Comment by munificent | Hacker News Reader

Comment by munificent | Hacker News Reader

The best way to keep track of your cat is to not let it outside. Benefits:

1. Zero cost for cat tracking devices, never need to charge them, never need to worry about the cat losing the device.

2. Dramatically reduced chance of your cat being killed by a car. Despite blogs claiming otherwise, I can find no reputable statistics on the number of pets killed by cars in the US, but there are >250k collisions with animals every year. Most are deer, but anecdotally I know many many people who have killed cats accidentally.

3. Dramatically reduced chance of your cat being killed by a coyote or raccoon. Yes, coyotes and raccoons will absolutely fuck up your cat. Yes, they are very likely in your city.

4. Your cat will not be playing a part in the wholesale slaughter of billions of birds, small mammals, reptiles, and other fauna that domesticated cats are responsible for.

5. Significantly longer predicted lifespan for your cat. The life expectancy for an indoor cat is about 14 years. For an outdoor cat, it's 2 to 5 years.

6. Your neighbors will appreciate not stumbling onto your cat's poop while gardening.

Seriously, keep your cat indoors.

I just checked. There is no coyotes or raccoons in my city. Not even anyone in my country!

Oslo seems to be well within lynx territory, whom I am sure would be glad to snack on a housecat. Norway also has wolverines and in a few areas, wolves and bears.

Norwegian cats eat lynx.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Forest_cat

More seriously - biggest danger is probably cars.

Wow that is one big house cat! Beautiful.

That's just what the coyotes and raccoons want you to think!

Why'd you get a cat if you can't give it a proper life? I find it hard to believe that all areas/countries are equal here. Cats shouldn't be imprisoned if at all possible.

Every time this comes up, anywhere on the internet, this comment more or less appears. Cats belong outdoors, they're animals. You ever see how miserable a cat is indoors once its been outside? It's torture. So what if they have a shorter lifespan or get killed by a coyote - that's the cost of letting an animal outdoors vs confining it to a box. People who have cats in small city apartments are especially cruel.

...do dogs belong outdoors?

What about hamsters and guinea pigs?

Plenty of cats are perfectly happy to remain indoors. I have a cat who was rescued from the streets as a kitten. She actively refuses to go outside unless she is accompanied by a person, and even then, not for very long.

But even if you do want to let your cats live outdoor lives, that's no reason to just let them loose on the environment.

> You ever see how miserable a cat is indoors once its been outside? It's torture.

Yes, I wouldn't describe it as torture.

I have seen what an outdoor cat does when it gets its paws on a lizard, snake, baby bird, or mouse. That's torture.

> cats in small city apartments are especially cruel.

nah, you're just an uncreative person. you can be involved in your pets stimulation. seeing that you think having a pet inside is just confining, i feel pretty correct assuming you see pets as just an animal you hang out with and feed and not a responsibility to nourish. instead, have the outdoors do your work for you! and if they die, so be it. shows a lot of love and care :)

My cat is an indoor cat. It wears a tracker. Cats escape, sometimes. This way we get an alert if he manages to get out.

The cat would have a terribly boring life.

you can walk your cat on a leash. you can play with it to give it stimulation. letting your cat roam outside isn't a replacement for your laziness.

Even if you have a good point people are going to be less likely to listen to you if you start calling them lazy. This comment would be better without the last sentence

fair. projection on my part. i interpret seeing people say indoor cats lives are miserable (and using that idea uncritically to affirm their own choices) are doing so from a holier-than-thou position. to me, it's an uncreative and lazy view on pet ownership, but i getcha: flies, honey, and vinegar and all that.

> walk your cat on a leash

I doubt any of the cats I've ever had would approve of this

I live in an apartment complex with lots of animals and I see several of my neighbors leash-walk their cats regularly.

It just takes some time to train them usually. It's much easier if you get them used to it early in their lifetime, though.

Mine adores her leash walks. Cats are naturally skittish animals, being both prey and predator. So if they trust you as a source of protection the comfort of walking without worries is a benefit that outweighs the restriction of the harness. Plus it's high quality bonding time.

Sure, if you don't take care of it or provide any stimulation. Part of having pets is taking care of them.

How much more boring is our world becoming without our songbirds?

https://daily.jstor.org/environmental-danger-outdoor-cats/

There’s the academic source, and for my anecdotal one my family’s yard in Connecticut is much quieter on a June afternoon today than it was 20 years ago.

There are responsible ways to keep indoor cats entertained. If someone can’t do that, then it seems to me they’re just as unsuited to having a pet as if they couldn’t keep it fed.

How do you purport to know such a thing?

What if cats are native animals here and live here for thousand of years?

Maybe, it make sense to not generalize and firstly get some information where cats are more welcome and where not.

Cats (as a predators) keep population of birds, small mammals, reptiles, and other fauna healthy. Or we should ignore this because its false?

Where are household cats native animals?

Istanbul comes to mind. They have feral cats like other cities have feral pigeons, and have so for thousands of years

(and yes, pigeons are feral, not wild! They are a domesticated species)

feral != native

What outdoor cat lives 2-5 years? How is this number meaningful when it’s not compared across countries and urban environment?

This statistic is from the US.

… which is obvious, and not what I asked?

The asked what outdoor cats have that lifespan. The answer is outdoor cats in the US.

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