Indoor Cat vs Outdoor Cat

I realize it is a highly charged topic.  My justification for why I like the cats to go outdoors is that they are territorial, there are other cats and ferals out there anyway.  Current feral recommendations are to sterilize them and put them back out there, so that they keep their territory and don't open it up to other ferals.  My cats and I like it as well and I build the bird population with feeding that is off the ground so I feel I am justified.

I'm in the crowd that is adamantly opposed to letting cats outside. Cats don't crave it as much as people like to think, and my four are perfectly happy as indoor cats. They never try to get out, although they love sniffing the breeze and watching birds and small animals while chattering at them.

The thing is, when a cat goes outdoors, its life expectancy drops dramatically. Not only are there other animals out there that could fight with your cat and do serious damage, but also there are pests such as ticks, fleas, and other much more disgusting tiny creatures that could make them very ill -- even deathly ill.

My Sasha was an outdoor cat before I adopted her, and because she spent a lot of time living outdoors before she was taken in by a shelter, she had already encountered heartworm. This unfortunately went untreated while she was living wild, and as a result she had a heart problem that killed her when she was only five.

Help your cats live longer. Keep them inside, even thought some people will call it "unnatural." Living in houses is "unnatural" for people, but we seem to have adapted quite well.

Welp, here's what I think. For years I had outdoor cats; thought it was cruel to keep them inside. Most of them met untimely deaths at the result of an automobile tire, and still I thought it was best. My last two cats, although outdoor did not die that way, I worried about the birds they were killing and abkht disease. So, I vowed that my current two cats would be indoor cats. At first they protested, even tried to sneak out. Now, while they love when I open the windows, they don't even try to sneak out and this is two cats that were feral--one outside for at least a year and the other four months or more. The funniest thing was when Sasha would get out, she wouldn't go more than 10 feet from the house, but refused to come in. She'd just sit there and howl and howl, so forlornly. Eventually, she came in on her own.

So, I'm going to keep them in.

It's better for the birds, it's better for the cats' health... to me, it was always a no-brainer.

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I'm sure overall it's better for the cats to stay in.  When we got our first, the vet said average life span of an outdoor cat was just a year or so.  However, that cat had been "on the street" for a while and was DETERMINED to go out again, so finally we relented, after trying the harness-and-leash thing first, once (too bad there wasn't video in those days!).  He was very fearful of cars, though, and would creeeeepp out toward the street, but then run back to the house whenever a car passed.  Also, I was single and kid-less and had nothing better to do in the evening than make a fool of myself walking the neighborhood, shaking a box of Friskies to lure him back before the coyotes came out.  He was always indoors overnight.  He made it to 18 years old and was a great cat, though as a long-time resident of LA he never became reconciled to snow.

By contrast, the current cat (who has no front claws, courtesy of a former owner, and therefore must stay in), never even tried to get out the first year or two he lived with us.  Recently he makes a little effort, but at 8 yo he's not really putting his whole heart into it.  He can just as well lounge in the sun by the slider and watch the birds and critters by the bird feeders, or sit a few steps up the stairs and watch the world go by through the front door.

All this too-long post to say:  the situation varies from cat to cat, but if I had a cat who wasn't making a big issue of going out, I would certainly keep him inside.  It's fun to see the things they do outside (lurking in the plants, "relating" to neighbors' pets), but otoh they can get into a lot of troubles (fyi, a box of snail bait sounds just like Friskies).

If you like building things, some people make outdoor enclosures for their cats.  check it out on Google.

Just for another POV, and total silliness, my son lives on the Gulf inter coastal in Florida. From the windows is a view of his dock , boats and wild life. His intention was to keep his cat Marvin as a house cat but the cat's curiosity was too much for him. Marvin now "lives" on a hous boat and meows to come in for food and water and an occasional belly rub and sleep in. Ach Marvin.