{"id":6384,"date":"2024-04-15T05:07:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T13:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=6384"},"modified":"2024-04-15T05:07:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T13:07:31","slug":"meowy-monday-cats-inside-versus-outside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=6384","title":{"rendered":"Meowy Monday \u2013 Cats Inside Versus Outside"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Do you have friends who still offer their cats the freedom of the out of doors? I imagine you have neighbors who do. I now have six neighborhood cats visiting my yard pretty much on a daily basis. Two coming from one neighbor, one each from two other neighbors and two cats that I don\u2019t know where they \"\"belong.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re all beautiful, well-cared-for cats. That, I\u2019m glad to see, and Olivia and I enjoy seeing cats in the yard. So far, they\u2019re mannerly and fun to watch. But I sure do worry about their safety, as I\u2019m sure you \"\"do about the cats roaming free in your neighborhood.<\/p>\n

There seems to be no middle ground in the controversy between total indoor cats and cats being allowed to roam. Some cat people choose to keep their cats inside\"\" while others let their cats roam. One of my friends says, \u201cKeep a cat indoors? I couldn\u2019t do that to a cat.\u201d Of course, countless cat owners \"\"today, including me, say quite the opposite, \u201cAllow a cat to roam free? I couldn\u2019t do that to a cat.\u201d<\/p>\n

I grew up with the open-door-policy where my cats \"\"were concerned. I\u2019ve had numerous cats over the years which I allowed out if they wanted to go out\u2014they all did. And too many of them never came back. Some came back with injuries.<\/p>\n

Then I bought a purebred Persian and vowed to keep her inside. I did and things went swimmingly. I learned \"\"that you can train a cat to be happy as a housecat. I mean, if they never know anything different and if they have everything they need inside, it\u2019s easy to keep them safe and happy.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ve been a believer in keeping cats inside for the \"\"last thirty-five years and this commitment has served me and all of the cats I\u2019ve rescued since very well.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve since learned that indoor cats is a thing. Everyone is doing it and just look at all the help and support we\u2019re getting for this \"\"\u201cmovement.\u201d Cat organizations and experts everywhere support this decision. Major companies are creating amazing things to keep indoor cats active and entertained and healthy. There are podcasts and videos and conferences and professionals to show us how to keep our cats happy and healthy indoors\u2014by giving the cats lots of attention and\u00a0 using window perches, climbing apparatus and places to claw, chew, play, hide. You can even build or purchase simple or elaborate outdoor tunnels and other enclosures for your cat to enjoy the out of doors in safety.<\/p>\n

There will probably never be a total winner in the\"\" debate between keeping a cat indoors or allowing them total freedom, but there are statistics that show which decision is actually healthier for your cat. Can you guess which one it is?<\/p>\n

Here are a few statistics I found. The lifespan of an outdoor cat is as much as 10-12 years shorter<\/strong> than that of an indoor cat. Another study shows that outdoor cats live an average of 2-5 years where an indoor cat lives an average of 10-20 years. The reasons are many\u2014there is a long list of dangers for cats out of doors\u2014disease, parasites, traffic, wild animals, toxins and poisons used in neighbors\u2019 yards or stored in an open shed or garage. Cats can be closed in someplace, picked up by someone who thinks it’s a stray or attacked by other cats or even humans.<\/p>\n

Indoors or outdoors, it\u2019s a choice. Just make sure you\u2019re making the right choice for your cat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you have friends who still offer their cats the freedom of the out of doors? I imagine you have neighbors who do. I now have six neighborhood cats visiting my yard pretty much on a daily basis. Two coming … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6392,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6384\/revisions\/6392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}