Indoor Vs Outdoor

[Carlman]

I am a new first time kitty owner, and happened across this online:

Link taken out against FC forum Terms & Conditions

I haven't thought about it much before, but they have valid points. I wanted to hear from some experts before I decide though. Any thoughts, or valid arguments otherwise?

Thanks for the input,

Carl

[**Sapphire**]

Welcome to the Fat Cat Forum! :)

Personally, I wouldn't put my cats outside. My 3 are inside cats & they seem to be very happy being inside. They do occasionally go out with us, but only when my man & I are outside like BBQing & they can only go on the back porch & down a few stairs. We don't let them go exploring anywhere else.

IMO...there are way too many dangers outside for a cat. Not to mention different diseases, illnesses they can bring home.

[Ruby Saturday]

I haven't had a look at the site you posted, but there are advantages and disadvantages to both. A friend I have who lets her cats out for 12 hours a day seems to have no end of prblems with their health, although they are slim cats and have more of a spring in their step than my indoor ones.

I can't let my 3 out as I live in an apartment on a very busy road so it just wouldn't make sense at all to subject them to traffic dangers, plus we have urban foxes around who are very bold. Mind you my Chucky would probably scare the foxes away.

I make sure my cats have plenty of toys, a scratching post, and quite often, at least a couple of times a day I let them chase a special cat laser around, which they love, and it burns off their calories a little, as they tend to be lazy.

You will find advantages and disadvantages to both indoor and outdoor, but provided a cat has plenty of interesting things to do indoors he or she can be happy.

Another thing is litter. An indoor cat may be prone to not using a litter tray if it is not kept clean and free of clumps and that can occasionally lead to urinary problems, either passing urine outside a littler tray or perhaps urine retention.

[cooncatbob]

I read some where that the average life expectancy of and outdoor cat is 5 years while that of an indoor only cat is 12 years.
hen I was a kid we had several cats get run over and a couple more get poisoned and die.
My Samantha just passed away at 16 years old and was never under the weather for more then a day her whole life, and she never went out side and she was a happy kitty.