Indoor Cats Vs. Outdoor Cats:

Many cat owners have this question: Indoor cats vs Outdoor cats?

How many of us have tried to prevent our kitties from door dashing? In my house Luna is the one to watch, if you aren’t careful she’s outside in a flash and she always hides under the cars in the driveway, making it extremely difficult to be able to catch her to bring her back inside. Luna and Fang are my first solely indoor cats, prior to them all of my cats enjoyed outside life. In fact they thrived on it! They would go out almost everyday and come back home in the evening, my last cat before Fang and Luna never meowed he use to scratch at the door until I let him in, oh Patch was an amazing cat….perhaps a story for another day, today we are talking about indoor cats and outdoor cats. Lets break it down into Pros and Cons;

Pros:

Indoor Cat

•  Longer life span. Indoor cats have been proven to live longer and experience fewer injuries or infections
• Less likely to contract fleas, and no one wants to deal with fleas
• unlikely to get lost or stolen, which prevents heartache on the home

Outdoor Cat:

• more active and less likely to become overweight
• less litter box mess to clean
• They will have ample opportunity to unleash their natural instincts
• outdoor time is good for our cats mental health

Cons:

Indoor Cat

• boredom can be hard on an indoor cat and affect their mental and physical health
• more prone to separation anxiety
• can develop destructive/unwanted behaviours

Outdoor Cat

• they could get lost or stolen
• heightened chance of injury
• increased chance of infections
• more likely to contract fleas

How to decide?

When deciding what is best for you and your cat look at all the factors. how safe is your neighbourhood? how far does your cat seem to wander from home? For me the decision for Fang and Luna was made long before we adopted them. One of my neighbours cats was victim to a heinous prank and was doused in oil, I couldn’t take the risk with my next cats that that could happen to them. Also something to note: if you have adopted your cat a clause that most rescues have is that the cat will be an indoor cat and if it is found that you break this clause they can confiscate your fur baby.

Because Luna loves outside so much we have tried a few things with success to give her the outside time she craves. We bought her a harness and leash, the kids love walking her and Luna gets the opportunity to pounce on all the bugs she sees. The next plan for us is to make a Catio off our back porch so she can have access when she wants in a safe and secure space. These are things you can try at home if you would like your cat to have access to the world outside but don’t want to take the risk of them being a traditional outside cat.

The subject of indoor cats vs. outdoor cats can be a heated one but at the end of the day ultimately it comes down to what is right for your cat and what is right for you.