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Tweak says, "Bulgarian bon-bon"

sometimes sanity takes vacation time on me (keieeeye) wrote,
@ 2009-01-11 11:37:00

Current music:	Alanis Morissette: Head Over Feet
Entry tags:	nothing in particular

Indoor/outdoor?
Okay so this just came up and now I'm curious.

If you have cats, or know people who have cats, are they indoor or outdoor or both? And where do you live? Because Ashmo thinks outdoor only cats is odd and I think indoor only cats is odd and I vaguely recall hearing something about regional differences in this?

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	spacelogic 2009-01-10 04:48 pm UTC (link)
	Ours were always outdoor-only because my mum's deathly allergic. Most cats around here are indoor-outdoor or outdoor-only, though there are vehement indoor-only activists around too. That's in semi-suburban Northern California. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	keieeeye 2009-01-10 05:13 pm UTC (link)
	My dad just hates cats. D: D: We don't have pets at all though so our yard is neutral territory and all the neighbourhood cats just wander through every so often. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	bad_username 2009-01-10 05:01 pm UTC (link)
	My cat is a bit of both, really. I mean, I won't stop her from going out into the garden, but so far, as soon as she's in top of our tree, calling her name gets her back into the house. It works, uh, for now. (Reply to this) (Thread)

keieeeye
2009-01-10 05:10 pm UTC (link)

lol tree-climbing <3 My sister's cat is an ex-stray so she comes and goes at will - I think she's in the house most of the time when my sister's home, but when I was cat-sitting I didn't see her the whole time because she was out and would just wander back to eat and things. The only specifically indoor-only cat I've met was a kitten that the owners had only just got and were paranoid about losing. To me it just seems like... they're cats. They like going outside. I probably wouldn't ever have an outdoor only cat, but I certainly wouldn't stop them leaving the house if they wanted to.

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corporatecake
2009-01-10 05:09 pm UTC (link)

I live in rural Pennsylvania and my cat is indoor-only. This is partly because in the winter it gets too cold (as I said, my cat's brother froze to death last winter when it dropped below zero) and partly because my cat has been declawed (my parents insisted) ergo -- she can't defend herself against predators or hunt. She also really doesn't like it outside.

I know a good deal of indoor-only cats and cats who do both, but few that are outdoor only.

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	keieeeye 2009-01-10 05:11 pm UTC (link)
	>.< declawing. Though I guess that makes sense as a reason. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	corporatecake 2009-01-10 05:32 pm UTC (link)
	My cat used to be mean -- and I don't just mean in a "meh don't pet me, I'm grumpy" way, in an "I'm going to claw the pee out of you" way, and after we'd had her six months my mom decided that I shouldn't be getting anymore scars from my cat and she got declawed and spayed at the same time. The week after is the sweetest she's ever been. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	greyskyeyes 2009-01-10 05:57 pm UTC (link)
	my cat's indoor/outdoor, though less so now because he's an old fogie and it's freezing out. i've heard of outdoor only cats on like, farms and stuff (barn cats) and i know indoor only cats, but that's only if they've been declawed and stuff. (Reply to this)

outofpotions
2009-01-10 06:51 pm UTC (link)

I have had many cats over the years, and they have been inside cats only, outside cats only, or both, depending on the place and circumstances. The outdoor only cats were generally barn cats that we had. The indoor only cats were apartment cats (though my mom and sister keep theirs indoors, because my sister's is deaf, and my mom lives in a place where it's all too likely that it would be snatched up by a hawk), and the indoor-outdoor ones were generally in the burbs, where it was less likely that wild animals would be able to get to them. It's cheapest to have an indoor cat, as it's less likely to become sick or injured, and if you keep your cat healthy, you generally don't have to pay more than $35 a year in vet bills (for the shots)! Which I learned after working at the vet's last year... But yeah, I think it would definitely just depend on the area. xD Hi.

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	stellar_dust 2009-01-10 08:10 pm UTC (link)
	My cats are indoor, because I'm paranoid and also I live in a second-floor apartment. When I was growing up we had an indoor/outdoor cat for a few years - eventually he got hit by a car. ): That'd be Virginia & Maryland, USA. (Reply to this)

	nanthimus 2009-01-10 09:56 pm UTC (link)
	My cats are all outdoor only. This is in rural Georgia, USA. (Reply to this)

	wolfsilveroak 2009-01-10 09:57 pm UTC (link)
	Indoor only. Neutered and NOT declawed. Too dangerous with the road, wild animals and the general unknown for them to be outdoor cats, though, they'd love it. (Reply to this)

	rainbowling 2009-01-10 10:18 pm UTC (link)
	Most people I know have indoor-only cats, though a few have indoor and outdoor. Indoor and outdoor isn't quite as common though, mostly depending on where the people live - not near a busy road, not near a river, etc. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	rainbowling 2009-01-10 10:21 pm UTC (link)
	Michigan, USA. However, my aunt has indoor/outdoor cats and she's in Georgia, USA. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	guiltyred 2009-01-11 10:52 am UTC (link)
	Whereabouts in Michigan? I'm in Davison. :) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	rainbowling 2009-01-11 12:54 pm UTC (link)
	Metro-Detroit! (Reply to this) (Parent)

cupiscent
2009-01-10 11:34 pm UTC (link)

I have never had any luck convincing a cat that it should or shouldn't go anywhere.

I do not currently have a cat, though both I and Mr Dee desperately love cats. But we live in an apartment, and don't really feel that that's sufficient space for a cat. He also feels that having an indoor-only cat is cruel - a friend of ours has indoor cats, and swears they're happy and fulfilled, but he remains unconvinced. I just think we're out too much to really give a pet the attention it should have.

My cats growing up (in Queensland, Aus) were indoor/outdoor cats. They came and went as they liked. Oh, until the council brought in a cat curfew when I was about fourteen. The poor cat was never very happy with being locked in at night. She used to sit beside my pillow and scratch at my flyscreen and stick her tail up my nose, and then when I kicked her out of my room and shut the door, she'd try to get out the toilet window, standing on the flush button as she did so. Midnight hilarity!

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keieeeye
2009-01-10 11:39 pm UTC (link)

Yeah I'm of the mindset that you shouldn't have a pet if you don't know you can care for it - though I'd probably be willing to waive that if a stray turned up on my doorstep, since partial care is better than no care. :P I couldn't have an indoor only cat though. It just doesn't seem right to me, maybe because they seem more like they just choose to be with people than dogs, for example, and they're still partly "wild" animals.

(ps pepper wishes an importantish conversation with mill)

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likethistledown
2009-01-11 02:16 am UTC (link)

I have had barn cats and house cats. The only barn/house cat I have ever had is my current -- Ruby. The story behind getting her is very funny and complicated (which involves me thinking I found a male calico) but suffice it to say, she was Diamond's kitty for a while. She had a little house in the barn, enjoyed sleeping on his back and would frolic along with us whenever I rode. I was, at that time, working at a vet's office and I saw a pretty traumatic hit-by-car. It snowed within the next couple of days, I couldn't find Ruby (but had found a little frozen pile of calico fur on the road -- ugh, I spent the day in hysterics). So, when I got home from school and found out she had spent the whole day curled up in the barnloft to keep warm between the piles of hay I felt better. But the next day after work, I pretty much decided that she was to become an indoor only kitty. She was my girl and I was not going to risk her to the road (though she had never seemed to have the proclivity) ... She had been at my house twice before (when I had her spayed and then once, when she got a cut on her foot) so I knew she took to the indoors pretty well. And now she's my indoor-only fabulous lap kitty who never lets me out of her sight.

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keieeeye
2009-01-11 02:21 am UTC (link)

Aww precious. I guess roads would be one of those things against outdoor cats. We live on such a quiet street, it's a dead end that gets very little traffic, and my sister's cat as an ex-stray is pretty clearly world-savvy, so it's not as huge a risk as to someone living near a highway or something. Or even when I lived on Madras St, which was one of the N-S running streets through town, and we lived just north enough for there to be no traffic lights and people went quite fast up and down there on Friday and Saturday nights. So it would have been a lot more of a risk there than if I ever managed to get one here, really.

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likethistledown
2009-01-11 02:27 am UTC (link)

o, yeah, i am totally about whatever is safest for the cat and best for the home situation. this just happened to suit ruby and i. it was kind of funny ... i brought her home, set her down in front of my mom and said "she's staying, so shut up." (and we had another house cat that was supposed to be mine but got really attached to mom) ...

but yeah. i'd like to let her out, at least when i'm outside but we live MUCH closer to the street and people are always walking their dogs. plus, she's almost 9 years old. she def. prefers life as an indoor smooshy. i can open the door and she'll sniff the air and then walk away like "oh, i know what that shit is ALL about! no thank you!"

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	keieeeye 2009-01-11 02:29 am UTC (link)
	loooool. I think even if I lived super close to a road I'd want to take the kitty out for supervised outside time if it wanted, but I can definitely see the worry. Because animals learn from experience and unfortunately the experience of "getting hit by cars is dangerous" is sort of. um. not very fun. (Reply to this) (Parent)

katling
2009-01-11 03:18 am UTC (link)

My cats have been a bit of both depending on where I'm living.

Igloo was an indoor/outdoor cat when we were living in Glen Iris because it's a highly residential suburb. But when we moved to Richmond, she became an indoor only cat because Richmond is an inner city suburb and there were cars and stray cats everywhere. I would have ended up taking her to the vet every week or she'd have been killed. Same sort of reasoning when I moved to Thornbury. Great big main road only one house down from me. That's why Carys is an indoor cat as well.

That being said, they both get to go outdoors down at Merricks. Igloo was always on the reins because she was so timid and twitchy. I was afraid something would spook her and I'd never find her again. Carys was on the reins this summer because she's just a kitten and has that kittenish idiocy. Next summer I might try her off the reins and hope like hell she comes home for dinner. (I'm also going to do my best to train her to come when her name is called since I know you can train cats like that.... just takes a lot more patience. *lol*)

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	musify 2009-01-11 05:06 am UTC (link)
	Indoor-only, because cats wreak havoc on the native bird- and small-animal-life, and because Glory has no sense of fear and would get herself killed. (Reply to this)

tonybaldwin
2009-01-11 10:12 am UTC (link)

When my family live on a farm in Colorado our cats were indoor/outdoor, but mostly outdoors.
But my mother, now in CT (our home state, really), keeps her kitties indoors.

I have a dog, and he is indoor/outdoor, but mostly indoor.
When I was growing up, our dogs were always outdoor only. My parents wouldn't allow a dog in the house.

I also have pet rats now. They're pretty well indoors all the time.

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	keieeeye 2009-01-11 12:16 pm UTC (link)
	The idea of outdoor pet rats makes me giggle a bit, though of course... people do like taking their pets outside, whatever pet it is. I used to do it when I had mice, so really I couldn't talk. XD (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tonybaldwin 2009-01-11 12:23 pm UTC (link)
	We used to bring our rats out to play once in a while, but around here there are too many outdoor cats in the neighborhood for me to feel comfortable with that. Ratties are such fun! (Reply to this) (Parent)

guiltyred
2009-01-11 10:56 am UTC (link)

When I lived in Norman, Oklahoma, my cats were indoor/outdoor. But on moving to Michigan and moving in with Romy, all our kitties became indoor-only. Their cats were declawed in the front (their mom insisted), and mine were really old.

Since then, we've lost some to age and adopted more, and currently we have five kitties (age 1 year to 12 years), the three oldest are declawed, all are neutered, and we go to great lengths to keep them all entertained indoors. They've got climby things and toys galore, and two of them think the tops of the kitchen cupboards are the absolute best place in the whole apartment!

Indoor-only cats can live around 16 years or so, while outdoor cats only get to about 6 or 8 at best - too many dangers, from illness to cars to wild animals. My brother lives in Orange County, California, and he's had an indoor-outdoor cat taken by coyotes, so...yeah.

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discordian
2009-01-11 01:19 pm UTC (link)

My kitty is indoors only. I also live in a city, though. All but one of my cats have been indoor-outdoor and they all ultimately got into too many fights and had to be given up or just never came home one day. Tigger, the last kitty I had before I moved out here and who my mom has, is largely indoor. He would sneak outside at our old house, then get scared and cry until we let him back in, and I think he goes out on my mom's fire escape now.

Indoor only cats can live into their 20's comfortably if well taken care of. Outdoor only cats don't tend to make it much longer than 10, if that.

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namingofthings
2009-01-11 11:34 pm UTC (link)

I adopted my cat off of the street as a kitten. She was dumped near our home by some frakker who thought it was cool to take away tiiiiny kittens away from their mother.

ANYWAY.

She grew up indoors but then decided she liked the outdoors too after some years. I let her have her fun but then she started liking the outdoors a bit too much. :/ My friend on the other hand has 2 Siamese cats (male and female) and she keeps them inside. They do get curious but once they go out, they get beat up but stray cats and get petrified and need rescuing.

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