[alt text: an illustration of a person with a head-empty expression on their face, who is saying, “Not letting your cat outside is CRUEL!” Around the person are various gruesome scenes of different cats in distress. From the top and going clockwise, the scenes include: a cat being carried away by a hawk; a cat that is on fire; a dead cat in the road that has been run over by a car; several dead kittens; a cat that is missing an eye and various patches of fur; a cat that is feasting on a songbird; and a cat that is being carried away by a coyote. The person appears to be completely oblivious to these scenes of distress.]
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This has gone like other “cats are not native to everywhere and are massively impactful to the areas in which they are introduced” threads has gone, and while it has been more civil than the last, is going a bit sideways.
Depriving cats of enjoyment and engagement is not nice, that’s why we as owners can play with them using toys designed to satisfy their predatorial urges. Leaving cats unsupervised outside is also not nice to local bird populations, or those unsupervised cats who suffer unspeakable outcomes.
This is a good overview for folks that think cats should be outside. This particular quote stands out:
Although originally bred from their wild counterparts, domestic cats (which include feral felines and pets) are not native to any ecosystem, making them an invasive species everywhere they exist
https://www.popsci.com/environment/outdoor-cats-spread-diseases/
I’ve never understood how this is so controversial
People’s parents taught them that cats need to be allowed to roam outside to be healthy and happy. Many people don’t have the critical thinking skills to change the views that their parents gave them.
This neither funny nor informative. You’re just antagonizing for the sake of it.
i care a lot about the health and happiness of cats AND about the health of my local wildlife. Clearly some folks don’t understand that letting their cats roam outside is bad for the cat and for the local native wildlife, so I would argue that this post is plenty informative.
Edit: generally, I would say this follows the format of other political cartoons - using an illustration to make an argument succinctly.
Not letting your cat outside is cruel. Not considering the environment it’ll be in is also cruel.
Perhaps people should just be more mindful when it comes to their choice of pets and if they should even have one.
how is it cruel? There are many, many, many ways to provide enrichment for a cat without letting them outside to get run over by a car. I’m all for catios and taking cats for a walk on a leash or in some sort of covered carrier, as a form of enrichment. But I don’t think the absence of those activities is inherently cruel.
There are many, many, many ways to provide enrichment for a cat without letting them outside
Sure, I could buy some live mice for her to ‘play’ with, but I don’t want that mess inside my house.
your cat does not need to hunt live animals to be happy and healthy. That’s what cat toys are for. You should be playing with your cat at least 20 minutes a day, if not more. I get that some cats get lazy and don’t want to play for 20 minutes, and I got no judgment for stopping early if your cat is super uninterested. But you gotta at least try every day. That’s just part of responsible cat parenting.
To @Faydaikin@beehaw.org’s point, I think that if you can’t do that, you shouldn’t adopt a cat.
your cat does not need to hunt live animals to be happy and healthy.
It’s a predator, of course it needs to hunt to be happy.
yep. which is why you should play with your cat with toys, which won’t give them disgusting diseases like wild animals will.
Nah. She’s this fluffy little murder machine. She needs to sow death and destruction on the local mouse population.
i guess, if you enjoy being a menace to your local ecology. Then go off, king.
It is. They need to be outside as much as you do.
Nobody thrives in an exclusively indoor environment. They go crazy. Sterilization can help a bit, but they still need to go out sniffing stuff and at least play at hunting daily.
There’s a reason even prisons have courtyards and outside activities. It’s downright dangerous for everyone if they didn’t.
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Nobody thrives in an exclusively indoor environment. They go crazy. Sterilization can help a bit, but they still need to go out sniffing stuff and at least play at hunting daily.
Skill issue. My cats haven’t been outside since they were adopted, and they live happy, fulfilling lives full of enrichment. That’s what cat toys and puzzle feeders are for.
