Do cats really need to go outdoors?

Thekittysaver said:

Well I really don't know so I'm not surprised that my info was incorrect. I've rescued some cats that need a house to live in. When it comes to feral cats I've always just let them go about their way because I've considered them "wild animals." I'd like to help them but I've always feared being scratched by one and catching something. I really don't know if humans can catch something from a feral other than rabies. I've read that cats can get rabies but it isn't very common. I could be wrong. I just joined this site and I'm feeling like I don't know anything about cats. lol

 

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PS We'd love to hear about your rescue experiences, I'll be watching for your thread!

Thekittysaver said:

Well I really don't know so I'm not surprised that my info was incorrect. I've rescued some cats that need a house to live in. When it comes to feral cats I've always just let them go about their way because I've considered them "wild animals." I'd like to help them but I've always feared being scratched by one and catching something. I really don't know if humans can catch something from a feral other than rabies. I've read that cats can get rabies but it isn't very common. I could be wrong. I just joined this site and I'm feeling like I don't know anything about cats. lol

 

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Notice the date I joined - June 2002. I came here because kittens were in the yard and no rescues around here would help. TCS helped. And our first feral rescue baby came inside. Lazlo. His 10th "Gotcha Day" was Friday. And I'm STILL learning!

Yes, there are various risks in working with feral cats, but rabies really isn't one of them. Cats are not a vector of the disease. But especially on the East Coast, raccoons are. Rabies vaccinations are a standard of care in the process of TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) feral colony management, and this helps cats become a barrier species. There have been a number of cats reported with rabies in various communities in NJ this year. Each one is a community without a TNR program.

And as to getting scratched or bitten? They have no interest in getting anywhere near you. :lol3:

LDG said:

Notice the date I joined - June 2002. I came here because kittens were in the yard and no rescues around here would help. TCS helped. And our first feral rescue baby came inside. Lazlo. His 10th "Gotcha Day" was Friday. And I'm STILL learning!
Yes, there are various risks in working with feral cats, but rabies really isn't one of them. Cats are not a vector of the disease. But especially on the East Coast, raccoons are. Rabies vaccinations are a standard of care in the process of TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) feral colony management, and this helps cats become a barrier species. There have been a number of cats reported with rabies in various communities in NJ this year. Each one is a community without a TNR program.

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Happy Anniversary Laurie!

And as to getting scratched or bitten? They have no interest in getting anywhere near you. :lol3:

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Ohh..good point. But, working with feral colonies doesn't mean you won't ever come in contact with a stray that WILL get close to you, right?

Have you ever been bitten or scratched? Have you taken the human rabies vaccine? Oh dear, I'm getting off topic, I'm sorry. But it's so interesting!

The only reason a stray or feral would scratch or bite you is if you grabbed them. . .which would be pretty dumb :tongue2:.

I was actually pretty dumb with my first feral trapping experience. I trapped all the cats in my neighborhood one by one (I only had one trap) and set them loose in my spare bathroom. I had 7 in there by the time we went to the low-cost clinic. Every time I walked in to feed them or clean the litterboxes, they would all go flying to the carriers to hide (which made it easy to go to the clinic--just had to close the carrier doors!), and I would have a stampede of panicked cats running all over the bathroom for about 30 seconds. And not one of them ever touched me. So if you're smart, you should never get bitten or scratched by a feral. And even if you're dumb you probably won't be :lol3:.

Oh Willowy!

And thanks Otto!


Gary was doing most of the trapping when we first started. He trapped a lot of coons and opossums (opossums are naturally rabies resistant and are by definition a barrier species). But he did interact with feral kittens, so the vet recommended he get a rabies vaccination. He did. I didn't.

And I've never been bitten by a feral cat. I've been scratched - but that's only with the ones that have started to be friendly and run around my feet when I'm putting the food down. Sometimes they'll be so excited for food they'll be standing there, and when I go to put the food down, they bat me with their paw. It's too cute. :lol3: But that's why I keep the 500ppm colloidal silver on hand. I just douse it, soak a cotton ball with it and put a bandaid over the soaked cotton ball, and no problem. (I'm allergic to cats, so the scratches even from my indoor kitties swell up like balloons. The CS prevents that too).

I've never had an infection from a bite (pilling my kitties) or a scratch.

And I'm sure there could be a problem with a stray that seems friendly. We just live in an area where there aren't strays, only ferals.

Honestly, cats get trapped in traps, taken directly to the vet and dropped off for a check up, s/n, parasite treatment, rabies vaccination, and treatment of any wounds or health issues (yes, we use convenia if they need antibiotics), and THEN they get released. We find out later if they're friendly or not.

In fact - we had two REALLY friendly kittens turn up a couple of weeks ago. It was hysterical. Gary came running inside all excited, because they came RIGHT up to him. Couldn't believe it. That was when we realized - we have NEVER, in 10 years of rescue - had anything but ferals to work with. :lol3: These two were obviously dumped here by someone who knew we'd take care of them. I called the foster org we worth with. Patty said they could take them. Gary asked "How are we going to get them to the vet?" I said "Pick them up and put them in crates." We'd been playing with them and picking them up all day. They were SO friendly, one was crawling all over the reception desk at the vet. In fact - he got adopted by a friend of the owner of the practice that night. They didn't need socialization. Whoever had them did a good job. :lol3: The other one was ready to go to Petsmart at their next showing (two days later) and got adopted right away.

otto said:

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My cat bit me at the vets last year.  It was 5pm, just too late to get to the minor injuries unit in the town.  By 9am the next morning I had a big red swollen area on my hand and was at the GP which is almost next door.  He had a student with him, showed her my hand and said they ALWAYS treat cat bits with antibiotics, but dog bites don't always need treating - the teeth are the difference.  By 10am I was collecting a prescription for 7 days of a high dose of Flucloxacillin.  The infection retreated fast, though there was bruising as well that took several days to more or less clear up.

He bit me as he had a bad tooth and the vet touched it.  However he wasn't well enough to get it removed, and had to be pts because of liver tumours about three months later.

EmilyMayWilcha said:

I am talking about cats having a pet door to freely go in and out unsupervised. If you are not out there with them how do you know if poop and urine are hiding under the dirt?

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I can't tell whose is whose in the litter tray.  I rarely see mine in the litter tray.  I do know which one it is that stands up to pee most of the time - he has long legs so even a tall hooded tray manages to have the join just where he pees....  I stand it on a waterpoof, pee-proof mat.

So if they were using the garden I wouldn't be any less wise, or any wiser.

I always come in late on these conversations LOL. But yes, I too worry so much more about my two outdoor ferals. 

I have a baby monitor outside so we can hear them in case there are any other critters encroaching. And we purchased a tall playhouse at Costco and built it for them after one of our ferals, William, had to have his tail amputated following some kind of mishap. Plus we pretty much gave our back deck/gazebo over to Ace and William because it is better to see them safe and in "their" areas. We have hiding areas in both the playhouse and on the deck. I think they sleep in the playhouse at night or in the hiding spot underneath. Here is a picture of the back deck and the gazebo as it is in the wintertime, we cover it with a solar pool cover and brick it down LOL.

With the playhouse they can go up onto our roof as well, and I have seen them up there now and then when the weather is ok. My dream would be to enable them to come up to our upstairs bedroom window somehow in case they need us- build stairs or something and a little deck. I'm not sure the raccoons would dare go up there. But we'd need to give them another stairs so they wouldn't be trapped there. It's always so complicated with kitties, isn't it LOL.  

But we did all this for our peace of mind. In the end we have little control and always have to worry about the possibility that one day Ace or William will not show up, or may show up  with orrible injuries. Now that William had his tail ijury, he is socialized, but will not leave Ace,the love of his life. So we have to allow him to stay outside. But I let them both in when there is any bad weather, and I lock my cats up. With Ace though, I have to keep the door open for her to get back out. Augh. 

My cats were healthier when they were going outside. I had stop for neighbors were trying to trap them to turn them in cat prison. So now they are staying in. Their mussle tone were so tip top when they were running and jumping outside. Skin and coat, having being bathed in the sun, beautiful. Now a days their spirit is crushed from being trapped in.  So unfair to cats. Of course I don't have any wild animals out there trying to kill them. If I did I would be keeping them in for that too. As it is just people are our only problem.

MeuzettesMom said:

My cats were healthier when they were going outside. I had stop for neighbors were trying to trap them to turn them in cat prison. So now they are staying in. Their mussle tone were so tip top when they were running and jumping outside. Skin and coat, having being bathed in the sun, beautiful. Now a days their spirit is crushed from being trapped in.  So unfair to cats. Of course I don't have any wild animals out there trying to kill them. If I did I would be keeping them in for that too. As it is just people are our only problem.

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Don't you think they can get just as much exercise inside as they did outside? I see absolutely no reason they can't. If you have a sunroom or screened porch, your cats can get all the sunlight they need to have beautiful skin and fur. All you are doing is reinforcing what I believe: cats, if not totally feral, do not belong outside because they can get everything they need in the house and risk being lost forever if allowed to roam. Absolutely nothing is unfair to cats when you keep them inside because if you had not let them out in the first place, they would never want to.

It's not really possible for a cat to get as much exercise indoors as out, unless your house is huge. When I call my ferals in for food, and they come running from across the neighborhood, I know that the indoor cats couldn't get that much exercise even if they did laps around the house all day.

Willowy said:

It's not really possible for a cat to get as much exercise indoors as out, unless your house is huge. When I call my ferals in for food, and they come running from across the neighborhood, I know that the indoor cats couldn't get that much exercise even if they did laps around the house all day.

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Cats don't need a lot of exercise like dogs do. They are good apartment dwellers. There is no reason to think cats need to go out to get all the exercise they need.

I know when one of my inside cats gets out he goes for a run and game of catch me if you can.  They were designed to hunt and have many fast paced spurts until sucess of getting something.  And trees give so much of a work out(the full size real trees that they climb up and down)

MeuzettesMom said:

My cats were healthier when they were going outside. I had stop for neighbors were trying to trap them to turn them in cat prison. So now they are staying in. Their mussle tone were so tip top when they were running and jumping outside. Skin and coat, having being bathed in the sun, beautiful. Now a days their spirit is crushed from being trapped in.  So unfair to cats. Of course I don't have any wild animals out there trying to kill them. If I did I would be keeping them in for that too. As it is just people are our only problem.

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When you have indoor cats it's the human's job to see that the cats get sufficient exercise. My cats are all fit and extremely active, because I play with them every day. I devote quite a lot of time to encouraging them to running, leaping, jumping, and tumbling with one another, too.

Your cats will adjust to being inside, and cheer up with lots of interactive Games with you every day. Do you have a sunny window or two? Put some cat trees in front of them so they have multiple places to sun bathe, too.

BarbB said:

I always come in late on these conversations LOL. But yes, I too worry so much more about my two outdoor ferals. 

I have a baby monitor outside so we can hear them in case there are any other critters encroaching. And we purchased a tall playhouse at Costco and built it for them after one of our ferals, William, had to have his tail amputated following some kind of mishap. Plus we pretty much gave our back deck/gazebo over to Ace and William because it is better to see them safe and in "their" areas. We have hiding areas in both the playhouse and on the deck. I think they sleep in the playhouse at night or in the hiding spot underneath. Here is a picture of the back deck and the gazebo as it is in the wintertime, we cover it with a solar pool cover and brick it down LOL.

With the playhouse they can go up onto our roof as well, and I have seen them up there now and then when the weather is ok. My dream would be to enable them to come up to our upstairs bedroom window somehow in case they need us- build stairs or something and a little deck. I'm not sure the raccoons would dare go up there. But we'd need to give them another stairs so they wouldn't be trapped there. It's always so complicated with kitties, isn't it LOL.  

But we did all this for our peace of mind. In the end we have little control and always have to worry about the possibility that one day Ace or William will not show up, or may show up  with orrible injuries. Now that William had his tail ijury, he is socialized, but will not leave Ace,the love of his life. So we have to allow him to stay outside. But I let them both in when there is any bad weather, and I lock my cats up. With Ace though, I have to keep the door open for her to get back out. Augh. 

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What a gorgeous, big, squidgy boy!

Two very loved ferals.... it's lovely to see.

otto said:

When you have indoor cats it's the human's job to see that the cats get sufficient exercise.

My cats are all fit and extremely active, because I play with them every day. I devote quite a lot of time to encouraging them to running, leaping, jumping, and tumbling with one another, too.
 

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Exactly, I enjoy play time with my cats. They're a very active breed and excellent at entertaining themselves, playing chasey, running up and down the cat trees (we love the floor-ceiling models) but also love interaction with teasers or a laser pointer.

We have smaller cat trees in front of each window, bird baths or feeders in the garden make for wonderful viewing.

 

i did get a body belt f her.. but she hates walking in that ! 

In saying that cats can be just as fit in house and don't need to leave house. 

I have seen fit people on tv housed in seg in jail.  Is it possible YES, but if there is a safe option to be out think that is the best for any animal.

I never let my cat outside unless she is on the harness and leash! Beside, all cats should be kept indoors anyways And most importantly SPAY AND NEUTER!

konstargirl said:

Beside, all cats should be kept indoors anyways

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My cats have an escape-proof garden they go in as and when they choose, which sometimes includes when it's wet!  It gives them a whole dfferent set of experiences that no indoor cat could be provided with.  It also more than doubles their living space.  So far as I am concerned, it's the perfect way for them to live.