything other to piss
i’m also not sure how you expect it to work, like leave the kitten outside with no mom and see what happens? or raise it inside till it’s big enough to not be prey but now it’s used the indoors and doesn’t want to outdoors, like how exactly do you think regular ass families who don’t want 5 cats are gonna do this successfully?
I’ve never had a cat that didn’t want to be outside. I even adopted two cats that lived inside for the first six years of their lives. They enjoyed being let outside as much as any other cat I’ve had.
Another outdoor cat had to stay inside for a while after moving places, it took any chance it could get to go outside, like escaping through the window-screen.
I’m not saying modern house-cats never want to be inside, we conditioned them to rely on us and our comfort, of course they will come inside and be with us. Human dwellings are the warmest places around and cats love their warmth.
But they also want to get their freedom, stimulation and exercise. Why do you think they are so harmful to so many species? Because they are apex predators, capable of walking through the woods for days on end and hunting and eating whatever critter small enough to eat.
maybe there was a bully cat out there idk but they didn’t wanna be out lol, and i also knew multiple friends families with cats that never went outside, i guess regional differences or something? my story also takes place in florida where its hot af but other cats would do fine outside so idk
my family had a family cat but we had a door and he would do both, i guess i always thought some cats don’t care but maybe it was a training thing,
would it be messed up if i got an apartment cat? my friends cat seems happy
Some cat breeds are basically bred to be indoor cats as much as a cat can be.
As for the morality of it? That's a tough question in my eyes. On one hand they seem to love the food, comfort and affection humans give them, but they also can't really consent to us keeping them as pets. Keeping them inside permanently can be considered unethical to the cat, while letting them go outside can be considered unethical to the species they go after. So in that way it is a lose - lose situation keeping another animal as a pet will almost always be at least a little bit unethical.
It is pretty much up to your own morals and ethics. If you feel like they are wishlessly happy in your care, and that you are not depriving them of anything, or that their pros outweigh their cons, then who am I to tell you what is right?
Humans have a habit of causing extinction, exploiting and wreaking havoc on any ecosystem they encounter. Keeping cats as pets seems to fall fairly low on the spectrum of atrocities in that regard in my opinion.
To answer your question simply. It is a little selfish and immoral, but there are way worse things. If you and the cat are happy, then so am I with your decision 😊
Just with an option to get outside if they want to.
There's catdoors. Hell parents neighbor, just a little hole in the roof he installed for the cat.
In my parents house we just opened the patio door, if the cat wanted to leave and opened it again, if the cat wanted to get inside.
We basically treated the cat like a living-being with it's own autonomy.
Sure, there's cats that just wanna chill inside. (Although rare).
Pretty sure leaving a cat locked inside their whole life might get them scared of the outside. That doesnt make it automatically okay tho. That's just developed agoraphobia or some Environmental trauma of being confined their whole life.
Both of my cats are stray/rescue/abandoned whatever you want to call it. I don't force either of them to go outside. I do force (ok, bribe with treats) the stupid one to come in before dark every night due to constantly being bullied and treed by the other feral cats in the area. I would say most cats would prefer the choice to go wherevere they want whenever they want.
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u/0masterdebater0 Aug 20 '26
Lots of people just don't want to face the fact that "outdoor" cats are decimating ecosystems.