The Outside Cat

I think that it is really ireesponsilbe to let a cat "roam free" and nor do I buy the argument that a cat will come home when it is hungry. A pet is your responsiblity and you need to see it as that. If you owned a dog you wouldn't let it drink from the toilet. I think it's just irresponsible to give into your pet's desires when it jeopardizes their safety.

There are too many dangers outside, and a cat is per definition a pet. And pets are domesticated animals. People will try and argue that they are used to living "outside" in that dangerous environment. But volonteer at a sheltter, take care of sick cats that have been resuced from the streets. They are in bad shape. If they were adpat to living outside this would not be an issue.

And then there are the owners that get upset when something happens. This really perturbs me to no end. Why are they surprised, why do they get mad, and then blame the person in the car who hit their cat? When you let your animal roam freely outside, the blame is not on the person who was driving, it is solely on you, the owner. Cat's do not have a human capacity for understanding traffic, it's just dangerous.

But you are not only jeopardizing the cat's life but that of the wildlife in your area, which is decimated by cat that are left to roam free.

I will honestly end here, for most people this is either logical or falling on deaf ears. It doesn't matter that statistically speaking indoor cats and dogs will outlive their outdoor counterparts by more than a factor of 2. If you really feel that your cat needs to go outside you can aslways train them to walk on a leash, it isn't uncommon, or hard.

It just takes time.