Imagine thinking you should toss your cat outside to get hit by a car or eaten by a coyote because there's just
No
Possible
Way
To
Give
Them
Enrichment
Inside.
Imagine if there was only a way to increase space for your cat inside.
There's just no way to entertain cats without playing directly with them.
It's so cruel to keep them locked up, never to see outside.
If only we could let them outside safely.
And why are all those toys so expensive anyway
Indoor cats just have such a depressing life!!
So abused.
Yes a carpet cave and leash are great substitutes for freedom
#lmao let your fucking cat outside#theyre animals#treat them well#but give them the freedom they deserve#the risk of getting eaten or harmed is worth freedom#freedom is rarely the safest choice but it is always the best one#also#no amount of carpet caves inside will compensate for the outdoors#dont get a highly independant freewandering animal and keep it inside or teathered at all times#just dont get a cat
Yikes.
My "highly independent animal"
Yeah, he's clearly super independent and shows it by being glued to me most of the time. Such independence. Much wild animal. So upset being inside rather than dead.
All cats are different
All homes are different
All habitats outside are different
Cats can go outside, calm down
Aside from the fact that cats have been observed killing for sport and are actively decimating entire native bird populations ...
Hi. Cats have wiped out entire populations of birds, small mammals, and reptiles and are considered an invasive species. I used to be a veterinary assistant, here’s a short list of what I’ve seen outdoor cats go through:
Flesh-eating spider poison that rotted the skin off of an entire leg
Multiple punctures in the neck, face, and head from a predatory bird that tried to fly away with an outdoor cat
Feline leukemia
Feline distemper
An outdoor cat with no microchip or tags that was hit by a car. She suffered a cracked skull, broken spine, all four of her legs were broken, and she had countless other injuries we couldn’t discover before she died. Her owners never found out what happened to her.
Countless incidents with coyotes, foxes, wild cats, and other predatory animals
Poisoning by eating toxic plants
Parasites. So many parasites. Roundworms, tapeowrms, pinworms, heartworms, botfly larvae, etc.
Bat attacks. Bats are the number one carrier of rabies where I live.
UTIs and bladder infections. You can’t catch irregular urination when your cat always goes outside. Urinary tract/bladder infections are often fatal when untreated.
I’ve seen similar things happen with intestinal obstructions. Owners can’t tell when their outdoor cats are unable to defecate. Untreated blockages are fatal. They might also miss things like diarrhea and bloody stool, which are key indicators of various illnesses.
Fights with other outdoor cats or strays. Cats will hide their pain and wounds and try to heal on their own. I’ve seen too many cats develop abscesses and infections through untreated lacerations.
Random broken bones from unknown altercations with other animals
Diseases carried by ticks, some of which are fatal. Many common brands of flea and tick preventatives still use outdated formulas that no longer work***. Additionally, many non-pharmaceutical stores are selling unregulated doses of prescription preventatives that are not guaranteed to work.
This is just off the top of my head.
***Official research is scarce, but more and more complaints are rising of brands like Frontline and Advantage being ineffective against fleas and ticks. I myself would regularly see animals with fleas or ticks that were treated with a preventative. The companies often blame owners for the product’s failure, and while that sometimes happens, to me it seems like scapegoat. I’ve personally never seen (for example) a topical dose of Bravecto or Activyl fail. My friend’s childhood cat, who was regularly treated, just died last week of a tick-borne disease.
Anyway, keep your fucking cats inside.
You wouldnt let your dog free roam so don’t let your cat either you asshats
people do let their dogs free roam actually, especially on farms
It’s illegal and you SHOULD NOT.
I agree that you shouldn’t have them free roaming outside all the time, but I’ve never heard that it’s illegal.
Pretty sure that's a city by city thing, but it might be covered under a requirement to provide adequate shelter written into animal cruelty laws.
Most farms are outside city limits
This is true. Animal cruelty laws would be the only real legal consequences that might happen, and then probably not unless somebody sees the dog and calls an investigating group.
Most animal cruelty cases are people having animals chained up in their backyards and not feeding/watering them enough
Yes. Like you said in the beginning, not illegal, just wrong.
I said I wouldn’t do it. I didn’t say it was wrong. Sheepdogs have been helping guard flock for I don’t know how many years.
People who train dogs to guard livestock probably take care of the dogs better than a lot of regular dog owners.
Imagine living in a world where cats can't go outside.
Good thing that world isn't real.
