Outdoor cats are unnecessarily exposed to serious, although, not always apparent risks every day. If you make your cat an indoor cat you will likely increase it’s life expectency and eliminate many risks addressed in this post.
1) From People
People are a major risk to nearly every kind of animal outdoors, including cats. There are people who torture animals, people who hate cats, people who hunt animals for entertainment, people doing activities that could even accidentally harm cats. Humans are the top predator in this world. Sadly, many do not value the lives of animals, and some even enjoy harming sweet creatures including cats.
If you keep the cat indoors, they are exposed to far less people that could cause it harm or kidnap it. Please keep cats away from harmful people. If the harmful person is in your home please consider adopting the cat to a home where it is safe.
2) From Other Cats
Cats, like people, each have their own temperment, perferences and personalities. Some cats are very passive, while others are very aggressive. By default, many outdoor stray cats are very dominant and agressive so they can survive in this deadly, unsafe world. Some cats are so agressive they will attack other cats in the territory they consider to be theirs. This may include cats under your watch.
Clearly there are bite and claw wounds which could harm your cat, but another terrible hazzard is the spreading of disease through blood or bite wounds. Your cat can contract deadly diseases during a fight, even if it’s not the aggressor. FIV, Feline Leukemia and other terrible diseases could be caught by your cat if attacked by an infected cat while outdoors.
Please keep kitties safe from diseases, bites, scratches, and attacks by keeping them indoors.
3) From Traps
Many people don’t think twice about setting a trap to kill animals, including cats. Other times a trap may be set for a different type of animal, only to catch your kitty companion instead by accident.
Live Traps
Some people use ‘Live Traps’ (some are safer than others) which greatly reduce the threat of harm done to the animal caught. The mindset of many people who use live traps is to catch the animal without harming it, in order to release it elsewhere. It’s good news to know that the risk is highly reduced for animals caught in live traps. It’s bad news though that your pet cat will likely be relocated, possibly far away. Parks, and farms are two common locations that people displace cats to. Can your pet kitty survive on it’s own in a new unfamiliar outdoor home with predators? Often farms will be overpopulated with other stray and feral cats. Can the cat fend off competitors for the food it finds?
Death Traps
Many other people use deadly traps, where the animal may suffer for a prolonged period of time to a slow painful death. Often the people who use these deadly traps won’t loose a second of sleep, and don’t really care about the suffering of the aniamls that get trapped.
Have you ever heard the stories of animals chewing off their legs to get free? These deadly traps are not only inhumane, but can torture the animals they trap. Sometimes both arms could be caught, and they just have to wait trapped in an unbearable position along with pain. They may bake in the sun and heat, or freeze in the cold until they die of dehydration or freeze to death.
Does your cat getting trapped sound in the least bit terrible to you? You can easily avoid having your feline friend caught in a trap by not letting it outside. Please keep kitty indoors safe from trappers.
4) From Predators
Certainly other cats can be predators, but what about other animals?
Raptors From Above
Many large raptors are capable of swooping down and snatching up small cats, some may be able to hunt larger cats.
It’s likely hard to spot these flying predators coming as they are fast birds that are not seen when focusing attention on ground level hazards.
Please keep cats safe indoors where they are not at risk of getting caught by a raptor.
Agressive And Wild Dogs On Land
While some dogs love cats, many others do not, and many will kill cats if they have the chance. If a large agressive dog is straving it may even be capable of eating your cat.
Most dogs aren’t wild, but some are abused or even starved by their owners, which may drive them to extremes. Others are taught to be agressive and kill other animals.
Please keep your pet kitties indoors to keep them safe from agressive dogs.
Coyotes And Wolves By Night
Do you live in an area where you can hear coyotes or wolves howling at night? Another question to ask is if you, your neighbors or other’s in the area mention missing chickens or other animals? If you answered yes to either of these questions, do you have outdoor cats?
Aligators And Crocodiles In Water
Are you in an area where aligators or crocodiles exist? Outdoor cats are at risk if they drink from water bodies containing these deadly creatures.
If you’ve ever heard horiffic news headlines of children being eaten by an aligator, then you know the potential dangers they pose. While they are simply instinctual creatures trying to survive, it could result in a terrible fate for your pet cats. Getting a harmless drink outside may have lethal consequences for the kitty.
Please keep your pet kitties safe from deadly predators by keeping them indoors safe from harmful creatures.
5) From Excessive Hot & Cold Weather
It’s not only unpleasant but could even be deadly for animals in excessively hot or cold weather conditions.
Intense Heat
Sadly, every year people die from heat stroke. Imagine being an animal living outdoors in the sweltering heat that is enough to kill animals without heavy fur coats on. Similarly, consider being put in a kennel outdoors with no shade. These are the terrible conditions that can also result in fatalities for animals with no refuge from the weather. Many outdoor cats may be able to find shade or cooler shelter away from the sun. However, those confined to outdoor kennels or strollers may not survive. They could die from overheating.
If you live in a climate controlled home with air conditioning or central air your cat will be safer from heat sickness.
Perilous Freezing Cold
Just as people die every year from heat, people also die from the cold. Frost bite is real. Freezing to death is real. Most cat breeds have relatively thick fur coats to keep them warm. Regardless, if the weather is cold enough cats can freeze to death.
Please keep your pet cat safe from excessive hot and cold weather by keeping them indoors where the temperature is regulated and comfortable.
6) From Traffic
Traffic is a killer. Pedestrians and animals alike are killed daily on the streets, including cats.
Parents tell their kids when growing up to look both ways before crossing the road. Children are told not to play on the street, or even get near it without adult supervision. Unfortunately, there is no way to warn cats, dogs or other animals of the deadly dangers of traffic.
It doesn’t take long when driving to see dead animals on the road. Sometimes the animals are even cats, which may have been part of a happy loving family. An innocent mistake by the owner wanting the kitty to be happy by letting it outside may have lead to it’s death by getting hit on the street.
Please love your animals and keep them safe from traffic by keeping them indoors.
Conclusion
Clearly, there are an entire slew of outdoor hazzards that can be avoided simply by keeping the cat indoors. Any time a cat is allowed outdoors it is exposed to serious risks that are not present inside the home.
If you look at the life expectancy average for indoor cats verses outdoor cats you will notice incredible differences. Simply do a search for “indoor outdoor cat life expectancy” to see some of the results for yourself.
Please keep your kitties safer, and live the longest life possible by keeping them as indoor only pets.
Kind regards,
-Randy / Animal Weekly
