3 ms·

I’ve always had my cats as outdoor/indoor animals, with no litterbox at all (Except when they’re very young). Never noticed any problems with smell, as cats are

by jakear 6y ago

I’ve always had my cats as outdoor/indoor animals, with no litterbox at all (Except when they’re very young). Never noticed any problems with smell, as cats are naturally clean animals and do a good job of simply finding a place to use the bathroom outside. I joke that indoor cats are like children (with all the maintenance that entails..), whereas outdoor cats are like delinquent friends that randomly show up to eat your food and crash on your couch. Both have their pros and cons!

r00fus 6y ago
How do you deal with things like fleas? We have nearby squirrels and a small yard and are sure the fleas we dealt with were brought in by outdoor lounging from our cat.
- mcguire 6y ago
  The monthly flea and tick goo that you put between their shoulders. I'd be more concerned about cars and coyotes. ISTR the half-life of an outdoor cat is about 2 years.
  - r00fus 6y ago
    I would be careful about using that stated outdoor-only (ie, feral) cat lifespan for an indoor/outdoor cat, though the dangers are real. Ours is currently mostly indoor only (until we get all the cat-toxic plants in our yard removed) but we have neighbors and friends with indoor/outdoor cats that are definitely older than 10 years. Mitigate them with reflective collars and nextdoor or other neighborhood alert system to know when coyotes are around. An indoor only cat never really grows up psychologically, you're always its ever-present mommy. I'm not sure I want that for my kitten.
munificent 6y ago
Unfortunately, outdoor cats are devastating to local wildlife. https://daily.jstor.org/environmental-danger-outdoor-cats/ https://daily.jstor.org/environmental-danger-outdoor-cats/
- jakear 6y ago
  Study says the bulk of this is feral cats, who must kill to survive, as opposed to indoor/outdoor cats, who don’t.
  - munificent 6y ago
    Still ~31% of the deaths are from owned cats, which is something like a billion birds and is entirely needless killing.

by jakear 6y ago

r00fus 6y ago

How do you deal with things like fleas? We have nearby squirrels and a small yard and are sure the fleas we dealt with were brought in by outdoor lounging from our cat.

mcguire 6y ago
The monthly flea and tick goo that you put between their shoulders. I'd be more concerned about cars and coyotes. ISTR the half-life of an outdoor cat is about 2 years.
- r00fus 6y ago
  I would be careful about using that stated outdoor-only (ie, feral) cat lifespan for an indoor/outdoor cat, though the dangers are real. Ours is currently mostly indoor only (until we get all the cat-toxic plants in our yard removed) but we have neighbors and friends with indoor/outdoor cats that are definitely older than 10 years. Mitigate them with reflective collars and nextdoor or other neighborhood alert system to know when coyotes are around. An indoor only cat never really grows up psychologically, you're always its ever-present mommy. I'm not sure I want that for my kitten.

munificent 6y ago

Unfortunately, outdoor cats are devastating to local wildlife. https://daily.jstor.org/environmental-danger-outdoor-cats/ https://daily.jstor.org/environmental-danger-outdoor-cats/

jakear 6y ago
Study says the bulk of this is feral cats, who must kill to survive, as opposed to indoor/outdoor cats, who don’t.
- munificent 6y ago
  Still ~31% of the deaths are from owned cats, which is something like a billion birds and is entirely needless killing.