Cat owners

estebanrey said:
What an indoor child misses...

* Being hit buy cars
* Being kidnapped
* Picking up infections
* Being mauled by a dog

...so you shouldn't let your child out until they're 18 :rolleyes:
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Yes, because a cat is exactly the same as a child.

Your posts are getting steadily worse. That must have been a massive challenge, but you did it, somehow.
 
If you are looking fro an indoor cat make sure that you research breeds that are suitable to be kept indoors, for example, don't be going and getting a maine **** as they need to be able to stretch their legs a lot.

British shorthair or persians are good for indoors or flats.

If you're scared about letting them go too far outside you could always create a little run for them outside granted time and money are available, if not just make sure they have something to play with, food and water and they will be fine.
 
estebanrey said:
What an indoor child misses...

* Being hit buy cars
* Being kidnapped
* Picking up infections
* Being mauled by a dog

...so you shouldn't let your child out until they're 18 :rolleyes:
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First one is kind of true. You'd be suprised how many kids I have seen around my village running into the road without a care in the world.

Comparing it to kids really isnt fair though as there are no feral wildling predator children that are homeless and attack everything on sight. Humans are civilized and obviously have more common sense. Just the other day a co-worker was saying that he had to jump out of his car on an estate because of a dog that escaped its leash was attacking a cat. It ended up killing it, blood everywhere. My cats go outside but only because I live in a quiet village with fields behind. If I lived on an estate or somewhere busy I wouldn't let mine out just for the sake of keeping them safe.
 
estebanrey said:
What an indoor child misses...

* Being hit buy cars
* Being kidnapped
* Picking up infections
* Being mauled by a dog

...so you shouldn't let your child out until they're 18 :rolleyes:
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Wait, are you saying you'd let your child roam around the streets on its own?
 
RoboCod said:
Wait, are you saying you'd let your child roam around the streets on its own?
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Exactly. To make it a fair comparison, it would have to be a 3 year old, or thereabouts. No road sense at that age, not fully understanding the dangers of the human world around it. Now leave that 3 year old roaming around outdoors and see how well it does.

A lot of people say it's natural for a cat to be outside. I'd argue there's nothing at all natural about domestic cat life. For a start, their ancestors lived in the desert in the Middle East.

A cat's "natural" environment does not include such things as houses, roads, cars, rusty wire fences, slug death, children, air rifles... the list goes on and on.

Our urban environment is about as "natural" for a cat as a chicken being intensively farmed.
 
RoboCod said:
Wait, are you saying you'd let your child roam around the streets on its own?
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So children that have been hit by cars, kidnapped, picked up an infection (because an accompanying adult is usually a sure way to prevent this one) or been mauled by a dog have been out on their own? Quite surprised by that revelation.
 
RoboCod said:
Wait, are you saying you'd let your child roam around the streets on its own?
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At some point you have to, unless as I said you're going to keep them cooped up in the house or insist of going with them everywhere until they are 18.

I walked to school on my own from the age of 5 to 16 for example.

FoxEye said:
Exactly. To make it a fair comparison, it would have to be a 3 year old, or thereabouts. No road sense at that age, not fully understanding the dangers of the human world around it. Now leave that 3 year old roaming around outdoors and see how well it does.
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So no one between the ages of 3 and 18 ever get hit by cars (regardless of whether they are chaperoned or not)?

I think by trying to compare the brain development of a child and a cat, you're kind of missing the point of my post you quoted. It's about "risk" and I was pointing out the stupidity of arguing the case for "indoor cats" on the basis that they'll never get run over by pointing out you could apply that same logic to anything.

If children couldn't leave the house until they were 18 none would get run over either would they?

FoxEye said:
A lot of people say it's natural for a cat to be outside. I'd argue there's nothing at all natural about domestic cat life. For a start, their ancestors lived in the desert in the Middle East.

A cat's "natural" environment does not include such things as houses, roads, cars, rusty wire fences, slug death, children, air rifles... the list goes on and on. Our urban environment is about as "natural" for a cat as a chicken being intensively farmed.
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Nor does ours, our ancestors lived in African deserts.

You'll find that like us, cats can adapt pretty quickly to their surroundings.
 
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Ah well.

Forever indoors cats here :)

A futile debate where your opinion on the matter doesn't concern me one iota though. OP is quite right to do as he pleases so long as it doesn't in fact result in cruelty to his cat, which keeping indoors is not. I would say to him he is being a sensible and decent pet owner.

Keep posting though, it's fun.
 
Live and let live. As long as there is no cruelty I leave indoor cat owners alone to do their 'thang'. I personally don't agree with it for the most part, but at least it means less cats are being euthanised. I could go into the logic fails in this thread, and a whole host of other things but it is not the time or the place and even if it was, it seems legitimate discussion would not be possible given some of the painfully flimsy reasoning and the offhanded arrogant dismissal of other peoples views displayed thus far :)
 
estebanrey said:
So no one between the ages of 3 and 18 ever get hit by cars (regardless of whether they are chaperoned or not)?

I think by trying to compare the brain development of a child and a cat, you're kind of missing the point of my post you quoted. It's about "risk" and I was pointing out the stupidity of arguing the case for "indoor cats" on the basis that they'll never get run over by pointing out you could apply that same logic to anything.

If children couldn't leave the house until they were 18 none would get run over either would they?
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If you want to talk about risk, how about comparing the number of cats killed in an area vs the number of human killed.

You must understand that a cat does not have the intelligence to understand how the human world works. They don't understand that they're safe on a pavement. If a car comes whizzing past they are very likely to try to dash over the road if they live on the other side. Because the other side is safer in their mind.

My neighbour has had 3 cats in almost as many months, because they keep getting run over.

So, you want to talk about risk, that's fine. What is the risk of letting a 16 year old go outside compared to the risk of letting a cat go outside? It's several orders of magnitude different. You typically don't worry about the 16 year old getting run over, or poisoned, or stolen, do you?
 
Dis86 said:
Wikipedia featured article today...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choiseul_pigeon

Cause of extinction...feral cats.
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Meanwhile, on http://forums.overclockers.sb...

Also: "If the pigeon existed on islands that feral cats had never reached, it is believed that the clearance of its forest habitat would have led to its local extinction."

So basically, even if cats hadn't been involved, it most likely would have gone extinct.

Honestly, if you're going to post "evidence" to back up your point, at least a cursory glance to make sure it does actually back up your point wouldn't go amiss. ;)
 
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FoxEye said:
You must understand that a cat does not have the intelligence to understand how the human world works. They don't understand that they're safe on a pavement.
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Cool story. So why isn't every outdoor cat getting mowed down by a car? Luck?

I think you are being incredibly condescending towards cats and giving them far less credit than they deserve.

For the most part cats are very adaptive animals, they have a great sense of self-preservation and they are very efficient and successful predators. Indeed many cats spend a large part of their lives outside and have no issues.

I know it makes your standpoint easier to defend to portray cats as helpless animals that need to be mothered and protected but it is patently untrue. They are survivors and I think you should give them more credit.
 
Haggisman said:
Meanwhile, on http://forums.overclockers.sb...

Also: "If the pigeon existed on islands that feral cats had never reached, it is believed that the clearance of its forest habitat would have led to its local extinction."

So basically, even if cats hadn't been involved, it most likely would have gone extinct.

Honestly, if you're going to post "evidence" to back up your point, at least a cursory glance to make sure it does actually back up your point wouldn't go amiss. ;)
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Likely would have. Not certainly. It was certainly killed off by cats.
 
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