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Should cats be allowed outside to play?

NAS71232

There are two camps.

Some say they should be strictly indoors as they kill mice, rats and the occasional bird. They say they are a threat to wildlife and it's safer for them to stay in as they could get hurt.

The other camp feels they should be able to enjoy nature and roam as they please.

What are your thoughts?

I let my cats outside. If you restrict them by keeping them in the house, they constantly try to escape and get frustrated. My Bengal cat kicked hell and she tried the door handles to get out, but I waited until she was old enough. Now she stays in the garden and couldn't be happier. If you live in a flat, then obviously, you can't let them out. That's fine if they are well looked after. They get bored indoors, especially if you live alone and go to work all day. If they are indoor cats, you need to give them another cat to play with.

There might be a time in the future where I will have to rehome them to suitable people. 

Do you let your cat out, or keep it inside?

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  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing
    Cinnabar_wing said:
    the concentration of cats as a predator species is unnaturally high.

    My landlord stupidly let my neighbour keep 3 cats, in a one bedroom bungalow. The neighbour does remove dead wildlife but I hate the idea of my carefully cultivated wildlife friendly garden merely attracting dinner for her cats and others in the neighbourhood. 

  • in reply to B

    One of the biggest issues is the concentration of cats as a predator species is unnaturally high. If everyone in a neighbour has cats, there will be less wildlife. It's not just one cat in an area taking one bird, one night, but the combined total of all the kills over the whole year. 

    In the wild there are predators, but if they over predate, their numbers fall, giving the prey numbers chance to recover. But pets are fed so never suffer these effects, so can eliminate numbers of prey species quite effectively.

    They catch mice too. Mice breed all year round so their numbers don't suffer like birds who only breed for a short amount of time each year, and are more selective in their diets so are struggling anyway. Keeping them in at night is meant to help birds who are sleeping then and more vulnerable then.

    I am mixed about the neighbours cats. They hunt in our garden, and when it's mice, they can help to keep their numbers in control as there are less wild predators in the garden to do this job. When we have tried to dig a patch to grow something, the cats do their business there, or they scent mark all over a bush which eventually kills the lower branches, then there are other words you want to say.

    Generally I prefer watching wildlife to pets, though I can understand the appeal.