Almost all of these sorts of behavioural issues (with the exception of the food-motivated ones) tend to disappear when you allow your cat the freedom to go outside whenever it wants. They're not well suited to confinement and it always shows in their behavior. Sometimes they just get depressed and mopey, which a lot of people interpret as their cat "not minding" its confinement. Other times they try to relieve the soul-crushing boredom of their lives by knocking things over, yelling, or actively messing with you. Sure, you can "train" your cat not to engage in these behaviors (as other commenters note, however, they're smart enough to realize you're not always watching them) or you could just allow them access to the far more compelling activities that exist outdoors. They'll even choose to do mundane stuff (lie in the sun, poop) outdoors nine times out of ten. They just prefer being out.
Reading some of the things people in this thread do to their cats made me sad, especially the people talking about techniques for preventing their cats from getting out the front door.[0] If you would never treat a human the way you treat your cat on a regular basis, that should give you pause. If it's "for their own good" you made a selfish choice in pet ownership.
[0] An airlock system where the cat is required to sit perfectly still before you open the door? Don't they do similar stuff in actual prisons?
the indoor vs outdoor debate wrt cats is a timeless one, but I don't think the answer is so clear cut as you make it seem. in principle, I would like for our family cat to have free rein of the outdoors, but we don't quite feel it is safe for him. in addition to the local predators that actually have to work for a living, my parents live right next to a six-lane death road in the city. the speed limit is 30 mph, but people routinely drive in excess of 60 mph on the downhill side. I'm confident the cat can avoid vehicles moving at a reasonable speed, but that road is unsafe for humans, let alone cats.
there's also the issue of housecats killing a staggering number of birds each year. tbh, this is not really a factor that weighs heavily on our decision, but it's something to think about.
finally, many cats are rescues for whom living freely outdoors was never an option. imo, it's better to be an indoor cat in a loving home than a dead cat.
Cats do kill an insane number of birds. We've found that attaching a large, colourful collar with reflective bits helps immensely on our cat. Birds are highly sensitive to colours, and our observation is that the cat simply isn't able to catch any birds anymore. They see him coming far too early.
As for the other points, I suspect you're overestimating the dangers, but that's not my call. I personally think no animal should be kept imprisoned in a home, though; I don't want to give any animal less freedom of movement than I have. Imprisoned pets even more depressing to me than zoos.
I've tried multiple collars. The magnetic ones always go missing, and the ones with a buckle have resulted in it being stuck in a hedge...
Our cat catches birds and rodents about equally judging on what he leaves at the door. I really appreciate that it catches mice and rats. It's unfortunate with the birds, I try to make up for it with a garden where they have ample opportunity to nest and find food.
I recommend sewing your own, or having someone (on Etsy, for example) custom-make it for you. We didn't find any off-the-shelf ones that were good enough.
Here [1] is what our "clown collar" looks like. It's just a loop. There's a hook that keeps it closed, but it's almost impossible to open it while it's on the cat. It sits so snug around the cat's neck that it never gets tangled in anything, and can't fall off, and we take the collar on and off just by pulling the whole thing over the cat's head.
My partner made this by sewing together some brightly coloured fabric with some shiny, reflective stuff.
It's completely clear cut before you're responsible for the animal: don't bring a pet into an unsuitable living situation. This is why the safety and environmental arguments ring hollow for me - nobody forces you to get a cat.
I completely agree. It always breaks my heart to see locked up animals, be it a cat not allowed to go outside, a dog confined in an appartement with only one outing a day in the urban concrete or a bear in a cage in a zoo. Makes no difference to me.
I firmly believe animal rights movements should discourage pet owning but it's often the other way around, at least from where i'm from.
Discouraging pet ownership, while I agree with it, would put you into an extremely fringe category akin to advocating veganism. The world just isn't ready for that level of compassion for animals. We still live in cultures where five minutes of pleasure for our taste buds trumps all ethical concerns.
It's extremely socially acceptable to get two dogs in your tiny apartment and keep them in kennels while you're at work for 9 hours, and again for 9 hours overnight. People will even come out of the woodwork to convince you that the dogs actually prefer that.
I also think we need to dial back breeding. Breeders just dump unwanted animals into street/pound circulation while breeding the most gimped animals (purebreds) out there, the last thing we need.
I don't discourage pet ownership, in fact I think it's an extremely positive thing for many reasons. I do encourage making responsible choices when it comes to pet selection.
I can agree wholeheartedly for animals that are raised by breeders, and honestly I think this practice should end; there are already more animals than people want to home. but rescue cats already exist before they are adopted. the question is not "can I provide an ideal life for this animal?" but rather, "can I offer an improvement over living in a shelter and eventual euthanasia?".
I let him out when I'm out with him, but I don't really live in a place where he can get free reign. The first 7 years of his life, he had to stay in, I lived in a busy industrial area with no yard, there was always vehicles and machinery around, I found more than a couple dead cats(among other cat sized animals) in the area over the years.
Where I live now, there's a fenced yard, but there's a busy highway a block away, a pack of coyotes that lives up the street, a couple owls that live in the yard, a few eagle's nests, there's regularly bears and racoons and a fair bit of forest just behind the yard.
His life as an indoor cat hasn't really given him the instincts to look after himself. He walks and lays out in thr open, doesn't really understand he can jump on things until he tries, doesn't hide from shadows or other things outdoor cats do to avoid dying.
He seems pretty happy getting to go out with the dogs and stuff though. He tends to stick by them and alerts when they do and stuff. He doesn't try to escape or anything unless we're going outside with the dogs, then he's right there at the door with them.
We did leave a window open one time recently and he jumped out. But he freaked himself out or something when he couldn't get back in. He was just lying under the window when I got home and went running back in as soon as I opened the door and wouldn't go outside for a couple days.
I agree with this, we should allow our cats to be outside. However, I do not think we should allow domestic cats to roam wherever they please. We should let them roam in a somewhat controlled manner.
Additionally, feral cats are awful for native bird and small mammal populations. Your cat will probably hunt and eat small mammals and birds if you let it roam freely.
They'll establish their own territorial limits without our help. That's part of why they like roaming.
If you care about native bird and small mammal populations then don't introduce a cat into the environment. I used to live in an area with a lot of endangered native rodents and while I would've liked to have a cat around I didn't get one. It's not complicated.
Our cat was a half-rescue and the previous owners said "Oh, she doesn't like going outside. She's definitely an indoor cat."
In fact she loves going outside. She poops and pees outdoors, so the house doesn't smell. There are some wild areas near the house and she's all over those. She gets very, very unhappy when kept indoors.
She also needs at least 15-20 mins a day of play attention. Slap-the-bouncy-ball, chase-the-laser-up-the-stairs, hide-and-seek-in-the-tunnel, smack-the-ring-binder-spring-on-a-string - which she particularly likes, for some reason.
Enough stimulation and attention and she's a happy kitty. No angry biting, no 2am zoomies, no breakages, plenty of purrs and affection.
I've come to the conclusion that it's safer for the cats and for the fauna to keep the cats indoors. It also means they don't get fleas. However, I do take them outside in the backyard on a leash and they do seem to enjoy that. This gives them some outside time without the risks (there are coyotes in the area, for example, as well as a nearby busy street). Another option is a catio.
In Belgium (w/ my parents) we had a (big) garden and our cats could always freely roam outside. Some of them stayed near, others disappeared for many hours and probably went relatively far.
It's true that they are fantastic hunters: it's in their genes. Even if they won't eat the prey, the amount of birds, mice, even small rabbits they returned was staggering. Cats are dicks though, they kill for fun and kill billions (?) of other animals every year. And won't eat them.
We also had a neighbour that thought it was fun to shoot animals (including cats) in his garden. Took a while before the neighbourhood found out why cats kept disappearing (having a cat come home with a tiny lead bullet wound gave it away).
There's also roadkill and thieves. I'd say for a long period (before we found out someone was shooting cats) cats we disappear quite regularly (every 2-3 years a cat would never come home).
But I still agree cats should be allowed to roam outside: they'll be less bored, less destructive, and less annoying.
I have now moved to Singapore and adopted a lost kitten ("Tofu") roughly 2 years ago and an abandoned ~1 year cat ("Taro") (left alone on a 7th floor balcony without food in 30°C sun while the owners were out of town for several days) roughly a year ago.
Cats in Singapore commonly "fall out of the sky" -- meshing and protecting windows is not that common here, yet. Cats (including mine) love to sit on the ledge and stare outside, and once in a while they slip.
I've moved from a 12th floor apartment to a 3rd floor apartment: in both cases you either keep the windows shut or make sure it's meshed up. It's a requirement here now before you're able to adopt a cat from a shelter. They come and physically inspect your home to make sure it's suitable, clear and big enough.
We're lucky both our cats are long-haired nice looking cats. There might be some pedigree in there, somewhere. We've had people randomly walk up to us and ask us how much we paid for the cats ($0) and if we'd be willing to sell them (no). That makes me believe if they were to walk alone they'd be stolen and sold off.
The abandoned-rescued cat is fine staying indoor -- he is pretty traumatised and scared of every tiny noise. The other cat we've taught from early on to walk with a leash.
We take her out anywhere between 1 to 3 times a day depending on whether she asks for it or not. Walks are unlike walking a dog: you follow the cat and the cat usually doesn't go very far (it'll often just sit in the grass and look at the birds/lizards). Once we reach a quiet area near the apartment I remove the leash, and she gets to hop or walk around a bit. She never goes far and actually waits for me.
Needless to say it's a very quiet, green area here without roads and very little passer-by's.
So I'd say it really depends on the circumstances whether the cat should be allowed out (unsupervised). Yes, it makes sense as they are semi wild, but also a living cat is probably better than a dead cat.
Reading some of the things people in this thread do to their cats made me sad, especially the people talking about techniques for preventing their cats from getting out the front door.[0] If you would never treat a human the way you treat your cat on a regular basis, that should give you pause. If it's "for their own good" you made a selfish choice in pet ownership.
[0] An airlock system where the cat is required to sit perfectly still before you open the door? Don't they do similar stuff in actual prisons?