Indoors or Outdoors for Cats?

Indoors or Outdoors for Cats?

We have mixed feelings when people write to us about how devastated they are over the death of a cat when they have allowed the cat to live outdoors. Although we are always saddened by the grief a person feels over the loss of a pet, we wonder why people would keep a cat outside.

Cats who roam the streets and country roads tend to live many fewer years. They get hit by cars. They bring home diseases. They kill birds and other wildlife.

A woman from the United Kingdom wrote to us about the death of her outdoor cat. Since she wanted to adopt another shelter cat, we wrote back and mentioned that we have had cats for 25 years, and they have lived long lives indoors. We offered the suggestion that she might want to think about keeping her next kitty inside.

The woman wrote back to say she had been thinking about the idea, but it was contrary to the culture where she lived in England. She said that when she went to one of the animal shelters and said she wanted to adopt a cat and leave the kitty indoors, the shelter wouldn’t let her have one. She claimed that people in her part of the world think it’s cruel to make a cat stay inside.

So what do you think? Is it cruel or kind to keep cats indoors. You can post your answers at our Angel Animals Facebook page: www.facebook.com/angelanimalsnetwork

 

Allen and Linda Anderson
ANGEL ANIMALS NETWORK – Where Pets Are Family
www.angelanimals.net

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