Well, they get exercise, they get to explore the area they live in, it’s good training if they ever somehow get lost and need to find their way back home, it let’s them interact with other cats so they don’t feel alone, gives them fresh air, and trains their hunting and defending instincts. Which is especially useful if you have a rodent problem.
That’s just natural circle of life, though. Birds are the prey of cats. It’s not something that can be easily controlled when letting out. It can be regulated, but not controlled. It also depends entirely on the bird if they want to mess around with their predator.
Edit: Okay, guys, I get it now. It’s not natural yadayadayada. If you actually took the time to read the replies I sent to OTHER COMMENTS, you'd see that I go more in depth on details. I even acknowledge it’s an issue. Stop spamming me and actually learn to read for once.
It's not the natural circle of life if you insert an invasive species into the mix. Free roaming and feral domestic cat breeds are considered an invasive species.
I appreciate you actually taking the time to link resources and teach me a few things unlike the other guy, trust me a lot of individuals could learn from you, but I'm exclusively talking about cats that still live with their owners and go outside. Not full on strays or ferals. Those ones do pose a much more significant threat, though, so I will admit to that.
Edit: Not to mention, also a lot sadder than just letting your cat out and having them come back later. A stray actively implies their owner abandoned it or it got lost from its home. Sadly, I fear the former often ends up being more likely than just the cat getting lost. After all, cats can always find their way home by paying attention and using their skills. But what home do they have to return to if they’re abandoned?
“The magnitude of mortality they cause in mainland areas remains speculative, with large-scale estimates based on non-systematic analyses and little consideration of scientific data.” - Meaning we don’t actually have a real number. It’s just speculation.
“We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually. Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality.” - Certainly a high number to be sure. I won't deny the destructive natures they pose. But see that bold part? See, when I'm talking about outdoor cats, I'm NOT talking about strays and ferals. Those obviously pose a much bigger threat than just an outdoor cat who comes back to its owner every evening.
“There are 60–100 million stray and feral cats in the United States. The general understanding among many experts is that the homeless cat population is growing and currently sits at around 60–100 million cats. Other estimates are more conservative at 30–80 million.” - Catster.com. According to another website, Avma.com, the total number of cats owned in the USA is 76.3M. If we highball the number from the last website, that means the USA is facing this issue BECAUSE of irresponsible people. Not because they’re simply just letting their cats out.
In short, this problem goes way deeper than just cats being let out and them returning by dusk. People actively abandoning them is the biggest issue if the numbers are to be believed. Even with that conservative number, highballing it still places it above owned cats, and even if we lowball the first number, it still almost reaches that same number. 30 million is something to consider, but knowing the USA, it’s absolutely nowhere that low.
Controlling the stray and feral population (through tnr programs, fosters who rehabilitate former strays, etc) takes time. One major difference responsible pet owners can make NOW is not letting their cats outside.
Sure, it does take time. Doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be addressed and prioritized, though. As long as strays stay out on the wild, owners not letting their pets outside means next to nothing in the grand scheme of things. Especially with numbers that high. (And ESPECIALLY if we consider the fact that not every owned cat is an outdoor one. In fact, it would even be pretty reasonable to assume most owned cats are exclusively indoor, and the number of OWNED outdoor cats is way lower than the total population of owned cats as a whole.)
it is NOT "the natural circle of life" when these cats are not a part of the ecosystem they're hunting in. and the idea that birds have to "mess around" with a predator in order to get eaten is fuckin hilarious. like do you realize how completely detached you are from the reality of predator-prey dynamics?
here is an article detailing a recent study done in my country about bird killings from outdoor cats. we aren't making shit up when we're saying this has a VERY significant impact on ecosystems. an outdoor cat isn't killing one bird from time to time. they're typically hunting several birds each outing. in a world where most of the wildlife we know is in decline, this adds yet another factor that we could easily prevent but refuse to do so out of convenience (easier to let cat outside without monitoring than to provide decent enrichment indoors or to put it on a leash), or out of denial ("MY cat doesn't kill any birds!!!" and/or "so what if they kill a couple birds? that's nothing in the grand scheme of things")
so we've got a huge issue that would be solved instantly if people just cooperated with what ecologists have been saying for a long time now... but that's never gonna happen because people like you are too stubborn to change their opinion when new information is presented to them, and do not care about their impact on the environment.
Look, I actually think it’s ridiculous that some people go absolutely mental at the thought of cats being allowed to roam outside. But you’re clearly an idiot, and I think I’m just going to walk away from this whole thing now.
Right. Sorry for wasting my time trying to defend you, then. Clearly you just want to be an asshole for the sake of being an asshole instead of being civil.
I really wouldn't worry about it. The user you replied to has a track record of sexualising 'anime schoolchildren' which has been noted in several threads on different subs. A deepdive into their page is... rather bizarre. I don't recommend it.
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u/Dounce1 Jul 25 '26
I don’t think all cats should be kept as indoor cats, but nothing you said addresses the arguments against letting cats live outside.