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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I understand both sides of this issue. Certainly in terms of longevity, cats do best indoors. Some cats are unhappy being indoors only, and we have tried being flexible. But here are the results: our indoor only cats are still with us, our indoor-outdoor cats have all died prematurely. Three (one older, two young) hit by cars when they wandered too far from the house, one got into something toxic that poisoned him. My DH felt for a long time that we should respect cats' instinct to go outside, but he now agrees we should commit to indoor only. It's not always easy, but we believe it's the better choice for the cats' wellbeing. Many (most?) shelters feel strongly about this, because they know the statistics and have seen lots of bad stuff.[/quote]

I had three outdoor cats - one was hit by a car, the other was killed by the neighbor's dog, and the third simply disappeared. All of them were over the age of ten (maybe even 15) when they died, and perhaps being elder cats contributed to their demise, e.g., couldn't get over the fence in time to escape the dog. The other thing was, outdoor cats have a really notable effect on the local ecosystem. Cats are predators. The outdoor cats brought countless birds and rabbits into the house - sometimes still alive, or barely alive - and from time to time I'd wake up to find a heap of animal entrails on the kitchen floor. In the back yard there was also one particular place where they'd leave things they'd killed. On the plus side, no litter box to clean - they always went outside to poop and pee.

My next two cats were indoor-only and lived to the age of 18. When I get new cats, they will be indoor-only.[/quote]

We do once a week supervised outdoor time but it’s always a frackas![/quote]

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