Photo // Ashley Bergeron
FLOOR TIME. My family’s cats, Bogart and Snow, are both happy being inside where they can yell at their humans to give them attention and affection
By: Ashley Bergeron
Staff-Writer
This column discusses animal death.
I have lived with cats all my life, and I have seen both the ugly and beautiful things that cats have to offer. I am also someone who is passionate about the environment and cats have come up as an invasive species in ecological terms. As a pre-vet student who works at an emergency vet clinic and volunteers at an animal rescue, I am also concerned about cats’ well-being, which is why I believe they should be kept inside.
My two cats are indoor kitties, but before them, my family’s cat had unlimited access to the outdoors during the day. When I was in third grade, my family got two kittens: Iris and Cosmo. Eventually, they started going outside, and Iris went missing. We had no clue where she went. A week or so later, my dad found her body by the side of the road. She had been over by a car. She was less than a year old.
Her brother, Cosmo, lived a couple more years, until I was about 12. He did die from a heart condition that was most likely something he was born with. While his death was not from having outdoor excess, there are studies that have shown that a cat’s life expectancy is shortened due to having outdoor excess.
My neighbor had two barn cats who would come to my house to hang out. One of them was very scared of my family, but they liked to nap in our yard. I was happy when they became comfortable with me. I nicknamed one black, skinny cat Vivi. She would wait at our chicken coop to take some of the chickens’ treats, and she absolutely adored head scratches.
I hadn’t seen them in a while, so I asked my grandpa about it. He told me that he hadn’t also seen them, but he did see a fox around. Since there was no evidence about their death except the sight of the fox and their disappearance, I had false hopes that I will get to see them again, give Vivi more head scratches and potentially get closer to the other kitty, a black-and-white cat. This just happened this summer.
Photo // Ashley BergeronCAT-CHING RAYS. While they were scared of me, this kitty used to be frequently seen around my yard taking a nap.
My grandpa saw the black-and-whtie cat a couple of weeks after we thought that they had passed. This is another issue with letting your cats outside. They can disappear and you will never truly know if they died, ended up in a shelter or something else.
When outdoors, cats can be harmed by other animals including dogs, coyotes and us. Foxes and hawks are also known to kill cats. In the U.S., an average of 5.4 million cats are hit by cars every year, and 97% will die from their injuries.
Aside from the risk of predation and accidents, uncontrolled outdoor access can result in your cat contracting diseases. Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) are feline-only retroviruses that can result in weaker immune systems. FeLV is more severe than FIV, but kitties with these diseases can still live normal lives.
Upper respiratory infections (URIs), feline distemper and other diseases can infect your cat and be fatal. Cats can also get some zoonotic diseases like rabies and pass them on to their owners. Cats can also suffer from parasites like fleas and ticks, which can be deadly.
Cats can also get trapped in places that might be difficult for them to get out, resulting in them dying from starvation or the elements. If your cat drinks from a puddle, they may be poisoned by pesticides or insecticides.
Your kitty could also be stolen or mistaken for a stray cat. A way to potentially prevent this if they are outside is to put a collar on them. An issue with collars, though, is that your cat could get stuck on something and choke to death. The best way to guarantee that your lost kitty will come back to you is to get them microchipped. Microchipping means there is a chip in them and when it is scanned, it gives a number that people can look up and contact you.
Aside from the risks cats face outdoors, they can also pose risks to the environment around them.
If your cat is not spayed or neutered, they can also contribute to the overpopulation of cats. According to the National Kitten Coalition, there are approximately 3.4 million cats in shelters and rescues, with around 1.4 million cats that get euthanized due to overpopulation each year.
Another issue with both cat overpopulation and letting your cat outside is their effect on wildlife populations. Cats are responsible for the deaths of billions of birds and other species across the world. This negatively affects biodiversity in numerous ecosystems, and it is driving some species to extinction. Cats will also kill without eating their catch. I have seen my family’s indoor cats kill mice and just play with their dead bodies. If people are feeding them, they have no reason to hunt other than for sport.
An argument that people have for letting their cats outside is that they are more enriched and happier outdoors, but you can still have a happy and enriched indoor cat. You just have to put in more effort than you would probably have to if they were outdoors.
Some indoor enrichment ideas are a cat tree, scratching posts, a cat treadmill and puzzles that they can solve to find a treat. You can also install shelves, because cats love to be in elevated spaces. You also don’t have to spend a lot of money to keep your indoor kitty engaged. Depending on your cat’s disposition, you can even ball up a piece of paper for them to play with. There are also instructions on the internet on how to make a puzzle toy using egg cartons.
If your cat insists that they have to go outside, there are some things you can do to ensure that they are safe. One of them is to build a catio (cat patio). This allows your kitty to be outside but in a monitored space. Another thing you can do is harness-train your cat and take them on walks! Some cats love this, while others would rather be a homebody, so it will depend on your cat.
I hope you will consider these things when thinking about taking care of your cat.