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How do catsters feel about indoor/outdoor cats that are altered and microchipped?
She'll get as much vitamin D from a sunny window as she would outdoors. This is what mom did when she started worrying I was bored: she bought a cat tree, put it by our french windows, and drew the blinds up so I could see through the balcony. I spent most of the day bird watching, and mom could tell it clearly keeps me entertained.
Then again, I don't mind smaller spaces. Right now mom and I are staying with grandma. It's a huge house compared to my apartment, and the area is less urban. But instead of exploring the house top to bottom or begging to go outside to chase birds, I've stuck to a few "safe" rooms the whole time, and looking out the window. I like to watch birds, but I would never dream of going outside.
Unless she claws at the doors and window begging to be let out at all times, I'd say she's content with the way things are.
They also do need fresh air. If you are in a winter home, or if you use teh AC in the summer - odds are, the pet (and you) aren't getting fresh air.
Unlike houses of old that 'leaked" out your precious cold or hot air, today's houses are very air tight. Cats and dogs, and kids and adults, should have access to open windows (maybe at night when it cools down) and plants that put out fresh oxygen (long as they aren't somethign kitty wants to nibble on).
Many people think thier air is clean, but actually indoor air that isn't recirculated with fresh outside air is usually worse than the "city air", simply because it is never refreshed.
One thing I don't like about outdoor cats are the number of songbirds they kill. People don't realize it but people's pet cats kill millions of songbirds a year. I know cats would catch birds in the wild but your pet cat should be well fed and not need the birds for nourishment. They still have the prey drive though. Songbirds have a hard enough time as it is with other predators, they don't need more animals chasing after them to stave off boredom.
On a different note, I'd be afraid something would happen to my outdoor cat. My aunt had 5 indoor/outdoor cats and now only has one left. One of them fell asleep in the wheel well of a neighbors car and was crushed when it didn't wake up quick enough to get out. Two others were killed by coyotes (yes, coyotes in suburban Massachusetts. There was a drought and coyotes were encroaching inward towards more populous areas for food and water.) They aren't sure what happened to the other. It just never came back. I know I always hated visiting my aunt and seeing one of her cats bring back a chipmunk or baby rabbit for their owner.
One thing I do for my cats is that when I'm home I'll have the sliding glass door of the porch open with just the screen there. That way they get fresh air. I also have two seed feeders and a suet feeders to attract birds within a relatively close distance. My cats really enjoy watching them for hours. They'll even try to stalk them from behind the glass but know enough not to run into the door. The suet attracts red bellied woodpeckers that my cats make a silly chattering noise at.
Velcro makes that chattering noise when she sees birds or insects; she only hunts bugs though for some reason (not that I'm complaining, we have two cockatiels and I'm glad she doesn't pay any heed to them).
I've actually had the opposite problem; we had one indoor-only cat (we let him outside only twice just so he could get used to his surroundings) and he got outside one day and after that we never saw him again (despite having ID; we think someone might've taken him in as their own), and then our other strictly-indoor cat snuck outside right after we inherrited her and took off for three weeks; the last indoor-only cat we had got we had just started letting outside because he was used to that at his old home, and no sooner did we do that then he too took off. We don't really have good luck with striclty indoor cats (mostly males, even though they've all been altered). That's mainly what makes me paranoid. It made me so paraniod I wasn't going to get any more cats, but then Velcro showed up in really poor shape, and I wasn't about to let the shelter kill her.
This probably sounds cruel but I realize that cats will kill birds if given the chance and if they're wild birds I don't have a problem with it. If you feed song birds, there are devices that will keep cats out of your yard. But I consider it part of nature and most birds are able to fly away.
Where I live now, my two boys are indoor only unless they're on their leash. I have a neighbor with an aggressive/blind dog and they tend to just let it out (smart I know, there's young children that play near their house too) and there's a busy highway just a hop and skip away. So indoor for them.
Where I lived before, they were outdoor cats. They had 15 achres to run on and the street that was nearest was extremley slow and had low traffic. They did fine and the wild cats living there do fine as well. there's a couple that are 10+ now. All fixed of course.
I think it depends on the area. I'm a firm believer that if you have a cat that you should bring it outside every now and then and let it explore though. I dislike it when epole get a cat and just leave it inside.
Well, for fresh air you could always open the windows if you have screened windows. Mom opens our screened windows several hours a day unless it's unbearably hot or rainy outside. I usually bird watch and/or snooze by them for a couple of hours, and then I lose interest. She's also taken me out to a nearby garden in my mesh carrier. I enjoyed looking out from the carrier because I feel like no one can see in, but ultimately I am always glad to be back inside.
Would mom ever let me outdoor? She had to sign a contract that it would never happen, but she tried to leash train me because she felt ambivalent about me never going outside, just like Velcro's mom. Turns out that I am terrified of walking outside of our apartment. There's a huge backyard in the back of our apartments, it's technically a small hill, but a very busy street right below. There's probably a quarter of a mile of hill between the complex and the cars, but still, cars and motorcycles whiz by noisily, and this (mom and dad think) contributes to my extreme reluctance to go outside, whether attended or not. Mom would have loved it if I had taken to the harness, because right across the street there's a huge walking path to a park that has a stream and trees and birds. Mom says I would love it there if I ever gave walking on a leash a chance, but it's not gonna happen any time soon.
The last time we tried the harness and going outside, dad thought he'd try to open the french windows and see what happened. Mom was holding to the leash, and instead of braving the outside I yanked the leash away from mom, then went to the bedroom to hide. I refused to come out from the bed until the french windows were safely closed.
Would I have made a run for it without the harness on? Maybe, maybe not. Mom can leave the door wide open when she comes home, and I hardly ever get more than one paw out the door. When I do, I quickly run back inside without coaxing. It's like I know that it's not that safe to be out and about in my (urban) neighborhood. Perhaps if we ever move to a house with a couple of acres of land around it, we might give this outdoor thing another chance after we evaluate the overall situation (mom says that sometimes even being in your own backyard can be unsafe - she just heard of a family member's small dog being attacked in his own yard by a neighboring dog of a larger breed who jumped over a pretty tall fence to get at him, so said small dog is not allowed out in the yard alone anymore). But for now, I'm hardly desperate to go outside, and mom just doesn't feel I'd be safe.
Like someone else said, you just have to consider all the pros and cons you could possibly think of, which you alone know best.
I am very opinionated on this subject. Sorry if I offend any kitties or their parents. Our cats have always been altered and microchipped for safety and health reasons. I think it is best to do so and will with any kitties we have in the future.
As for outdoor vs. indoor - all cats want to go out. They want to explore and hunt. It is in their nature. BUT - the average lifespan for an outdoor cat is 3 years. An indoor cat lives to be about 15 or more. We've always had indoor cats. Ours have lived to 15, 21, 17, 23. With Bear being 15 and still here as well. Call me crazy but please people - keep your kitties indoors so they are safe from harm
I've thought it over and I think I'll see if I can get a cat-run set up going, I have a good friend who is really good at making things and has made a dog run set up which is essentially the same thing. I'll have to see how that goes, I could forsee her getting frustrated from not being able to climb the tree or anything.
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