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Old June 17th 15, 04:31 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Mark Carroll[_2_]
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Posts: 22
Default In or Out

Mack A. Damia writes:

I think I was beaten down a year or so ago when I said that it was
cruel to let your cat roam outside.


It's definitely one of those questions for which there is a massive
cultural difference between countries. For instance, for the UK,
http://www.yourcat.co.uk/General-cat...door-cats.html
has, "In the USA, most cat welfare people recommend an indoor-only life,
while in the UK many would recommend cats have access to the outdoors."
http://www.cats.org.uk/uploads/docum...tdoor_cats.pdf
says, "Ideally all cats would be allowed access to outdoors to express
their natural behaviour."

Now here is a letter, and an answer from a vet:


I'm guessing an American one?

Statistics vary, but house cats live, on average, nine years longer
than their outdoor counterparts.


Individual circumstances vary greatly though. For instance, do you live
right next to fast roads, or out on a rural farm? Secondly, there's
quality of life: even given a shorter lifespan, are those years much
happier for a cat that may explore and hunt as it pleases?

I don't know if you thought that one American vet's opinion is somehow
going to definitively end the debate, but their analysis seems so
simplistic, and expert advice is so diverse, that I suspect you're just
opening it up again.

-- Mark