Is your cat and indoors/outdoors cat?

All my cats are 100% indoor cats. Why?

Outside cats can:

1. Get hit and hurt or killed by auto/trucks on the road
2. Get hurt or killed by larger animals.
3. Get hurt or killed by cruel people
4. May be picked up and taken to a shelter or dumped elsewhere
5. May be poisoned by neighbors tired of your cat in their yard.
6. Pick up FELV or FIP (both incurable) from stray cats.
7. Pick up fleas, ticks, or other parasites.


IF you want your cat to have outside time, be responsible. Either train to a harness/leash or build/buy an enclosure that attaches to the house via door or window.

Indoors where they AND the wildlife they WILL KILL are kept safe. Cats have ZERO reason to be out roaming where they can be stolen, injured, killed, trapped and taken to a shelter. Anyone who wants to keep their cats safe while wanting to allow outside time can invest in training the cat to accept a harness and leash or can build/purchase a cat enclosure that attaches to the home.

Indoors only. Cats have been domesticated for thousands of years, and do not need to be outdoors where they decimate the wild bird population. On the average, indoor cats live much longer than outdoor ones. Indoor cats do not get exposed to fleas and ticks and other parasites, they are not squashed by cars, they are not poisoned, they are not eaten by a predator or mauled by the neighbor's dog. They don't get in fight with the neighborhood strays and get abscessed bite wounds or FIV or FeLV from that. They don't get grabbed and tortured by pre-teens, nor trapped and hauled off to animal control when your neighbors get tired of your cat crapping in their yard, or preying on the birds at their bird feeder. Cats are very content indoors, with a cat tree in front of a sunny window, toys, and attention from you. If you want your cat to experience the outdoors, do so by training them to leash and harness and taking them for a walk, or building an outdoor enclosure (see Catico). If you let your cat outdoors, then you need to accept the fact that each time he goes out may be the last time you see him alive..

Outdoor. I think it's best for my cat to be out in the grass and socialise with other cats. If you only have the one kitten outdoors is best, all creatures need to socialise and shouldn't be kept alone. It's not fair on the animal.

Edit: If you insist on keeping the kitten indoors, I would suggest getting another kitten to be a friend to it.

Indoor only. Although we live in apartment. If we had a house I would only take them out in the back yard supervised on a leash.

For all kinds of reasons it is much safer to keep the cat indoors. My cat is an indoor cat.

All three of mine are fully indoors. One might be happy outside while the other two would not, even when used to it. No need to take the risk of stupid people doing stupid things to the cats.

Indoors because I want them to be safe. Not to mention the big bucks I've spent over the years with vet, microchipping etc.

I have an indoor cat. Of course keeping it indoors is better, but sometimes I let her out to feel the
grass and enjoy nature, chase lizards. But keeping her indoors, there's less fleas.

Both of my boys stay inside. There are coyotes in the area and a busy road nearby.

I forgot to mention that I have a dog and whenever I take the dog out, the kitten wants to come along. She literally tries to follow the dog everywhere but she does have a friend.

Indoor

If your cat is an outdoor cat its chances of living a long, safe, and healthy life are poor. Plus, outdoor cats are a danger to wildlife and are ranked high on the list of damaging factors to ecological stability.

Strictly indoors. I could never, NEVER have an outdoor cat and I'm highly against it. Outdoor cats life expectancy is about half that of an indoor cat because of all the things that can happen. The only time I think it's ok to have an outdoor cat is on a farm. They can get hit and injured or killed by cars, some people hate cats and will poison them, the cat can be taken, if it's a neighborhood with other pets a dog could attack the cat or it could even get into a fight with another cat, they're much more susceptible to illness because of the exposure, they can pick up parasites and worse from hunting birds and rodents, if the cat decides to rummage through a trash can it can slit its tongue or feet on an empty metal can (this happened to my neighbor's outdoor cat with a tuna can out for the recycle and he needed stitches), there's never ending list of terrible things that can become of outdoor cats that are never issues for indoor cats.
In the past my one cat Bushy was an outdoor cat before I adopted him so he always wanted to be out and even escaped a few times. I got a cat harness and leash and would bring him in the backyard so he could enjoy the great outdoors safely.

Indoors, since I live in a deciduous forest climate and there are plenty of ways for them to get hurt. Cars, bears, foxes, people, poisonous plants, trees, getting lost. XD

We adopted our cat from the street. We have kept her inside most of her life. Most? Well, we have a balcony that we allow her to sit on and watch birds fly. She is 9 years old and has been a happy cat. I grew up with several cats that we kept outside and to be honest, those cats did not show a fraction of the love that we get from our cat now, that we keep indoors. Go ahead and buy scratching boards, or cardboard or whatever you need to save your couches. It is worthwhile to have the cat. Also, show that cat lots of love because when you start bringing babies into the picture, if you are heading that way, he/she will get mighty jealous.

both

Depends on the cat. I, personally, have never had a cat that wants to stay indoors all the time... cats like to roam, and if they are shut in when they would rather be out, they will let you know about it! My cat wanted to be out of the house from about 4 months old... I kept him in till he was neutered and vaccinated, and then just had to let him go out... and he always comes back. I had to keep him in once because he had a vets appointment first thing in the morning? When I got up that morning, he had RIPPED THE CAT FLAP OFF... thats a cat that would never stay indoors.

I own two cats one of them has been a indoor cat since she was a kitten and never showed much interest in going out but she still had the option. On the other hand we have a cat who would rather spend most of the day outside and only really comes in if it's cold. It depends on your cat but I think if your cat has the option to do both stay inside and go out you'll learn what's best for him/her :) good luck

omg... these comments are crazy!
ok let me begin this by saying i foster for numerous organizations and rescue groups... so i am not oblivious to all of this and i can give you advice that is worth hearing...
first of all - outside cats aren't cruel...............
i have 9 cats... lol sounds crazy but i also live on 15 acres with a barn, pastures, lakes, a giant covered porch, etc...
half of them are in and half of them are out... its called barn cats and they love the outdoors... they wouldn't come in if i made them... they even dig their own holes to potty in lol...
anyways they do all the dirty work for me and kill all the animals trying to break in my house... they are awesome... they enjoy getting dirty and hanging with the horses and goats...


my other cats are spoiled attitude infused little babies... they wouldn't go outside if i forced them... they sleep with me, they do everything with me lol...

location i believe is the biggest depending factor... are you on land, or are you in a house with neighbors 2 feet away? apartments?

if that is your only cat, i would recommend raising him inside and letting him lounge around all day...

OMG. These comments are crazy!
Ok let me begin this by saying I foster for MANY organizations and rescue groups. So I am not oblivious to all of this and I can give you advice that is worth hearing.
First of all - outside cats aren't cruel.....
I have 9 cats. LOL Sounds crazy but I also live on 15 acres with a barn, pastures, lakes, a giant covered porch, etc.
Half of them are in and half of them are out. Its called barn cats and they LOVE the outdoors. They wouldn't come in if I made them. They even dig their own holes to potty in lol.
Anyways they do all the dirty work for me and kill all the animals trying to break in my house. They are great. They enjoy getting dirty and hanging with the horses and goats.


My other cats are spoiled attitude infused little babies. They wouldn't go outside if I forced them. They sleep with me, they do everything with me LOL.

Location I believe is the biggest depending factor. Are you on land, or are you in a house with neighbors 2 feet away? Apartments?

If that is your only cat, I would recommend raising him inside and letting him lounge around all day.

Combo Cat. Loves both.

It depends where you live, if you live somewhere that has a lot cars passing by your house, it wouldn't be a good idea to allow it to go outside. If not, then it's okay, just watch it and make sure it's in your sight.

My cat was never mine from the start, I got her from a shelter when she was 5. They told me she had been to multiple homes before, all saying she was bad and would run away everytime she had the chance. She does tend to bolt out the door, but I've never had her run off completely, just onto the porch. They also said she bit and scratched constantly and such. I've never had a problem, she's very nice and loves being pet. It might be because she was fixed, but even so she's not bad and I couldn't say anything bad about her.

When I got her her fur was falling off, barely had any on her head and was scabbed from head to tail. Now she barely has scabs, usually happens when she's stressed.

I have had cats my whole life. As an adult, I had four cats, but only one at a time. Two of my cats, the females, lived to be 15 years old. One male contracted feline leukemia and had to be put to sleep. The other male, a very anti social cat with mental issues who hated humans, ran away or was killed after I had him for about one year.

All of my cats were indoor/outdoor cats. The way I see it is that they are animals and are meant to be outdoors. That is like taking a human and telling them they can never breath fresh air outside. It makes zero sense to keep an animal caged inside four walls in a house when they could be outside following their animal instincts. Cats can have the best of both worlds by being indoors at night and allowed outside during the daytime.

I had two cats who lived to the age of 15 years old each, collectively 30 years. Neither of them died from the outdoor elements. Therefore, through my own personal experience with cat ownership, I do not feel it is right to keep an animal from ever going outside.

Because my cats were outdoor cats, they learned to scratch trees, not my furniture. Although I did have a litter box, my cats hardly used it because they would rather go outside to do their business. This tells me that my cats were happy to go outside while they enjoyed their lives as my pets.

both

Indoor,cause we don't live in a house or on the first floor

Outdoor

indoors

My kitty is in indoor cat, but Ill let her go outside in the backyard occasionally. Thankfully, shes afraid of cars so I know she wont be wandering in the streets.

My cat is a mixture of both. He stays outside when my mum and I leave and he sometimes comes indoors when we do. My mum lets him in and out all day and he even sometimes wakes my mum up because he wants to go in/out. My mum also lets him in when there's fireworks or a cat fight.

My cat is indoor mostly..she got lost for about a week when my parents moved to a new house and she was staying with them. I'm guessing shes afraid of getting lost again so she rather stay inside. She looks out the window and might even go out just out the door for a few minutes to play in the grass but she runs back inside quickly. She is vaccinated and spayed.

just remember get the cats rabie shots.

open the door and trow it out you will soon find out