We hear a lot about the dangers to cats outdoors, but what about the dangers indoors? Of course there are good cat caretakers who are forced to keep their cats indoors to keep them safe and who make an indoor life fulfilled and as happy as a cat can be living that way. Giving their cat lots of love and attention, growing kitty grass for him to chew on, ensuring he has as natural a life as possible.
But there must be a number of cats living in misery who no one knows about. There is no danger indoors from traffic of course, or from wild animals or from strangers who would hurt a cat.
But in bad homes there is still danger from humans for indoor cats and an indoor cat has no way to escape from that situation! They are stuck in it 24 hours day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year….their whole lifetime.
An indoor cat is seen by no one outside, apart from if he sits in the window, but how many people look closely at someone else’s window? Not many, because of course it’s impolite.
Some cats may simply have a boring life, but the lives of others may be really miserable, particularly in the case of declawed cats who have nothing to do but eat and sleep. They can’t enjoy a good work out on a scratching post, or hook a toy to have a good kick at.
Do the people who have their cats declawed just want a living ornament? Why do they have a cat?
Those cats must be very vulnerable to the children and the dogs of the family. I can imagine them being treated like toys by the children, until they retaliate by biting and then as ‘bad cats’ are either shoved in a basement, put outside, or relinquished to a shelter.
How else can a declawed cat cope with a dog in the same house than by avoiding that dog? Jumping without claws is a risky business, so I imagine that the poor cat in those circumstances just keeps out of the dog’s way.
Hour after hour sitting with nothing to do. Maybe some declawed cats get loving attention from their owner (yes owner for all I hate that word I use it because caretakers don’t pay someone to cripple their pet). But I’d think a person who had their cat declawed rather than spend time teaching him to use a scratching post, wouldn’t give the cat much of their time at all.
I hate to think of cats behind closed doors living a life of boredom or fear and no one knows of their plight. At least indoor/outdoor cats are seen by other people and it’s noticeable if one needs help, some caring person can ensure the cat gets that help.
So while there may be many pros to cats being kept strictly indoors, there are many cons from an unhappy cat’s point of view!
Me too Kylee, cats don’t scratch or bite for no reason do they!
Thanks Dee yes I think about cats we can’t see too, I’m afraid many don’t have the happy life that each and every cat deserves to have.
Just recently a friend’s daughter has adopted a 5 year old cat, the family she came from had got a new dog and the cat was terrified of it.
So this poor cat who had lived in her home since being a kitten had it invaded by a dog, but she had to go, not the dog! Now the woman is saying ‘I cry and miss the cat’ well serve her right, she should have got rid of the usurping dog.
Exactly Michael, especially in a home where there is someone with a violent temper, say a man who hits his wife or vice versa, they would think nothing of abusing the family cat too and as you say, there would be no evidence and no one would know unless someone in the house spoke out.
Yea, it would be hard I agree ruth. Especially if there are dogs in that mix, and children who aren’t exactly kind. I heard the other day of a cat being blamed for hurting a child, when I’m pretty sure it was the kids fault. It upsets me when a cat gets hurt over something a child or human does.
Having strictly indoor cats can be a real challenge.
They need much more added stimulation than an indoor/outdoor cats.
It’s really a huge undertaking for decent caretakers. They have to direct and redirect constantly. They have to be creative in helping their cats have fulfilling lives. It’s more than a fulltime job.
I know that I write about my Damon a lot; but, he is worrisome to me because he has so much energy that is never expended enough. I’ve thought a hundred times about taking him outside, maybe with a harness, to let him have that experience. But I’m not sure how he would react. He was 7 weeks old when I brought him in and has never stepped outside these walls in 1 1/2 years. Would he be afraid? Would he love it so much that he would keep bolting out into the path of a car every time I opened the door? Am I doing him an injustice?
I, also, think about the lives of other cats inside peoples’ homes. Are they ignored or even abused in a way that no one would ever know?
Very good article, R. And, super poster, as always.
The full-time indoor cat is obviously safe from predators and traffic so a lot of dangers are out of the way. However, the full-time indoor cat is more vulnerable than an indoor/outdoor cat in one respect in that he is living in a closed environment with the world’s biggest killer and the animal at the top of the food chain: homo sapiens.
I am sure that most cat caretakers or cat owners are very good with their full-time indoor cats but we don’t know how many cat owners are bad with their full-time indoor cats. People can do what they like with their cat and nobody would know unless someone inside the household talked about it to someone outside the household.
It is all behind closed doors and totally secret and there will be no evidence of any misdeed. There are no statistics, no records. How many cats are killed inside the home? No idea. No one has any idea.