Bigger issue imo is cats destroying wild life not the wild life destroying cats. Either way, keep your cat inside.
this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
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Some of us live in countries that don't really have dangerous wild life and cats have been allowed outside for over 1000 years.
Humans can sustain a large density of cats that wasn't possible in the wild. If it's a pet cat, don't let it hunt. It will imbalance the ecosystem by adding too many predators who don't depend on the prey for sustenance
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cats have been allowed outside for over 1000 years
That's simply not true. There were never as many outdoor cats as there is today and cats used to have natural predators everywhere to keep environmental balance which is lost today. Keeping all of your pets indoors (or at least backyard) is the only ethically viable position.
Downvoted by people who don't like facts. There isn't a country in the world with a domestic cat population that wouldn't see a huge benefit to their native wildlife by keeping those pets inside or in a pet run. But people don't like the change or the effort of doing so, so they ignore this inconvenient fact.
Indeed, pet owners simply don't want to hear the truth which is incredibly irresponsible.
Even if you really must let your cat out there are things you can do like colorful collars with an attached bell which:
The BBScc reduced the number of birds brought home by 37% (probability of reduction of 88%). The number of mammals brought home was reduced by 54–62%, but only with the additional bell (probability of reduction of >99%)
https://zenodo.org/records/15210938
I've never seen a cat owner who cares enough to even do that when we have clear evidence this works. The naturalist argument of "oh they are local animals" is such an irresponsible cop out where they can't even bother to put a collar on to diminish the damage. It's inexcusable laziness, nothing else.
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Yeah I always found the argument absurd as I live on a paved over rectangle with a few square feet of grass my cat likes to poop on while he hangs out with the local squirrels. He is far too lazy to hunt anything, he killed a mouse that was actually inside the house many many years ago but has been a pacifist since. He is 15 he literally wants to sit in the sun and do nothing.
Of course there are some cats who will hunt, and their owners should not allow that. But the blanket statements about environmental impacts, while they cool their house with AC, burn fossil fuels to heat food and go to work, order crap on Amazon...just lacks perspective.
As a cat owner who works in the animal industry, you're suffering from 'my personal experience is reality-itis'.
You can't 'not allow' your cat to hunt. The only chance you have is to keep it inside. Your old cat likely doesn't hunt outside but to think it killed a single mouse it's entire life, is delusional.
I don't understand people like you. Can you not accept that there are shades of gray, and exceptions to every rule? I'm simply arguing that not all cats MUST be kept indoors no ifs ands or buts. I concede that many cats, young ones in particular, will kill small animals. My (rescue) cat was an indoor cat for most of his 15 years and only when I moved from a major urban city apartment building to a slightly less-urban city single family house did I let him outside under controlled circumstances. I straight up know he isn't going around killing things. I didn't go out and BUY this cat, I'm not actively contributing to breeding or anything. I have an animal that deserves to enjoy his old age.
I should probably not engage with you people and just keep my truth to myself.
Your particular circumstances are why YOUR particular 15 year old cat is great hanging in his own yard. It is not an argument in general even that SOME cats ought to be outdoor because they are overwhelmingly get killed and kill out there.
Your argument is so inapplicable to almost anyone else that its like saying your former ax murderer friend is totally safe because he's taken up Buddhism and non-violence and is now mostly crippled.
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Cats don't always show you what they kill. I had a roommate that kept letting my cats out. Never saw them kill anything. Then my neighbor told me about how they were little murder machines while I was out at work. Tried taking out a whole near of baby birds.
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I can't take anyone seriously on cat welfare if they have a cat mutilated just to prevent furniture getting some scratch marks.
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It is better for the bird population, too.
I witnessed basically this exact conversation once. We were in the exam room, and our vet stepped out to the computer in the hallway to show a woman her cat's X-rays. Apparently it had been attacked by a dog and wouldn't make it.
The vet literally said, "So what did we learn today? Don't let your cat outside if you want it to live."
Funny.
In Europe we've the same discussion for the opposite reasons.
Do not let the cat outside, it will kills other animals.
It's really both. Eventually cat will get into an accident, but on the way there it will take a whole bunch of smaller animals and birds with it.
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This works for people with empathy who care. The former works for people who are selfish. Both are good to tell people. One may work where the other doesn't.
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Holy crap..yes. leash your cats for the love of all that is fuzzy.
The anger people have when you tell them it's neglect when you just let a cat roam free. It's insanity. Your cat can easily just never come home or be found dead to many things, and they also destroy lots of wildlife and crap on people's property with no respecting owner to clean up.
No one would take this from dogs..so why cats? It's literally for their safety and the safety of other animals...its mind boggling and the downvotrs prove it
Here is a perspective from someone who has owned an inside/outside cat for the last 12 years. My cat is independent and resourceful and yes, contributes to ecodestruction by killing birds and mice occasionally. To me this is negligible compared to the ecodestruction of simply existing in a city. If I lived in nature I would not have a cat. I don't think you can conflate my cat killing a pigeon twice a year in an urban environment with destroying the ecosystem.
It's also disengenuous to ignore the quality of life improvements of having a cat who is free to explore vs. one locked in an apartment all day. I recently moved and am now experiencing this and it sucks. I feel terrible for restricting her freedom and she is visibly less happy. If you think animals are sentient and have emotions, and you care about the environment, then none of what we are currently doing makes any sense.
I do already so I don't need to avoid doing because I already do even though the nature of my effect on the world is the sum of my behavior and I'm really bad at logic.
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