People with indoor/outdoor cats...what if they don't return?

[Iron Woode]

You've probably only seen a small percentage of their total kills. This has been tracked scientifically. Not all cats are "killers," but the ones that are kill FAR more than most people realize.

the statistic bandied about was invented about 20 years ago by animal rights/environmentalist groups.

there is no real science behind it.

This is a fact though: a cat will go after rodents before it tries birds. Birds are very hard to catch but rodents are easy*. Cats are all about easy.

* where the cat lives is also a factor. if no rodents then the birds look better.

my cat would also go after frogs, snakes, squirrels and all sorts of insects.

 

[zinfamous]

the statistic bandied about was invented about 20 years ago by animal rights/environmentalist groups.

there is no real science behind it.

This is a fact though: a cat will go after rodents before it tries birds. Birds are very hard to catch but rodents are easy*. Cats are all about easy.

* where the cat lives is also a factor. if no rodents then the birds look better.

my cat would also go after frogs, snakes, squirrels and all sorts of insects.

That perspective doesn't seem to be supported by what I have been finding

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23360987 (wherein quantitative analysis was conducted to counter/better understand the controversial studies that you are claiming--yet the impact seems worse than previously estimated when "real science" was applied)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27602271
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25894078


However, believing that such data is incorrect or some part of a conspiracy probably correlates to owners that seem to not want to believe the reality of the lives of their cute and furry murder machines:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26306163


I think the difference between bird/rodent success rates for hunting probably has more to do with the kills during specific cycles--say hunting fledgling birds vs adult birds. Fledglings are particularly vulnerable during that brief window of awkwardness and even in small areas, allow for a pretty large kill zone for the ave domestic cat...especially the cat that has spent the previous several weeks watching that nest and waiting. ....just waiting. so patiently.

 

[JulesMaximus]

We're thinking of getting a cat to help with potential rodent issues. Our preference would be indoor/outdoor cats. But I just can't get my head around this one particular aspect, and I'm hoping you cat owners can help me out.

Aren't you afraid they won't come back one day? They could get killed by a larger cat, hit by a car, shot at by a neighbor, or just decide "fuck it" and walk off. I think on a personal level I would be devastated by losing an animal w/o knowing what happened to it. Do y'all just accept this as a possibility and deal with it if/when it happens?

I have two cats and both of them live indoors only. They do not go outside at all.

It is easier to keep a cat as indoor only if they are raised that way from early in their lives but it is possible to train a cat that was outdoors to be an indoor only cat.

Cats really should not be allowed to roam freely outdoors IMO. They live shorter lives and are more prone to picking up diseases and other parasites that can cause them harm. Plus, they tend to decimate local bird populations and they get into fights with other cats over territory. There is also the problem of breeding and feral cat populations.

Keep your cats indoors. They will live a longer, healthier, happy life.

 

[JulesMaximus]

the statistic bandied about was invented about 20 years ago by animal rights/environmentalist groups.

there is no real science behind it.

This is a fact though: a cat will go after rodents before it tries birds. Birds are very hard to catch but rodents are easy*. Cats are all about easy.

* where the cat lives is also a factor. if no rodents then the birds look better.

my cat would also go after frogs, snakes, squirrels and all sorts of insects.

Nonsense. We had an outdoor cat many years ago and she would bring dead birds to the house regularly. Cats are very skilled hunters and birds are not difficult for a cat to catch. I've seen a cat jump several feet into the air to snatch a flying bird right out of the sky.

 

[Thump553]

First of all, NEVER use poison on rodents. You will end up killing or crippling the raptors-the hawks, eagles and owls. Use traps.

Secondly, outdoor cats are a big problem for wild birds.

Thirdly, at least here in New England (and probably most of continental US) the main function of outdoor cats is to serve as coyote food. The question is not what if they don't return but how long until they don't return. Especially if you let them out at night and if they are going to be effective against rodents they have to be out at night.

 

[rh71]

Why would they? A cat is kinda private where it goes and then buries it. Cats dont leave turds in plain site like dogs do.

au contraire mon frere... since I get it about once a week, I would be more than happy if it tried to bury it but no... I had to get the Kim Kardashian of cats.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Growing up, all of our cats were indoor/outdoor, allowed to run as they pleased. I think we lost one that never came back. Neighbors up the street had a vicious tomcat that ran free. My brother got fed up with it and shot it in the back yard with .22 short, tossed its body in the nearby woods.

Don't get too attached to pets is the answer. They're not people.

 

[Humpy]

Growing up, all of our cats were indoor/outdoor, allowed to run as they pleased. I think we lost one that never came back. Neighbors up the street had a viscous tomcat that ran free. My brother got fed up with it and shot it in the back yard with .22 short, tossed its body in the nearby woods.

Don't get too attached to pets is the answer. They're not people.

I'm mad that your brother shot a kitty and am wishing terrible things to befall him.

 

[Ns1]

...Aren't you afraid they won't come back one day? They could get...shot at by a neighbor...

Neighbors up the street had a viscous tomcat that ran free. My brother got fed up with it and shot it in the back yard with .22 short, tossed its body in the nearby woods.

yep, no outdoor cats.

 

[Noo]

We've been feeding a stray/feral cat for a while now and it has gotten to a point where she is comfortable enough for us to pet her. She usually wander around a couple of houses but always come back to our backyard to rest and feed. We built her a shelter for the upcoming winter so hopefully she'll be warm.

 

[Rifter]

I have 2 cats, i would call them seasonal indoor/outdoor cats.

We live in a apartment, its on the first floor and the balcony connects to a fenced in(by brick wall) courtyard thats probably 100'x150' and has no outside access, just to the first floor apartments on the inside edge of the building. In the spring/summer while we are home the cats are allowed to freely roam in or outside. in the winter they are inside only, while we are not home they are inside only. We never have problems getting them to come in they are oddly well behaved for cats. They could for sure get over the brick wall they just choose not to.

Both are very scared of cars and run from them, and both are very territorial and protect what they think is "their" courtyard and generally just patrol the perimeter and visit the first floor neibour friends when they are outside. I have never seen either more than 200' from my balcony, and both come when called which is odd, they both know their names.

So i guess we have it good compared to most indoor/outdoor situations.

They would be so sad if i didnt let them outside and they are so well behaved while outside i dont see the point in not letting them out.

And we have had one for 9 years and the other for 5, so this situation has been working fine for almost a decade.

The older female Mona is a bird killer, there are 6 small 15' tall trees in the courtyard, she is a tortie colored cat so blends in perfect with the tree trunk, she will climb the tree high up and sit still for hours, when a bird lands on a branch below her she will pounce down onto it so even if it jumps to take off its jumping closer to her making it easier for her, shes no dummy and she rarely misses and shes 11 years old now so getting up there for a cat.

 

[Ichinisan]

Neighbors up the street had a viscous tomcat that ran free.

I've never considered the viscosity of an animal before.

 

[kranky]

Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote a song (Luna's Gone) about her outdoor cat...

Was it a light only she could see?
A gypsy's spell, a mystery
Something to cause our girl to roam
Was it a song only she could hear?
Whispering charms in her ears
Causing her to leave our happy home
Guess the light of the moon
Is all we've got to go on
Guess we're never going to know
And she's not telling no one

[Chorus]
Luna's gone, she's gone away
All day long I call her name, Luna's gone

[Verse 2]
There wasn't a sign of wanderlust
A quarrel, a breach of faith or trust
Nothing to give us one thin clue
Her eyes like the moon in a heart-shaped face
Astonishing speed, amazing grace
Little wild child, we loved so true
Guess the wind in the trees
Is all she left behind her
Guess it's part of the plan
To know we'll never find her

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
The end has come, verse and chapter
I'll miss that girl forever after
She left us now, the way she came
No amount of love could tame her
Free as the wind that blows
Guess, she couldn't resist
The lure of the open spaces
You won't find her
In Miami Beach or Vegas

[Chorus][x3]

 

[XavierMace]

au contraire mon frere... since I get it about once a week, I would be more than happy if it tried to bury it but no... I had to get the Kim Kardashian of cats.

THIS.

If it was just the dead birds, I could live with that. It's survival of the fittest.

There's the cats that for whatever reason decide your yard is a far better place to get it on with the other cats than yards that any of the cats "belong" to. There's nothing I love more than getting woken up in the middle of the night by two (or more) cats doing it outside my windows when I don't own any cats.

Have a convertible but not a garage? Cats call that a super sized scratching post.

Have patio furniture? More scratching posts and sometimes a litter box as well.

So, yeah. A giant middle finger to "outdoor" cat "owners". They damage my property, but somehow in the magical world of cat "ownership", that's not the owners problem because they are "just being cats" and since there's more than one, it's not like you can prove WHICH outdoor cat it is. They're lucky I stop at airsoft guns to run them off.

 

[MongGrel]

I wouldn't get an indoor outdoor cat. Their life expectancy is cut by about 50% and they can bring home all sorts of unwanted goodies, such as:

ticks
fleas
small birds
rodents
another cat buddy
random gross dirt and other crap

TLDR; don't do it.

Fleas can be a problem, we have had them pick them up even just in the pool area. But meds for that have gotten better, just a blob on the back of the neck.

We even had cat buddies from neighbors letting cats out at night show up prowling around outside the enclosed Florida Room now and then and the kittahs would have a fit. There are coyote sightings in the neighbor hood in the past, I think a few of those might have met a early demise from that.

The boys must be overly civilized, they will not even used the planted areas around the pool for a litter box, they will still come back inside to do their business.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I've never considered the viscosity of an animal before.

Nice.

 

[flexy]

On argument that also speaks against outdoor cats, especially if you live around other people, in an apt complex etc. is that not all people are cat lovers and some can be outright nasty and irrational.

As an example I want to give some of our neighbors which are somewhere between 140-190 years old, some old Brit couple which does nothing else than watching TV inside. Outside on the porch they have what they call "plants", which in reality is some dead, ugly dried out shrubs which looks like something you'd throw at the garbage rather than keep on your porch. Nevertheless, cats unfortunately LOVE using flower pots etc. as a shit-box (tell me about it, I have 40+ pepper pots on the sun roof), and the neighbors of course were less than pleased when the cats dug into their pots with their "precious" plants.

 

[who?]

Cats may not hunt until they've seen some other cat do it.

 

[Geekbabe]

I have an indoor cat who has lived with us for 10 years, she has been spared, illness, cat fighting, car accidents by living indoors.

I now have a gray male living on my front porch, he is a big guy & will be going to Vetco this weekend for testing & shots, we will then arrange to have him neutered & attempt to bring him inside.

If my other cat can't adjust I have a good cat house being delivered this week, at least he will have an insulated, relatively safe place to shelter.

This is a nice cat, loves petting, tolerant of flea & ear mite tx. If you get lucky & your cat gets lost somebody like me will find him but the odds of that aren't high, keep him inside.

 

[SearchMaster]

My neighbor adopted a feral cat family (mom had a litter under our shed). They are outdoor cats but she feeds them on her porch so they stay around. They've never bothered us a bit, though one of the cats (my son's favorite unfortunately) disappeared several months ago. At first we assumed he had been killed by another feral cat but then he showed up for a couple of days after being gone for a few months. And just as quickly he was gone again and hasn't been seen since. It is a huge pain for her when she needs to take them in for shots and checkups because they're hard to wrangle up. I think I've only seen one dead animal (and no cat poop) in the several years they've been around so they're pretty clean about their kills. We live in a heavily wooded area though.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

My first 2 cats were outdoor. They both left and didn't come back one day. My 3 since were indoor and while 1 died of kidney failure, the others are great. Go indoor.

 

[Ichinisan]

My neighbor adopted a feral cat family (mom had a litter under our shed). They are outdoor cats but she feeds them on her porch so they stay around. They've never bothered us a bit, though one of the cats (my son's favorite unfortunately) disappeared several months ago. At first we assumed he had been killed by another feral cat but then he showed up for a couple of days after being gone for a few months. And just as quickly he was gone again and hasn't been seen since. It is a huge pain for her when she needs to take them in for shots and checkups because they're hard to wrangle up. I think I've only seen one dead animal (and no cat poop) in the several years they've been around so they're pretty clean about their kills. We live in a heavily wooded area though.

Get them all fixed before it becomes a very big problem.

 

[SearchMaster]

Get them all fixed before it becomes a very big problem.

They're not my cats, but yes they were all fixed as soon as they were old enough.

 

[Ichinisan]

They're not my cats, but yes they were all fixed as soon as they were old enough.

Good!

My thought was: Not your cats, but it could become a problem for you if they weren't fixed.

 

[Brainonska511]

Don't let your cats roam outdoors. They tend to be indiscriminate killing machines, killing birds and other small mammals.

Re: The song-bird argument. Yes I heard this argument often but the times when our cats caught a bird you can count with 5 fingers, spread over many years.

How do you know? You can only count the ones your cat brings home.