Is it cruel to keep a cat inside?

The SPCA won’t let you adopt a cat if you say you will let them go outside. So they at least feel the opposite.

I’m not sure I’d consider it cruelty to be kept safe from predators and bad humans, and traffic, living a cushy air co life.

I used to walk my cat on a leash and it was fine, and he only occasionally wanted to go out anyway.

Just imo, letting out a cat who is not fixed is very irresponsible. There are huge feral cat populations already, spreading disease to each other, and to humans. Not to mention the millions that die every day in kill shelters. I’d kick ya’ll’s butt for letting my cat out without my permission.

@KNOWITALL

“I’d kick ya’ll’s butt….”

Do you have an impression that these are a group of people sharing the same ass? ;-)

She tries telling them not to ever let the cat outside but her pleas fall on deaf ears and even turns into arguments. He says “It is a cat! If it wants to go out, he will find a way”

Have they ever seen what a beloved pet looks as road kill?
Or poisoned by someone who hates that they kill birds?
I won’t go on, you get the picture.
Unless the cat is well supervised outside, and unless it was feral, it can’t necessarily take care of itself.

It is not cruel to keep a cat inside. It is cruel to let the cat roam, get other cats preggers or get preggers itself, get in fights and have to go to the vet for stiches and to clean out infected wounds, not to mention to get itself run over or seriously hurt. Declawed cats are kept inside, so what’s the difference???

Our cat doesn’t want to go outside,it has a bed in every room,24/7 food and water.
Most it ever goes outside is to be with us on the deck in the Summer other than that it likes being inside.

@Brian Well ‘others’ let her out sounds like a group. Plus its fun to use it in plural like that lol.

Can you imagine someone letting your dog out to roam free against your wishes when you left for work? Super shady!!

@dispossesed She needs to move out, thats blatant disrespect. Its not his decision to make. Put the cat in her bedroom during work and lock the door.

Above everything else, that cat needs to get neutered NOW!
Each year, approximately 860,000 shelter cats are euthanized. That doesn’t even include the kittens that die before they even get to a shelter. And so many do.

I feel terrible for their cat, but I feel more terrible for the hundreds of offspring he could create. Little kittens that never have a chance, not to mention the mom’s that are basically raped by the non neutered roaming males. And have pregnancy after pregnancy.

Theoretically, a female cat can give birth to three litters of kittens per year, with an average of four kittens per litter, in an average lifetime of 10 years ,this could result in up to 120 kittens in her lifetime. Then when her kittens have kittens the number becomes horrendous.

It is beyond irresponsible for your friend to own a cat. It would be better off rehomed if nothing is going to change in this situation.

@anniereborn Agreed

I wouldnt trust the roomates around the cat at all either. Perhaps they’re annoyed by him and could snap someday if its arguments now. Dangerous situation for the poor kitty.

The big problem with a cat that is not neutered, being outside is that it will travel long distances if there’s a female cat in heat somewhere. In the travels, the cat is likely to cross a road and will get hit by a car.

In addition to what others above have said free-roaming cats can absolutely decimate local populations of birds and other small animals. Cats are extremely predatory and are one of the few animals that will hunt and kill for the sport of it, even if they aren’t hungry.

In short, and I say this as politely as I can, your friend and her roommates are irresponsible jackasses who have no business owning a cat.

When a cat is free to roam. It’s part of the food chain. IMO. It should be illegal to let them out. All they do, is damage the local environment, and/or receive damage.
Don’t get me wrong. I love cats. But they should not be outside, ever…

I have had cats that were indoor/outdoor cats and I have had cats that were only indoor cats. Several things play into my decisions. If the cat was spayed/neutered would be part of it. I always got them fixed, but you can’t/shouldn’t do that when they are too young. Another factor was whether I had them declawed or not. A cat without claws is basically helpless to defend itself so letting it outside can be dangerous.

@seawulf575 A female cat can get pregnant as early as 4 months old. If she is to be outdoors or at all, or there is a chance of escape, she needs to be spayed young.
Also…
I certainly hope you are not still declawing any cats. That is brutal, painful and and can gravely affect the cat.

@anniereborn With spaying a cat, I always waited until they came into heat at least once. Cats I saw that were spayed before that had all sorts of issues. And these days I don’t declaw the cats at all…I don’t have cats anymore. But I will tell you that the cats I owned that were declawed were just wonderful cats. No side effects except that they lived long, happy lives. I had one that made it to the ripe old age of 19 and she was sweet the whole way.

I had a cat who was free to run outside. I waited tables and when I walked home every night at the same time she would leap out of the bushes to greet me.

Then I moved to 3 story apartment building with a nice fenced in yard and 18 back porches, where she loved to roam up and down and all about, chasing squirrels up and down the stairs.

Then I moved to a 3 flat with a girlfriend who worked at a shelter, and she regaled me with stories about the short lifespans of outdoor vs. indoor cats. I enclosed the back porch so she (the cat) could have a little outside space, but essentially she was apartment-bound.

I felt bad for her (the cat) about a week. She adjusted fine. She lived years happily indoors.

Apparently even if a cat has been neutered, it will still go missing for days.

My neutered cat I described above got out once. Our neighbor spotted her hiding under his deck two days later. So we sat on our little back porch with the gate open having drinks, and she climbed the three flights home once she heard our voices.

You must keep them inside. It’s awful and cruel but this is what people have done to cats. They would not be able to survive outside now…..especially because of disease such as leukemia.