Cat's left unwatched... Big no no

HI group, I have been reading some of these threads about letting your cat outside. I just wanted to make clear that you should be out there with them. Unless it is in a closed in area. A few of you have mentioned this, but I thought it should be said as plain as day. Don't do it at all please. For your cats sake, for your own, and for your neighbors too. I moved to a state that it seems to think it is ok to have their cats left outside all the time with out any restraints. They are fed and watered, but not let in the house. You can't have the best of both worlds here. Not only does it cause hardship on the cats, but on your neighbors. My brother lived next door to a situation like this. The neighbors were great people, but they didn't have any clue as to how to keep their cats safe. The cats were major pest, jumping up on cars and scratching paint jobs. Going up to the windows of my brothers home and teasing my brothers cat that he had inside. Grey started to pee around the house marking his own area. So these cats caused a lot of damage to be done to my brothers property. And all because the cats owners didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to let them in the house. But they wanted to have cats. Most of the time I was afraid I would drive off with one of them up on my engine block and hurt it. Poor things had fight marks all over them, because of the fights they got into with the other neighborhood cats. I just think all around it is not kind to do such things to your pet. Not to mention the breeding that goes on with these domesticated cats. I come from a state that doesnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t let you have outdoor cats in town. Now it does happen that cats get out but for the most part you didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have the problems I am facing with the state that I moved to. We did have barn cats, but that is out in the country, and is a little less hard on neighbors and cats alike. Though I still feel sorry for the cats being left outside. But I guess if they are use to it… Just had to put my two cents in here.

In a more enclosed area (like a town or development) I can see keeping the cats inside instead of letting them roam.

However, those that live in the country with acres and barns, etc. have to have outside cats. Most of the time the young learn how to avoid cars, etc. We live on a farm (with 3 barn cats) and we tell people that visit to beep the car horn before starting the engine.

Yes you lose a few cats here and there, but sometimes its necessary to have outside cats.

"Yes you lose a few cats here and there, but sometimes its necessary to have outside cats"

I personally would never be able to handle knowing that a cat (or a few) has died because I kept it outside... I know some cats have to be outside, such as feral colonies or cats that are unadoptable to homes where they would be inside and so become barn cats because there is no other option. Other than that, there isn't really any good reason. I think it comes down to whether you see the cat as part of the family or just a cat, as nobody would ever say "you lose a few kids here and there, but".
I suppose if I lived on a rural farm I would probably have a few inside cats and also take in a bunch of ferals as barn cats, if they could never be socialized because they were already too old.

I have both inside (strictly) and the outside barn cats - which are very friendly. They have their job to do in the barn/yard and we do feed them normal dry cat food too. They are all spayed/neutered now. Living in the country with outside cats is not wrong.

We finally figured out tho why we kept losing the females (not the males) - because the matriarch female chased the younger females off and out into the road. She hated competition and that's how we lost some of them. She would run them off. The males stood up to her and she didn't bother them.

That is one big reason we kept Ling as an indoor only - cause we knew that Grandma LoCal would eventually kill Ling one way or the other.