this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 50 points 9 months ago (4 children)

I cannot imagine having an indoor/outdoor cat. I'd worry so much about them while they were away. And if they just disappeared and didn't return...I don't know how I could stand it.

We have 3 indoor-only cats. Obviously I'm pretty attached to them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

the most i've ever done is let my first cat go on the deck on a leash and even then i panicked the whole time. one time she got out of the slider at night and i couldn't handle it thankfully she came back like an hour or so later

[–] jpeps 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I really understand that fear, and I do experience that with my outdoor cats. However cats tend to stick to their established territory and patterns and at least for mine, never go far and barely ever out of sight. In the summer being outdoor cats pretty much just means they sleep all day curled up in the garden.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I can't do it. We have fox around, and plenty of community cats (one evening, I walked down the ravine looking for our dog after he ran off, and I shined my flashlight upward to see about 6 pairs of eyes staring at me). We had a cat get some sort of blood borne disease, we think she got it from a tick that was in the house when we moved in (it's our only theory, we have no idea what actually happened), and she spent a few days in the animal hospital, and barely survived. (It also cost several thousand dollars.) Unfortunately she passed away from multiple medical issues a few years later. :(

(We adopted another cat after she passed - we've never had more than 3 at once.)

[–] jpeps -2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Sorry to hear about your cat! I'm assuming you're in the states, and I'd agree that I don't think I'd let a cat outside there. One extra bit of support in the UK is that it's pretty unheard of to not routinely vaccinate your cats to protect against random diseases, but of course it can't cover everything.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

I am. We always vaccinate our cats as well, and since that incident we give them regular flea and tick preventatives (well, two of them for the flea and tick - the third one is way too skittish to let us do that). In our case, there's always a risk the dog brings something in, too, so it's good to do.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Outdoor cats in the UK are driving your native wildcats extinct. Even if we ignore that the cat population is bringing foxes and badgers into human settlements because they make easy free meals.

You arent immune to having invasive species. In fact the british are pretty directly responsible for a lot of invasive species problems globally, so I would think yall would grasp the concept by now.

[–] jpeps -2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Wildcat extinction is an extremely specific issue. Wildcats only exist in Scotland now, driven to near extinction mostly by humans, not mating with other cats. This happened literally hundreds of years ago and has practically nothing to do with house cats. Now interbreeding is an issue for the preservation of the small number of wildcats left in Scotland. It's sad but hardly a concern for keeping cats in most areas of the UK.

Secondly, I do ignore that cats are 'bringing in foxes and badgers'. Can you present a source on this? I couldn't find anything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Sure, hand wave an extinction because its inconvenient.

Do you actually need me to google uk cat death counts for you? Or do you think predators entering human settlements is normal?

Did you guys not recently have a "serial cat murderer" who was just a fox leaving its kills in public places? Do you think thats a normal thing?

[–] jpeps 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

How am I hand waving it? I'm stating an obvious truth. What impact on wildcats do you expect to come from cats in Cornwall, Ipswich, or Manchester?

I think you don't have a clue what you're talking about. Yes, I would like you to google cat death counts and show me any evidence for what you're saying. I wouldn't be surprised at all to find that cats sometimes get killed by other animals, but to suggest that it's a significant cause of death or that they're the reason that foxes are coming to 'human settlements' is complete nonsense. You make it sound like packs of badgers roam the streets of London at night.

Foxes in cities are very normal. They're basically the UK's raccoon. They scavenge things, including the bodies of cats hit by cars.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If you think foxes are normal in cities, I actually dont think a pile of dead cats in front of your house would shake you of your delusions, to be honest.

You keep on hand waving reality bud. Worked stellar for brexit, and its destroying what shred of ecosystem is left on the british isles. But hey, you havent been right yet, gotta keep pushing on until you are right?

[–] jpeps 1 points 9 months ago

I can't tell if you're trolling or just incapable of an adult conversation, but I'm blocking you either way. Bye.