The animal psychologist that convinced me put it like this: how would you like it if there was a door into your house you couldn't lock and violent people could randomly come in, day or night.

Even the ones that are chip controlled, cats themselves don't know and will engage in catdoor guarding behaviour.

If your cat is young and likes the odd fight it's probably okay though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

How is that different than nature? Noon domesticated cats didn't have a door at all, much less a door that a servant opens and closes on demand.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

It's not different from nature. Neither are predation, parasites and diseases.

Stationary single point food sources would be rare but if there was one, resource guarding and physical competition would be normal as well, as would behaviours such as marking territory with urine.

Data from the US (where they have predators like coyotes) always give cats in the wild a 2-5 year lifespan.

I think the figures are better here, but cats in their natural state still have much harder lives than most pet cats.

Personally, if I have a pet my aim is to give it a long happy life, but I know mileage varies and everyone draws the line wherever they feel comfortable. I've mostly been lucky enough to have windows I can leave open for cats during the day.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What's your thoughts on catios? At first glance they seem like a good compromise, but reckon they'd be worse because the cat would never be able to catch that bird/mouse (kinda like how laser pointers are bad)?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

I don't know much about them. I get the impression they're big in Australia, probably because of snakes etc.

To be honest even though it's better for bird life, I've never kept a cat inside all day. My last cat was super old for a really long time though, and didn't get up to anything much on her own except dozing in the sun or peeing under a particular tree.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Hmm... Interesting thought from the psychologist. Can't say I necessarily agree or disagree with them as I'm not a cat! 😆

Yes our preference would be to have indoor cats (due to their safety and wildlife safety), and we adopted a senior cat that stays indoors (other than supervised walks outdoors on a leash). Though in the case of our parents cat, we think it's mainly due to him being a stray for the first ~1.5 years of his life, he HAS to go out. Won't go to the bathroom indoors whatever we do for him, and continuously begs to be let outside etc.