I live in the UK and every single person I know has no qualms at all about letting their cat go outdoors and generally view people who keep their cats indoors (without good reason such as they live on the 5th floor which generally just makes people wonder why they have a cat at all, or in the middle of town or because of communicable illness) as cruel. To us, cats are part of the fixtures and fittings of outdoor life, and if we drive through a residential area we are as much on the lookout for cats darting across the road as we are kids running out to catch a football. Outdoor cats are just not an issue; they are as normal as anything else you might see out and about. People will arrange their day around needing to go home to let the cat out, and litter trays are really only used for kittens before they are house-trained.
I read so many questions on here about people terrified of letting their cats out because they think they will run away for good or get run over or whatever as soon as the door is open; people talk about taking their cats out for a walk on harnesses and leads which I've only ever seen for sale once in this country; that letting cats out is somehow cruel because you're exposing them to almost certain death; that supervising them while they explore the yard is enough and I don't really get it. I've grown up and had cats my entire life as have most of my family and what we have are cats living to ripe old ages of 17, 18, 20 etc. I can see from the questions (spellings/lexicon/phrasing etc) that these questions are not from people living in the UK so can someone enlighten me as to why people's views on how to keep cats varies so much? I don't want to keep typing out the same old answer if all I'm doing is repeating myself to an audience pre-convinced that what I am saying is wrong, and I would also like to understand the logic of keeping a cat (illness/location etc notwithstanding) confined to a house. Thanks.
Innoculations prevent the spread of infections which is why your cat should be up to date with these when he or she goes in a cattery but I suppose not everyone bothers with these.
I'd forgotten about the dangers of Hallowe'en, you're quite right.
I read so many questions on here about people terrified of letting their cats out because they think they will run away for good or get run over or whatever as soon as the door is open; people talk about taking their cats out for a walk on harnesses and leads which I've only ever seen for sale once in this country; that letting cats out is somehow cruel because you're exposing them to almost certain death; that supervising them while they explore the yard is enough and I don't really get it. I've grown up and had cats my entire life as have most of my family and what we have are cats living to ripe old ages of 17, 18, 20 etc. I can see from the questions (spellings/lexicon/phrasing etc) that these questions are not from people living in the UK so can someone enlighten me as to why people's views on how to keep cats varies so much? I don't want to keep typing out the same old answer if all I'm doing is repeating myself to an audience pre-convinced that what I am saying is wrong, and I would also like to understand the logic of keeping a cat (illness/location etc notwithstanding) confined to a house. Thanks.
Innoculations prevent the spread of infections which is why your cat should be up to date with these when he or she goes in a cattery but I suppose not everyone bothers with these.
I'd forgotten about the dangers of Hallowe'en, you're quite right.