4 Australian cat owner attitudes to domestic cat containment or freedom to roam

A catio improves a cat's personality

My understanding of this study (see base of page) is that there are four reasons why Australian cat owners keep their cats inside their home. And there are five different ways of owning a cat in terms of containing them inside the home or allowing them outside. Australians have the highest domestic cat containment …

Read more

When it is time to admit failure and rehome your cat

Old male cat screams all the time when living in a one-bedroom apartment and the female owner is at the end of her tether

There is a woman on the mumsnet.com website who is completely at the end of her tether. She hates the cat that she adopted. She had waited all her life to adopt a cat of her own. When she finally bought her own one-bedroomed flat on the second floo she adopted an older male …

Read more

Domestic cats and humans need to be active for their health

I'm exhausted from playing!

This is a short note about cat caregiving. I am concerned at the growing trend to keep domestic cats inside full-time. It is very good in one way: safety from physical injury, usually by motor vehicles but bad in another namely a lack of activity and boredom. Do these two cancel each other out? …

Read more

Infographic on 5 thoughts on excess weight in cats

Infographic on 5 thoughts on excess weight in cats

This is a pretty basic infographic but I feel that it is useful to restate the basics from time to time. It depends on the person but there is no doubt that many cat owners still don’t really understand the need to watch calorie input and to burn more energy through exercise. For humans …

Read more

Full-time indoor cats are being short-changed on mental stimulation

We keep cats indoors full-time primarily for the benefit of the owner

The trend towards keeping domestic cats indoors full-time, particularly in developed countries where there are predators such as the USA, has introduced an interesting dynamic into the human-to-cat relationship. For me, it questions the motivation for this aspect of cat caregiving. The Infographic below explains what I mean. I don’t want to be critical …

Read more

The 5 freedoms and full-time indoor living for cats

Window perch for indoor cats

There is a policy called the Five Freedoms which applies to farm livestock, and which has been mentioned in a study about the adaptation of domestic cats to confinement. It is something that I had not considered before. There are challenges in keeping a domestic cat confined to the home particularly when it’s a …

Read more

Are indoor or indoor/outdoor cats healthier?

Domestic cat health - indoor versus indoor and outdoor lives

You would think that the answer is obvious and that you would say that indoor cats are healthier than indoor/outdoor cats. It’s more subtle than that. This is a big subject but perhaps it is useful to divide the health problems into two categories (1) trauma (2) everything else including parasitic infections, infectious diseases, …

Read more

Why are British Shorthairs indoor cats?

British Shorthair - an indoor cat

British Shorthair cats are purebred, pedigree cats when registered with a cat association. They have a distinctive appearance indicating that they are purebred. The most popular colour is blue which is a diluted black and these cats often have copper eyes. It is a distinctive and glamorous look. You won’t see a blue British …

Read more

follow it link and logo