I grew up with multiple indoor / outdoor cats. One disappeared. One got mauled but healed. They mostly managed okay.
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:40 (two years ago) link
let cats do what they want in 2022
― k3vin k., Friday, December 31, 2021 8:52 PM (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
they're going to anyway so we should just accept it
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:43 (two years ago) link
Are coyotes actually real? I thought they were just a looney tunes character? Massive lol at the “Australian wild life will kill you!” Stereotype as well. While there might be some danger for outside cats in suburban Australia, it definitely does not come from wildlife
― hrep (H.P), Friday, December 31, 2021 9:34 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
coyotes are real, they live in the woods behind my house. a couple years ago one snatched a little dog out of a yard in my neighborhood. the next day a very distraught woman asked me if she could cut through my yard to get to the woods because she was just hoping to find some remaining evidence of the dog she loved.
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:46 (two years ago) link
We definitely have coyotes here. The tend to leave gruesome roadkill now and then. My kids, back when they were little, would sometimes have recess cancelled because there was a coyote about. I have friends who hear them when they take their dogs out for a walk, because you can hear the long coyote claws click-clack on the street. I myself have come across coyotes lurking about several times, in broad daylight.
When we got our cat (he was born on a farm) it was a challenge to keep him inside. Like, every day, every single time we opened the door, he would try to get out, and to stop him several times a day started to feel cruel. So for most of his life, he's been in indoor/outdoor car. He goes out when he asks, but especially as he gets older, he otherwise stays in. I know statistically their lives are better indoor-only, and tbf he's had a few mysterious injuries, one of which (however it occurred) left him blind in one eye (the eye is intact, but he sustained damage somehow to his optic nerve), but his life as indoor-outdoor has worked out pretty well for him. As he's gotten older (he's about 14) his roaming circle has gotten smaller and smaller. These days he's rarely much further afield than our backyard, or under the deck.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:48 (two years ago) link
there's tons of coyotes where i live (just outside of portland), in the summer i tend to go running at night to avoid the heat and if i don't run into a few coyotes it's a weird night
― Clay, Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:48 (two years ago) link
Coyote I saw down the street a couple of years ago:
https://i.imgur.com/uh30YTR.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:50 (two years ago) link
I expect coyotes will be a living species long after the last human dies. they are exceptionally smart, sneaky and tough. Humans managed to eradicate wolves in many places. They have had zero luck eradicating coyotes anywhere, no matter how hard they've tried.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:50 (two years ago) link
Coyote in Michael Mann's "Collateral":
https://the-take.com/images/uploads/screenprism/_constrain-1080w/Collateral_Coyote_Crossing.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:51 (two years ago) link
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 1 January 2022 12:43 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
I lean deterministic which definitely correlates to my outside cat position.
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:52 (two years ago) link
sin is a strong word, but cats should be kept inside
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:54 (two years ago) link
the animal that wounded my mom's cat and caused him permanent nerve damage was likely a coyote
― towards fungal computer (harbl), Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:56 (two years ago) link
my take is simple--cats that are born and raised indoors should stay that way for their safety in most places. cats that have spent some time outside for whatever reason probably should be allowed to continue. their lives will be shorter but from what i've seen bringing an outdoor cat inside full time can be very tough.
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:58 (two years ago) link
our kitty is much to clumsy, goofy and neurotic to be let outside. he seems pretty happy indoors, but needs to play a lot.
― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:04 (two years ago) link
Some cats really want to go out, some cats don't.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:06 (two years ago) link
I've got foxes in the neighborhood, I don't know if they fuck up cats or mutually leave each other alone but I wouldn't want to test it.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:10 (two years ago) link
I once knew someone who found a cat in a dumpster (so technically an outdoor cat) and took him in and tried to make him an indoor cat. But the cat rebelled and acted mental and destroyed clothes and many other things inside the apartment. So this person told me she hated the cat and couldn't take it anymore and handed the cat over to me. I let the cat be indoor/outdoor (this was in suburban Florida) and the cat seemed to change personality over night, and became a cat that everyone loved and appreciated. And the cat lived approximately 19 years. So I think there is something innate in cats that makes them want to be outside.
― Josefa, Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:15 (two years ago) link
We have 6 adopted-as-adults semi-feral cats that are indoors only. 2021 has been a year of litter and litterbox experiments but we're pretty well sorted going into 2022 with 3 Breeze boxes, 3 stainless steel boxes (2 with hemp litter, 1 currently with silica crystals), and 2 puppy pad locations. None of them really want to go outside, though we do set up a catio in warmer weather.
― Jaq, Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:17 (two years ago) link
our adopted seniors were indoor guys so we've kept it that way. one of them has gotten out a couple times due to someone inadvertently leaving something open, luckily he yowls loudly as soon as he's out so we know about it.
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:21 (two years ago) link
there's tons of coyotes where i live (just outside of portland)
one night last summer i spotted a coyote in ladd's addition (inner portland). thought it was a loose dog at first as i didn't think it possible that coyotes would even be here... this site told me otherwise.
― visiting, Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:23 (two years ago) link
Coyotes are pretty much everywhere. Raccoons, cute as they are, will also maim and kill cats. Where I am (suburban King County, south east of Seattle), we also have bobcats and the occasional mountain lion.
― Jaq, Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:27 (two years ago) link
I grew up on a farm and so all our "pets" were semi tame farm cats, I guess I didn't think about it, I remember a few deadly cold nights mom would bring them in. one was Old Blue, absolutely huge cat with beautiful blue eyes, he'd disappear for a couple weeks then saunter up the driveway. we assumed he had similar arrangements with neighboring farms
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:35 (two years ago) link
If I was a cat I'd just simply avoid continents with coyotes and bobcats!
― calzino, Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:41 (two years ago) link
Yes and no.
Take a stand Aimless you coward
(Aimless carefully looks up at the ceiling and clasps his hands together around his knees)
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:49 (two years ago) link
I often try out a different geographical history on my cats: first fleet Aussie/English prison ship cats, viking hunters, residents of the Egyptian royal court, Mongolian yurt dwelling cats, Moscow or Istanbul street cats. I have never imagined a cat to come from godforsaken coyote-infested America, and for good reason.
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:52 (two years ago) link
Calzino otm
― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Saturday, 1 January 2022 04:09 (two years ago) link
i hate this thread. keep your indoor cats indoors. litter boxes don’t smell if you use good litter and fucking clean them
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:21 (two years ago) link
my cat was a rescue, found in queens in 2013, came to live with me and my wife in BK in 2014. We moved to CT in 2018, where in addition to being a great cuddle/purr friend to the two daughters that came to be while he was in our house, he could run around outside and be the predator he was frankly born to be but could not enact in NYC… he often proudly brought his prey inside…
and yet in early october, we let him out at some point, and I found his his lifeless body in our yard in the afternoon, felled by a bobcat or a coyote… surely by his own estimation, we gave him a great life, but he lived and then died by the sword…
― veronica moser, Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:41 (two years ago) link
One of my cats was a rescue and he is still really shy around people to say the least. Still really sweet though.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 05:43 (two years ago) link
I live in suburban Maryland (outside Baltimore) and we’ve had reports of coyotes roaming about here in recent months, which is surreal.
I grew up with 4-5 cats. Resolutely indoor. My mom was no messing around.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 1 January 2022 12:19 (two years ago) link
sometimes on instagram I see Americans post photos of themselves taking their indoor cat out for a walk around the neighbourhood on a leash - is this a common thing? I find it impossible to imagine my cats letting anyone walk them around on a leash (but they've been allowed out by themselves all their lives, so it's different I guess)
― soref, Saturday, 1 January 2022 13:08 (two years ago) link
Soref, it’s an occasional thing from what I’ve seen, but not at all common.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 1 January 2022 13:12 (two years ago) link
There was a guy in the bit of SE London I lived in til recently who I would see walking around the streets with this Bengal-looking cat just chilling on his shoulders taking in the sights
― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Saturday, 1 January 2022 13:15 (two years ago) link
― Josefa, Friday, December 31, 2021 10:15 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
we found my childhood cat in the bushes next to our house, and for the majority of her life she was outdoor/indoor, though she very rarely goes out these days because she is 20. she’s indestructible
― k3vin k., Saturday, 1 January 2022 13:42 (two years ago) link
I tried walking one of my childhood cats on a leash, it took him all of 2 minutes to get out of the collar. Not sure I'd even seen a dog harness at that point but it might have been feasible with a cat version.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 1 January 2022 18:42 (two years ago) link
When I was a kid all our cats were indoor/outdoor and loved it. One would wander off for days at a time, pick fights with neighborhood dogs, etc., another would just lay in the driveway for a while on summer days then come back inside. I haven't had a cat in 30 years though, and I currently live on the second floor, so any cat I might theoretically own would be strictly indoors — I'm not going down a flight of stairs to let a cat in/out.
We have a shit-ton of feral cats on our block; there's an old lady in the next building over who actually lays out plates by her parking space and feeds them, which I'm not sure I agree with.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 1 January 2022 19:03 (two years ago) link
I adopted a cat not long after moving to Atlanta in 2011 and, despite my best efforts to change him, he would NOT be contained in a tiny 1br apartment with me. I really, really, really hated to let him wander around outside all night, and in the end he got hit by a car like told him he would a thousand times. Strictly indoor cats for me since then (and it helps if you get them when they're kittens so they don't know any different).
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Sunday, 2 January 2022 04:59 (two years ago) link
our cats are indoor/outdoor. we live in a place where at least one of them is doing some population control to the degree that is probably good for the habitat. a cat we'd lost a few years back had maybe 6-8 years prior been living in an apartment. very overweight and lethargic. her move to our current place resulted in a healthier lifestyle for her remaining years. i would personally have a hard time living someplace after this that required my cat to live indoors full-time.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Sunday, 2 January 2022 06:30 (two years ago) link
did you know outdoor cats kill so many birds that there are no birds in britain?
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Sunday, 2 January 2022 06:39 (two years ago) link
No way are these two ever going to be allowed outside the house.https://ptpimg.me/g4j77l.jpg
But they're the perfect indoor breed (Persian), and their 10-year-old, formerly feral sister, Clementine, would kill them if she weren't allowed to live outdoors pretty much 24-7. So, Clementine is allowed out. Fortunately, we live far enough back from any streets that I'm not worried about cars, and there aren't coyotes or raccoons in Hawaiʻi. She's so much happier out there, and watched after by the neighbors, too, who all love her. I just wish she could've been adjusted to tolerate other cats in the house. We certainly tried our best, but it was impossible.
― davey, Sunday, 2 January 2022 07:53 (two years ago) link
One of my indoor cats is eager to go outside. Earlier this year he got out and I didn't notice for about 5 minutes. I go behind my house and he's back there in a showdown with a stray cat, and he's already been scraped and gouged by a thorny desert plant. There are many other strays, many other thorny plants, plus coyotes and mountain lions. He'd been dead within a week if I let him roam around. I do have a harness and leash for him, but I put it on incorrectly the first time so now he's traumatized by it.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Sunday, 2 January 2022 18:48 (two years ago) link
Deeming it "obscenely cruel" to keep cats indoors is just ridiculous
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Sunday, 2 January 2022 18:49 (two years ago) link
*sips milk, cracks knuckles*
if yr cat is happy to live indoors, that’s best for everyone
if yr cat yearns to go out and you live in a safe area (no predators no loose dogs no busy roads no malicious neighbors no battlecats) with an over abundance of common minifauna that you don’t mind unleashing hell upon, that’s aight, just make sure kitty is vaxxed up
if u meet the previous criteria except there’s cat snackers around then bring yr babies in before dusk & keep them in while it’s dark
if where you live isn’t ideal for free roaming then a couple reasonable compromises would be
i) a catio if you have the space/money
ii) a harness, a leash, and a protected outdoor area (fenced yard or isolated park where you can see other folx and critters coming from a ways off)
it’s a real bad idea to hook a leash to a cat’s collar, which hopefully is a breakaway collar to begin with since they can hang themselves otherwise. at some point any cat on a leash is gonna freak out and try to scarper & it’s better if all that force is distributed across its chest rather than focused on its throat.
like with any strange new thing, when you introduce a kitty to a harness you gotta go slow and build up pawsitive associations, and some cats just straight up won’t have it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
this is my smudgy puff
https://i.imgur.com/z7Ws2OY.jpg
― cat? (cat), Sunday, 2 January 2022 19:19 (two years ago) link
this thread had me thinking about your excellent tips on the kitten thread.
― visiting, Sunday, 2 January 2022 19:33 (two years ago) link
A handsome specimen. Is the name Pele?
I think this conversation, raging 24/7 across the Internet as it is, usually turns into cross-purposes arguing between Americans who have witnessed the aftermath of traumatic coyote-maulings and slightly baffled non-Americans who live happily with tiddles in a quiet residential cul-de-sac in Surbiton or whatever
All the cats I had growing up were outdoors to some degree and couldn't have been convinced otherwise. With current incumbent Richie I'm a bit more minded to go with one of the above compromises because I live on a railway line and also he's kind of expensive looking
― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Sunday, 2 January 2022 19:34 (two years ago) link
yeah if i found a Richie i’d surreptitiously slip him in my bag & saunter away whistling, sorry but that’s the way it is
yes that is my Pele! my bunny, my snoogle, my mushkin, ruler of my house and all she surveys 🙏
gracias visiting! i kind of can’t shut up abt kitties, had to stop myself from posting a dozen irrelevant follow ups 2 that post about earwax and boxes and dangling poop, etc.
― cat? (cat), Sunday, 2 January 2022 19:48 (two years ago) link
We once saw a fox by our front yard. Our cat was out and just watched it from a short distance. This particular fox didn't care about the cat.
I remember a few deadly cold nights mom would bring them in.
We moved into our current house a week or so before the infamous polar vortex of 2014. At one point the cat went out and didn't return for maybe seven days. We figured he was a goner, what with the temps hovering around -15 or whatever it was. But after about a week or so he showed up at the backdoor again, none the worse for the wear. We figured that because it was so cold all the animals called a detente and just huddled together in a pile of cats, dogs, raccoons, mice, possums, etc., until the worst of the weather waned. And then the smartest of the bunch said everyone had a count of 100 to get to where they needed to be before the hostilities resumed.
Our cat is around 14 or 15, a little chunky, blind in one eye and missing a fang. He still goes out but not far. This is him most of the time:
https://i.imgur.com/4jIdB4F.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 2 January 2022 20:38 (two years ago) link
most unexpected thread ever.had no idea this was even a thing.i have always had cats, and they have all been both indoors and outdoors cats.my current cat is getting older, 14, and so she spends more time indoors now.but still, she needs to head out a couple of times a day.that said, we are off a main road, and have a garden.she never ever ventures far these days.when she was a young'un we used to see her on the hunt in the fields behind us, but those days are well over.
― mark e, Sunday, 2 January 2022 20:58 (two years ago) link
A thing here in my US community is people getting super mad about cats in their yards, trapping them and taking them to impounds in other counties where their owners won't think to look for them. Also roaming cats being trapped and used as bait in dog fights. Unfortunately found out about this when one of our semi-feral rescues got out of the catio last summer and never returned. After months of searching for him and postering every utility pole within a mile, we can only hope he found a better home and didn't meet a terrible fate. But it's hard never knowing.
― Jaq, Sunday, 2 January 2022 21:10 (two years ago) link
bloody hell.
oh, and what's a 'catio'?
― mark e, Sunday, 2 January 2022 21:14 (two years ago) link
xp fuck me, if they do that to cats I don’t like to think about what else they do
― mardheamac (gyac), Sunday, 2 January 2022 21:15 (two years ago) link
Heeeeeeat veeeeeeeeenthttps://i.imgur.com/TCaphW6.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 22:21 (two years ago) link
Norm outside at the end of summer.
https://i.imgur.com/8XL8Ed6.jpg
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 22 January 2022 19:58 (two years ago) link
And trying to get back INside:
https://i.imgur.com/Yp3By2f.jpg
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Saturday, 22 January 2022 20:00 (two years ago) link
YOU are cold. They have fur. Do not let inside. pic.twitter.com/WrVIdF9mkh— Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (@OKWildlifeDept) January 20, 2022
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 22 January 2022 23:10 (two years ago) link
I take it those furry kitties have the tendency to rip the face of people? Otherwise how could you not let a playful kitty like that into you home
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 22 January 2022 23:46 (two years ago) link
Found out how to get Butch to stay with me when I’m studying too. I introduce, the washing basket.
https://i.imgur.com/XsjZ47b.jpg
― hrep (H.P), Saturday, 22 January 2022 23:48 (two years ago) link
Had a great lesson in the natural order of things very early this morning. Our daughter woke us up around 3am because she thought she heard a woman screaming outside. We figured it was an animal or a cat fight, and because we have other animals around here and our cat was outside, my wife went downstairs to let him in. She said when he came inside his tail was all bushy, but also that when she opened the door to call him she was met with this horrifying shriek from the darkness. She didn't know what it was, just that it was some demonic animal. Based on that description we surmised it was probably a fox, and when I woke up I googled and found a clip that my daughter and wife confirmed was what she heard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk1mAd77Hr4
What's interesting, though, is that our cat didn't even react to the clip I played, staying sound asleep. Makes sense, the fox is not really a threat or predator, more an outdoor peer, and the cat is ambivalent at best about youtube clips. But when I called up a sound clip of coyotes, just to rule it out, he leapt from his chair in the other room at full attention, eyes wide, wildly looking toward the windows then to the computer then to me and back again. Because his tiny little brain apparently knows, through instinct or experience, what a coyote is, and knows they are bad news.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 March 2022 21:05 (two years ago) link
Meanwhile, our big guy was pretty happy to enjoy a near '70 degree day yesterday (though weirdly enough he seems to prefer colder weather; maybe it's the fur?)
https://i.imgur.com/CkdvAS1.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 March 2022 21:29 (two years ago) link
We had a male indoor cat who, inexplicably, started pissing everywhere. On everything. There may be a way to break male cats of this habit, but I never found it. Anyway, he was exiled to the outdoors where he has happily lived for more than a dozen years. He never goes off very far, and despite the near constant presence of coyotes and foxes in the neighborhood has managed to stay in one piece.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 18 March 2022 21:35 (two years ago) link
This morning in a pleasant change to the monotony of dead lizards, we instead woke up to a half eaten sausage roll my cats had dragged off the street onto our bedroom floor
― hrep (H.P), Monday, 21 March 2022 03:04 (two years ago) link
"it's for you"
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 21 March 2022 10:23 (two years ago) link
I do appreciate that this is there way of expressing love
― hrep (H.P), Monday, 21 March 2022 13:45 (two years ago) link
You provide food for us, we provide food for you kind of deal
― hrep (H.P), Monday, 21 March 2022 13:46 (two years ago) link
imagine your cats instead of Lana del Rey in "Video Games"
― sarahell, Monday, 21 March 2022 14:52 (two years ago) link