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"Outdoor Cat vs Indoor Cat" by Sarah Andersen (lemm.ee)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] emergencyfood 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Three factors to consider:-

Are these cats native (or naturalised) to your local ecosystem? If wherever you live has had cats for a hundred years or so, the local wildlife would have adapted to them. Otherwise, cats can damage the local ecosystem.
Do you rely on the cats to suppress vermin (rats, squirrels, small birds, etc.)? Even if your cats aren't actively killing them, their mere 'patrolling' can drive these pests away. But if you keep them indoors, you lose this protection.
Are there any local predators that are particularly good at catching cats?

If your answers are yes, yes and no, then let your cats out. If they are no, no and yes, keep them in as far as possible.

[–] wander1236 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I'm not really sure how long housecats have been around in this area. I think historically there were a lot of farms here (in the 1800s) so they may have had cats, but I don't have historical data.

We didn't get cats to hunt down mice, but it's pretty rare that we see them, and it's an old farmhouse, so maybe we're relying on their hunting implicitly? I've occasionally seen them catch and eat mice around the yard, and sometimes they bring one to the door to show off.

There are supposedly coyotes around, but I don't think I've ever seen one here, and we've only ever had cats just disappear a couple times, and they were already 17-19. The bigger danger seems to be other outdoor cats (not sure if they're feral or not) that one of ours occasionally fights with, but the vet knows they go outdoors, and they're up-to-date on all their shots.

[–] emergencyfood 1 points 7 months ago

Should be fine then.

but it's pretty rare that we see them, and it's an old farmhouse, so maybe we're relying on their hunting implicitly?

The presence of your cats is probably keeping the mice away.

The bigger danger seems to be other outdoor cats

Cats have their territories and defend them aggressively. Make sure your cats are spayed, but from what I've seen even this doesn't reduce aggression in females.