• bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    Outdoor cat: “today I killed 300 birds and permanently altered the local ecosystem”

    Indoor cat: “hehe I shit in a box”

    • And so begins a new battle in the eternal war between Americans with indoor cats and others with outdoor cats.

      It’s pretty difficult to actually find an indoor cat in the UK. In the US it’s common.

    • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Not how cats work. Nice job getting butthurt about a funny comic on the internet, though.

      And just so you can be better informed in the future. Feral cats are the ones affecting the ecosystem. Outdoor house cats have a negligible influence on wildlife. Let your cat go outside sometimes.

      And, just a guess, you should probably go outside sometimes too.

      "The magnitude of mortality they cause in mainland areas remains speculative, with large-scale estimates based on non-systematic analyses and little consideration of scientific data. Here we conduct a systematic review and quantitatively estimate mortality caused by cats in the United States. We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually. Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality."

      Downvoting doesn’t make you right and it doesn’t make your cats less miserable.

        • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          "The magnitude of mortality they cause in mainland areas remains speculative, with large-scale estimates based on non-systematic analyses and little consideration of scientific data. Here we conduct a systematic review and quantitatively estimate mortality caused by cats in the United States. We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually. Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality."

      • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
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        9 months ago

        Thats exactly how cats work.

        The comic is funny and cute, but dont get it twisted. The science is pretty firm on the destructive effects of invasive domestic cats.

        • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          "The magnitude of mortality they cause in mainland areas remains speculative, with large-scale estimates based on non-systematic analyses and little consideration of scientific data. Here we conduct a systematic review and quantitatively estimate mortality caused by cats in the United States. We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually. Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality."

          Maybe don’t believe every sensationalized social media article that’s really just a barely disguised cat litter ad.

          “The science is pretty firm” lmao

    • TwoCubed@feddit.de
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      9 months ago

      Our 3 cats kill maybe a total of 5 birds and 10 mice a year. They can’t reproduce and prefer to stay inside for most of the year. They’re not a problem, as many new studies have found out. At least in northern Germany. It might be a bigger problem elsewhere though. Just trying to point out that your criticism may only apply to certain areas.

      • Ultraviolet@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        The danger isn’t to the cats, it’s to everything else. Ecologically speaking, cats are an invasive apex predator. They absolutely wreak havoc on local bird populations.

      • UserFlairOptional@lemmynsfw.com
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        9 months ago

        Cats survived before us by hunting small mammals and small birds, and they are very effective at getting fed.

        The motivation at the core of naming owners of outdoor cats as irresponsible is a sharp decline in songbird populations in direct proportion to the increase in outdoor cat population.

    • rektdeckard@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      You’re uninformed. Cats co-evolved with humans to serve a job (pest control, in exchange for safety and the occasional bit of food). There have only been fully indoor cats for a few hundred years. Not all cats have to have a job, but some WANT one, just like dogs. We should let them.

      My cat is angry with me if I don’t let him spend at least 12 hours a day roaming and catching bugs and mice. He has neighbor cat friends that he goes to see. Why would I deprive him of that?

      • Grayox@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        “Outdoor domestic cats are a recognized threat to global biodiversity. Cats have contributed to the extinction of 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles in the wild”

        You shouldn’t be proud of contributing to the extinction of animals…

  • wander1236@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    We have 3 indoor/outdoor cats because we’ve just always had indoor/outdoor cats and I never really thought about it.

    Being on more cat-related Reddit and Lemmy communities, I’ve seen more and more of the arguments for keeping cats as indoor-only, and it’s been making me think more about how to care for cats we adopt.

    From what I’ve seen of the discussions, a lot of them seem to center around urban areas and towns, where there’s a high population density. Some arguments also seem to be based off the assumption that the pets aren’t spayed or neutered.

    We live in the middle of nowhere and all our cats are fixed as soon as possible (we’ve had kittens sometimes and they stay inside until then).

    Is there different logic for this situation, or is it the same advice to always keep them indoors?

    I’m genuinely asking.

    • Grimy@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Not all cats are killing machines but with 3, chances are at least one of them is. On the other hand, an outdoor life is probably much more fulfilling for a cat.

      At a minimum, make sure they have bells around their collar so it warns the local wildlife.

    • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
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      9 months ago

      Unless you live in the native original range for cats, and your local region has zero automobiles, and you have no issue paying vet bills for random illness or parasite infections, then sure. Its probably not that big a risk to let your cat out unsupervised.

      Brits are very arrogantly incorrect about their cat care. They are driving local wildcats extinct, and feeding their pets to local foxes, badgers, and car wheels.

      You can still supplement outdoor time for your cat tho. Harness/leash training isnt too difficult, just go in areas you dont expect dog walkers. And you can also build catios, outdoor spaces that are fenced in.

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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        9 months ago

        They are driving local wildcats extinct, and feeding their pets to local foxes, badgers, and car wheels.

        Still better than locking them in a cage and never letting them out

  • limelight79@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    I cannot imagine having an indoor/outdoor cat. I’d worry so much about them while they were away. And if they just disappeared and didn’t return…I don’t know how I could stand it.

    We have 3 indoor-only cats. Obviously I’m pretty attached to them.

    • jpeps@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I really understand that fear, and I do experience that with my outdoor cats. However cats tend to stick to their established territory and patterns and at least for mine, never go far and barely ever out of sight. In the summer being outdoor cats pretty much just means they sleep all day curled up in the garden.

      • limelight79@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, I can’t do it. We have fox around, and plenty of community cats (one evening, I walked down the ravine looking for our dog after he ran off, and I shined my flashlight upward to see about 6 pairs of eyes staring at me). We had a cat get some sort of blood borne disease, we think she got it from a tick that was in the house when we moved in (it’s our only theory, we have no idea what actually happened), and she spent a few days in the animal hospital, and barely survived. (It also cost several thousand dollars.) Unfortunately she passed away from multiple medical issues a few years later. :(

        (We adopted another cat after she passed - we’ve never had more than 3 at once.)

        • jpeps@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Sorry to hear about your cat! I’m assuming you’re in the states, and I’d agree that I don’t think I’d let a cat outside there. One extra bit of support in the UK is that it’s pretty unheard of to not routinely vaccinate your cats to protect against random diseases, but of course it can’t cover everything.

  • Toneswirly@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    My cat’s quality of life was dogshit indoors. She had bad allergic reactions all the time, would stop eating, Vet bills piled up with no explanations. I let her roam the neighborhood now, shes happy as a pig in shit. Her weight is stable, shes not breaking out in rashes all the time, and she entertains the neighbors. Cry me a river about all the mice and bunnies she kills.