Keeping cats indoors

Hello,

I am preparing for a speech. I've picked the topic, "Why domestic cats should be kept indoors". Can anyone point me to any articles and links backing up the benefits of keeping a domestic cat indoors? Statistics like longevity is wonderful. Thanks.

here are some


http://www.courierpostonline.com/col...xha010304a.htm


http://cats.about.com/od/indoorsvsou...eepindoors.htm

http://earthcaretaker.com/pets/catshncmar2001.html
http://www.suttoncenter.org/cats_in.html
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=331

Cassidy I just typed in indoor cat statistics and got these

those links were great....my family think its terrible i want to keep both of my cats exclusively indoors...thank you

Originally Posted by reddicequeen

those links were great....my family think its terrible i want to keep both of my cats exclusively indoors...thank you

Click to expand...

My father used to think the same thing, until we moved to an urban area. He nearly hit a cat crossing the road one day, and hasn't let our cat outside ever since.

My ex-believed in letting the cats go out in the city even though it would shorten their lives.
Well, one cat never came back one day, and he wasn't even two years old. He also got his tail run over or something and had to have it amputated. I would also worry about them all the time if they didn't come home. I was sad when I heard about poor Wiley even though I hadn't been with the guy for a few months. I sorta thought of Wiley as my cat and he got me hooked on cats.

My neighbors let their cats out- they seem to have a lot of problems with getting abscesses and stuff.

We also had a cat that was living in the abanonded house down the road. The other neighbors fed him, and eventually coaxed him in. Turns out the cat had been declawed and had some kind of sore. He is now living happily with them.
I would feel horrible if anything ever happened to my guys. I think Zakk could handle going out, but Rocky can't see so well and is prown to illness so he is not allowed. We do live in a pretty rural area but I worry.

I keep my cats inside and have since they were kittens and they don't even try to go outside. But sometimes when the weather is nice I start to think I am being cruel and start to weaken then I see a cat that has been hit by a car and that re-strenghthens my resolve that they are going to be inside only cats.

My vet says that an outdoor cat's lifespan is only 5 years. That's so sad! I've lost some kitties to coyotes, but I'm converted, and they stay in the back yard now.

I don't like those Cats Inside links that the bird people put up. I looked into it and cats apparently have a minimal at best effect on the decline of songbirds (the main cause, of course, being humans destroying habitat), but those sites also suggest that declawing a cat is a good way of saving birds and small mammals! Arrrrrr!!!!!! Cats are SUPPOSED to hunt birds and small mammals! That's their JOB! If we stopped doing our best to obliterate everything about the world that is natural, then we wouldn't even be HAVING this issue!

Ok, sorry, it just got me worked up. Of course my cats are indoors only. I live on an alley off of a residential street, yes, but I'm half a block from a busy N-S artery in each direction. And there are bunchers and dogfighters and other cats and rat poison and cruel people and just a whole lot of bad things that could happen. I take my cats (well, Leo, anyway) out on a leash and he likes to patrol HIS alley, but that's as close to the great outdoors as he gets. The other two run away from the door when I open it and are terrified of the outdoors.

Totally agree with you, Allie. The Cats Indoors! campaign has nothing to do with cats, but only with birds. These same people do advocate declawing and extermination of stray/feral cats. Not a reliable source of information on anything that has to do with cats.