Indoor Only Cats
by Maggie Sharp
(Hobart, Tasmania, Australia)
Me and my indoors only Aby! As you can see, he hates camera flashes!!
I know how people on this website feel about indoor only cats, some people will be set in stone when it comes to their opinions regarding this particular topic, which is fine and I respect that. But, I must stress, that in my time I've lost quite a few cats to the outdoors, in tragic ways. The most recent being Wilson, who was hit by a car and left to die, which was just last November. I don't know how much cats mean to other people, but these loses all had a major impact on my life, and to be honest I can't stand the pain of losing them due to the outdoors any longer.
Before I purchased Chilli, his breeder told me that under no circumstances was Chilli to go outside. I strongly disagreed, believing it was cruel, but I soon came to realise that Chilli's breeder was in fact correct, though, I should have already known...
What really irritates me is when people say I'm a cruel, irresponsible cat owner for having an indoors only cat, well listen, if I were irresponsible do you think I would go to the effort to keep him inside and make sure that everything he needs is tended to? No, I would chuck him outside and forget about him. And I certainly would NOT be cleaning his litter box everyday!!
Clearly I avoid many things by having an indoors only cat, I shouldn't have to name them, any cat owner should consider dangers before committing to ownership, but I also have assurance that my cat is safe, in his home with me, there's no chances of him being stolen, mauled by dogs, hit by a car or anything of the like. I mean, tell me, exactly how many cats have become road kill inside?
I've had cats hit by cars, stolen, killed by other cats, bitten by snakes, I even found a cat that had been tortured and left to die. I don't understand how anyone could let that happen to their cat, to leave their cat to such an uncertain fate... I can't believe I allowed cats outside, I don't think I've ever done anything so stupid and selfish in my life...
Having said that, I lost an Aby who was outdoors/indoors in 2005, he was almost 17 year old... But even then, he would often come home with a limp or some sort of injury...
This isn't much of a post regarding indoor only cats, but for now I think it will do, and I hope it's helped people see this subject from my point of view.... I love my cat more than anything in the world, I would do anything for him, and all I want to do is keep him safe.
(Sorry about the photo, my camera lens can't get light in, which is why the quality is so poor-even after editing...)
Maggie
My husband and I solved the indoor/outdoor problem for our cats 7 years ago. We live on nearly 3/4 of an acre, and have a huge backyard. We built the ultimate (we feel) catio. It is 7 feet tall (inside height) x 10 feet wide, x 20 feet long. Inside there’s grass, a water fountain, the litter boxes in their own shelter, accessible from outside the catio, and 4 logs(in different angles) for the cats to strop on. We installed a doggie door for the cats to come and go as they wish.Our little dogs love it as well, even though they can go out in the entire yard, as it has a 6 foot privacy fence all around. We have 5 doggie igloos in there as well, and adjustable tarps to create sun and shade.The entire structure is roofed.No rain gets in either, so the cats can go out in any weather. The catio is built with 4×4 posts sunk in concrete, and is double fenced. We live near Prescott, AZ, and do have coyotes in the area, which can jump a 6 foot fence no problem, as well as skunks, but our cats and dogs are perfectly safe when they decide to visit our “outback”. And we do own our property outright.