To think it's cruel to have a house cat?

We've been owned by 7 cats over the past 40 years and all have been allowed the freedom to go out as they please. Where they please has varied considerably: two had very large territories, especially the one who had once been a 'street cat'. One wouldn't go any further than the patio and even then only if we went with her and the others somewhere in between.
I personally feel that it is cruel to curb an animal's natural instinct to roam. Yes accidents may befall them but interestingly the cat who rarely went out at all died young from cancer. The two who had large territories each lived to age 18 years.

I have two pedigree door cats and they are happy and well looked after. I live on an extremely busy road, surrounded by other busy roads. I think it would be more cruel of me to let them out. A gentleman who lives near by had two of the same breed I have and allowed them to roam. Within weeks they had disappeared.

Hithere

Here in the US, when you adopt and unless it is a barn cat, they pretty must request the cat is to be indoor only.
If not, they deny the adoption
They also demand for the cat to be spayed/neutered

That Bengal owner is very irresponsible and should not have a cat

It is for safety of cats and wild life

My cats are very happy and refuse to go outside. I open the door and they run inside.

One of my cats likes exploring and we take her for walks and rides - she refuses to go out w/o us

yup. In America there is rabies and even vaccinated cats can catch it. Its years ago now but I used to live in New Jersey and cats and dogs that appeared to be strays or feral were routinely humanely trapped and euthanised.

I like cats but I don't want one. I don't want them in my garden, I don't want them attacking my dog or killing my birds and I don't want to be the one who finds a corpse and has to contact the owners. If you are managing a feral colony on your own farm or stables then fine but otherwise I think that cat owners should cat proof their gardens and be responsible for keeping them at home.

I'm in the final process of moving house and the position of the busiest roads have been a major factor in choice of house for me/my cat! I'm going to the top of a small cul-de-sac that runs off another cul-de-sac and backs onto fields, so I'm hoping my boy will be safe. I've spend some weekends there and not allowed him our, he likes to sit in the window and I'm hoping he's getting a feel for the position of the house before I allow him out. He's always been an outdoor cat - wandered into a friends house following her cat at the beginning of lockdown 2020, though to have been left behind by people heading home, either from University or European workers ... I've had him 2 years and even with a huge (biggest/loudest I could find) bell on his collar he's taken small birds, which I find utterly heart breaking, I absolutely hate it. So I think for my sake and local birdlife he's going to have to stay indoors until after nesting season. Then he can claim his area. He loves to be outside but I've always made sure he's in at night - he's a bugger for chasing foxes!

snowberryZ

I wonder what most vets think?
They must see their fair share of cats who have had car accidents.

My dear friend has house cats. She asked her vet about this. He said "that it isn't cruel. If they have never known any difference then they are well and happy. It is only cruel if they have known an outside life and suddenly are kept it"

My friend lives on the third floor of a flat block so she can't leave them out. She does have 2 balconies they go out on though

You are totally wrong, it is the total opposite of being cruel.
Perhaps you would like to be chucked outside in all weathers and made to fend for yourself and then die , hit by a car before you were 2.
A lot of rescues now specify indoor only , our 2 have the run of the house, lots of toys, scratch posts etc. Every day I see posts about missing cats or dead cats found on the side of the road and posts from stupid people saying oh Fred was only a year old when he got hit by a car, attacked by a dog, locked on a shed etc.that is being cruel
So yes, you are completely, 100% being totally unreasonable

We've always had cats throughout our 40 married years and they've always been outdoor cats with benefits - they can spend as much time in the house in their favoured places like the sofa, the bed, the bath mat, anywhere they fancy, but when they want some fresh air or to use the outdoor facilities ( cat litter trays are a huge turn off & we've never ever had cats that used or needed them) , out they pop through the cat flap. We've just acquired 2 rescue kittens who are also destined to enjoy the great outdoors. We live in the middle of the countryside, well away from roads & neighbours, it's just perfect for them & I would never have a housecat. DS lives beside a main road on the edge of town - she loves cats & has a housecat. It wouldn't suit me but I know the pleasure she gets from her pet & she obviously doesn't have a "thing" about litter trays!!

Locally to me, a number of rescues will only rehome as 'indoor' cats....I think this is due to, what appears to be an inordinate amount going missing.
There's also been quite a few cases of horrific cruelty occurring.
Several people I know all keep their cats indoors..and to be fair all are seemingly contented.

I totally agree. It breaks my heart. I have a friend in Sweden who has this cat whom he loves...but he is in hospital at the moment so the cat is trapped indoors just fed once a day. He said it tried to escape but he managed to trap it in the garage. It's awful. Cats at least had some freedom unlike dogs but then at least dogs got taken out for walks. I have another friend who has a adopted a feral cat whom he takes out for walks in a harness.

I asked my local vet about this a few weeks ago,his reply was its not really nice for the cat to be on its own,however he did say if the cat had another cat with them then it's so much better so 2 cats seen ok to stay indoors

My son has two house cats, from kittens, they never leave the house, they have masses of enrichment toys, a huge cat scratching post and seem very happy and content

I definitely think cats should have freedom outdoors. My cat had her favourite spots to watch the world go by. On top of the fence had the best view. She also had summer sleeping places in the garden. She followed the sun throughout the day. She lived for 20 years so she had a great life.

Monica, ‘we do not keep people stuck in a house 24/7 in case they get run over by a car’ !
Well if you can teach a cat to wait at the side of a road until it’s safe to cross then you must be the only person in the world who can !

I have had cats for 20 years. They do not go outside. One of mine was deaf. The other one is a black cat. Here in the US, black cats are targeted. We had outside cats when I was a child. That was normal to me. My cats lived to 20, 18 and now 8. I don't think they thought it was cruel, that is what they knew from being a kitten.

Any vet in the US that still does declawing should be reported and investigated. I am sure that some will do it, but I have not come across one in a very long time. The vets I have had experience with would never do it.

My username is the clue. Let them free if they want to be, but some are happy indoors. Those in the cattery seemed to adjust to the fact that their Master and Mistress were away for a while so being caged with kind carers was acceptable. We did take kittens indoors for a play time but made sure all doors were closed. Not always comfortable in Spain where we built our cattery. Some stayed for over six months whilst the owner had cancer treatment. You have to do the best you can but after keeping my British Blue indoors when I was younger, she got stressed, lost her hair. Let her outside and all was well. Experience tells me set them free. If they are happy indoors they will do a uturn. Hope I don’t sound preaching. Just I have looked after hundreds of cats and they taught me what was best for them.

I’ve had cats for most of my life and currently have 2 moggies. One a rescue and the other given to me by my DIL when her cat had kittens and I had recently lost my 19 year old cat. Mine have always been outdoor cats.
Yes, 3 were lost to road accidents (over 67 years) but the thought of restricting a cat to the house just wouldn’t occur to me.
But my daughter has 2 pedigree Siamese and both are indoor cats. I cat sit when required and do let them in the garden but often they are back indoors watching me weed the garden. I have to watch them like a hawk tho just in case as both have been known to climb up the fence.
I think the idea of indoor cats is just wrong, but I suppose some are brought up to that way of life and won’t know any other . Then there are those cats who wouldn’t have a life if it wasn’t indoors.
I sometimes think I maybe one day will have an indoor cat if and when I give up my house and it’s garden.

We do not keep people stuck in a house 24/7 incase they get runover by a car.

I put keeping a cat indoors all the time at the same level as those cows in the USA kept in feeding lots with no grass to eat, just soya, maize and other foods that are bad for them.

We took in a kitten last year, my daughter a vet nurse brought her home one night, she was only 5 weeks old and had been brought in for emergency surgery, I won’t go into long details suffice to say she had been cruelly treated. She needed over night care, hence my daughter bringing her home, and home she stayed !, it was touch and go, but she made it.

The result is a very small, very timid cat, who is full of life and a joy to have. I take her in the garden, and she loves it so long as I’m with in jumping distance. She doesn’t let anyone else take her, she just hides under the nearest plant. Even with me after a few minutes she’s desperate to get back in my arms and indoors. She can get out if she wants she just doesn’t like it, I’ve really tried and will keep encouraging her, I believe cats should go out my other ones have always come and gone as they please But Bonnie, she’s my shadow indoors, and happy to watch me in the garden whilst she sits in the door way.

If I had another cat it would have to be a house cat. I’ve had cats go missing (that was the worst thing), killed on the road, crawled home after being hit by a car. Cats and cars and roads don’t go together.

Cats seem to vary. My granddaughter has two. One goes out a lot and is hardly ever in, but the other stays in mostly the whole time and seems to hate going out .

I really hate seeing birds in cages.
Always had cats, and never lost any of them to road accidents, etc. My last cat was adopted by me when she was 15 years of age (mistake, she had been designated 5 years old).
She had obviously been an indoor cat, and also one in a flat, - had to learn how to go up and down my stairs.

Over the first year I had her, once she had all appropriate injections I introduced her to the garden. At first she was nervous, would only go out there if I was there with her. But then became more adventurous and would 'patrol' her patch happily,

She never did learn how to climb fences though. found a small gap at the end of one of my fences and would get into next door garden, then out their sideway, round the front and back to my front door.

I have two house cats, they have never been allowed outside as I live alongside a major road with cars travelling at 60mph.
However, they have two large enclosed catios with access 24/7. Indoors they have a large cat exercise wheel, four different cat towers and a trained human to play with and sit on. Their toys are changed around every couple of days.
In return I don’t have to break my heart when they go missing, get locked in someone else’s shed, or injured in a cat fight or hit by a car.
If you are conscientious then cats can be perfectly happy indoors.

I don't agree with it, it's like budgies to me, I disgree with caged house birds as well. I was shocked when my friend contained her two cats in her house because one of them 'went over the fence'.

Sadly yes

Ir just became illegal in Maryland - so strides are being made in this regard

Hithere, it's my understanding that in the USA (in some states at least) cats can be "de-clawed" to make them into more acquiescent house cats. De-clawing is illegal here in the UK because it's considered to be cruel. A "de-clawed" cat will struggle to cope outside.
(Personally I believe that cats need to be able to go outside for some of their day, but I'd always bring them in at night - and I'm not a fan of cat-flaps.)