A mighty hunter

"Outdoor cats" are an invasive species that kill billions of animals every year, are a significant contributor to dozens of species' extinction, and live shorter lives than cats properly cared for (i.e. kept indoors) including nearly 3x the risk for infections.
It's a plague. We can't keep normalizing this.
- Thanks tech, did not appreciate the original post b/c of how lightly it treats the killing of wonderful beautiful birbs
- "Outdoor cats" are just cats. They are not a domesticated species, hunting is their instinct, and should just not be introduced in places where they wreck havoc to the environment. Where they are endemic (Europe and continental Asia) they don't cause troubles to the ecosystem
  
  Wrong. Outdoor cats pose a significant risk to birds in Europe as well, especially because Europe has massively reduced the habitat of wildlife in recent centuries.
  Cats found 200-500 meters away from any property are shot by hunters in Germany. Between 2007 and 2022 over 160,000 cats were killed in just 5/16 German states (the remaining one's don't publish numbers).
  
  As long as you spend time providing your cat proper enrichment to express their hunting instincts, an indoor cat will be just as happy as an outdoor cat.
  
  Nah, that's bullshit. They are causing troubles, both to themselves and to the ecosystem. House cats originated in around Egypt area, and were brought by humans everywhere else. They are invasive, and they are destroying ecosystems, and they are in danger every time they're around.
  
  Nobody minds them when they're catching rats.
  Domestic cats arent the problem; ferals are...usually from owners who abandon them.
  We dont have a bird shortage by any stretch...they come and eat the leftover cat food.
- Going into your own backyard is a lot different than running through the neighborhood uninhibited.
  
  I don't think most people's backyard is some kind of wildlife exclusion zone, and the problem isn't specifically that cats are killing animals in other backyards that the neighbors called "dibs" on first.
  The cat obviously isn't being attended to while it's outside.
  The owners clearly imply that their other two cats have done the same thing and brought them dead animals before.
  
  you'd need a very special backyard to fence a cat in
- Yeah but birds aren't real.
- Those numbers are suspect. https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/02/03/170851048/do-we-really-know-that-cats-kill-by-the-billions-not-so-fast and probably are a majority unowned cats. It's not important to make sure your cat is spayed or neutered than making sure it stays indoors.
  
  What you've presented is a deeply biased opinion piece, and it wears this immense bias on its sleeve. It fearmongers that thinking about cats as killing wildlife could cause "extremism" (it then cites as its lone example a man who suggested banning cats in New Zealand; soooo scary). It cites some organization called "Alley Cat Allies" who call it extremely biased with ostensibly zero credentials. They cite lobbyist and serial sexual harasser Wayne Pacelle formerly of the Humane Society who questions the methodology but even concedes: "We don't quarrel with the conclusion that the impact is big." And lastly, King herself does her own analysis on this meta-analysis' methodology despite being – I emphasize – a professor of anthropology with no background in this field.
  So your article has no one familiar with this field who could challenge if these statistical assumptions are actually reasonable. And here, given the authors are experts (and absent some published literature rebutting this in the 12 years since), I have no reason to believe their methodology would be so off as to meaningfully change the idea that "outdoor cats" are severely problematic.
- While I understand the sentiment, its a hard line. I waffle with it being sometimes impossible to avoid.
  With that said, my parents have an outdoor cat still going from my middle school days; he's currently 23 y/o, and still able to hold his own. I'm always impressed visiting because I expect to hear he passed when in fact he's yelling about wet food not being available when he's makes his appearance. Most of his days are spent laying on their back porch, and I'm insanely jealous of how full and long of a life he's experienced.
  
  I waffle with it being sometimes impossible to avoid.
  Just close the door lol
  
  It is categorically not ever "impossible to avoid". Not only is your cat statistically healthier indoors, but any excuse for why it's not possible is complete bullshit unless you can offer one up that isn't. Owning a pet is a responsibility, not a right; just because it's "harder" to take proper care of your pet doesn't absolve you of that responsibility.
  Anecdotes are not data. This is "I have a grandma who's 106 and she smokes 26 packs a day and drinks a pint of leaded gasoline before bed."
  
  There is nothing hard to avoid about your cat staying indoors. Stop it.
  
  I mean, not everyone who smokes is gonna get cancer, but no one is gonnna say that smoking doesn’t have risks. Same with outside cats
  
  It is far from impossible to avoid. If you can't control a cat and keep them indoors then you shouldn't have a cat. It's as easy as that.
  If you have a kid and let them run in the road, no one will accept your excuse that it's just too hard. You either shouldn't have had a kid or you need to take responsibility for them, or have them taken from you. The same applies to a cat.
  
  There is no situation where it is impossible to avoid. I'm glad your cat has had a good life, but in general, outdoor cats are still far more likely to die young to diseases, accidents, and wildlife.
- and there's this great news: https://scitechdaily.com/bird-flu-is-now-killing-cats-at-a-90-fatality-rate-experts-warn-it-could-jump-to-humans/
  
  This is the opposite of great
- You should be aware this is an extremely American sentiment bordering on ignorant. Nowhere else in the world do you find people berating people for letting cats go outside.
  Even in America, you won't find it. It's only coming from chronically-online people who are afraid of everything.
  I'm sure if you could communicate the dangers to your cats, most of them would still choose to go outside. Locking cats indoors their entire lives is cruel.
  
  Did Australia recently sink into the ocean and I just missed it?
  
  Yeah, no.
  
  I've heard it my whole life from my vets. I don't know what you mean by "even in America you won't find it"
  
  Locking cats indoors their entire lives is cruel.
  Um... I guess the rescue I got my cat from is cruel for adding a "keep the cat indoor only" clause? 🤔
  Edit: I'm not taking a position on the indoor vs outdoor argument, just saying that its not exactly "cruel" to keep a cat indoors.
  
  While I agree that cats are fine outside (while supervised and/or staying within their own yard - a small harness and leash can do the job), cats are just as healthy and happy staying indoors. My own cat actually refuses to go outside despite enjoying looking out the window all the time. I tried taking him outside a couple times to get him some exercise and he absolutely hated it. Different cats enjoy different environments.
  
  Humans along with their cats and pigs have done a lot of damage to biodiversity around the world. It's just one element of the 6th mass extinction we are causing.
  
  You're absolutely wrong. They're native to the region around Turkey, so it's not really an issue there. Everywhere else, it is. Yeah, a lot of third world countries don't give a shit because they have other problems to worry about. It doesn't make it not an issue though, and many countries have issues caused by them.
  
  Years ago my indoor housecat would always try to rush out the back door whenever it was opened. One day she finally managed it and then wouldn't come back in. Okay, shut the door. She proceeded to freak out and start yowling when we shut the door and left her out there for a few hours. Whatever, weather was nice and yard was enclosed.
  Let her in after a few hours when it got dark, and she stopped trying to bolt outside. Nobody suffered, cat finally appreciated her cushy indoor life, and that was a win.
  
  None of the shelters or adoption agencies near me will even let you get a cat if you don't say it will be kept indoors on the papers. Cats can easily be given the same level of enrichment indoors by playing with them.
  Keeping your cat indoors is only cruel when you don't care enough about them to play and provide enrichment to make them happy, in which case you shouldn't have a cat.
- just stfu, you’ll live, ik your chronically online but you don’t have to be scared of everything
  
  It's reasonable to be ~~scared~~ apprehensive of contributing to the extinction of a few species.

A vegetarian!

Good job Larry
- Leaf pursuit Larry
  
  Larry Leaffer
  
  😂😂

So cute. I miss my cats so much. ❤️

Maybe he's a vegan

Fuck me that is adorable! Well done, Larry, you are indeed a mighty hunter!

Cats are so different. Our current ones bring in so many little critters and let them go in the house, still alive, we had to close the cat door so we can check them before they come in. A past cat used to bring us paper and paper-like items, from food wrappers to people's junk mail, and one time the next door kid's report card. My wife's theory was that that cat thought paper things would please us because she saw us doing a lot of things with paper - we used to do a lot of printing. But I think the cat just didn't really get the whole hunting concept.

I'm so proud of my little hunters when we play with toys that simulate prey. They're so fierce. Larry will become fierce. Good job, hunter! Good job, good job!