Why is it safer for cats to be outdoors in the UK?

T

terra143

New member
Or at least people in here really seem to believe that. I know nothing about the UK so I really don't know but it does seem that everyone over there seems to truly believe it's much safer than here in the US. Why is it safer?
Mabel, I understand your way of thinking is different over there but I've taken in a few strays who were outdoor cats and successfully made them indoor cats with no problems.
 
INDOOR is alot safter than outdoor no matter where you live.

Here this may help;
Don't listen to the people who recommend outdoor. You kitten will hardly shed and you hardly will even see the hair anyway. Here are some ups and downs on both outdoor and indoor.

downsides to outdoor cats:
-he/she will only live 3-4 years
-will get tons of illness that can pass on to you and your family
-will fight other cats and might die
-ratty teens and uncaring people will kill and abuse your kitty
-some loving cat owner might take him home thinking he has no owner
-might get hit by a car
-be not as lovable
-come home with dead mice/birds/rats/other small animals
-come home with parasites
-more vet bills due to illness and monthly shots
-fall off a high tree and die or break a bone

Good sides to letting your cat outdoors:
-not as much hair (not a problem if you vacuum)
-not as much food to buy as the cat will eat deadly mice

Downsides to letting your cat indoors:
-might tear furniture
-get hair one clothes and other things (like I said vacuum)
-a little more money on pet food
-may not get along with other pets

Good sides to letting your cat indoors:
-live up to 15 years of age or more
-won't get as much illness
-will become way more lovable
-won't get hurt by uncaring people
-will not have to spend weeks worring if you cat doesn't come home
-won't get into fights with other cats
-won't get hit by a car
-won't fall off a tree
-won't catch deadly animals carring parsites
and much much more...the list goes on to the up sides to letting your cats indoor

Please keep your cat indoor for ever and never ever go outdoors.
If you love you cat don't let him go outdoors and die.


****NOTE**** NO MATTER INDOOR OR OUT ALWAYS SPAY AND NEUTER!!!!!

Don't listen to anyone who reccomends outdoor like I said before it is wrong and they are misinformed!!!!

INDOOR..INDOOR..INDOOR

your cat will keep occupaied indoors with cat trees,scratching posts,plants and plenty of window to look out of!!
 
Never really heard that. I think any place with cars and dogs and neighbors is as unsafe for outdoor cats as any other.
 
Cats are rather low down on the food chain and i don't believe they are 100% safe wherever they live. Not that it matters. Mine is going out because it chooses to despite the risks.
 
The UK is rabies free and the fact that there are no natural predators of cats are the two main reasons why it's considered relatively safe to let them outside. There are just 2 species of eagle and they can only be found in remote areas of Scotland. We only have one venomous snake, the adder, but it's not a widespread population and most people have never even seen one. We don't have a problem with stray dogs, and it's actually an offence for a dog to be out of control in a public area.

Traffic is nowhere near as heavy as it is in parts of North America, though owners are advised to keep their cats indoors overnight as that is when most road accidents are likely to occur. Cats who are used to traffic tend to avoid it, and a study amongst vets in Cambridgeshire showed that they are 16% less likely to be involved in an accident for each increase of a year in age. I would think that cars probably pose the biggest danger to UK cats, but no more so than for humans, when you take into account the number of people who are involved in road accidents every day.

When I'm at home during the day, my cats choose how much time they want to spend outside, but when I'm at work or if I go out for the day, I tend to keep them in. I find that like all cats, they prefer to spend most of the day sleeping and if the weather is bad, they may not want to go outside at all. Thankfully most people are responsible and have their cats neutered/spayed and vaccinated which helps to eliminate or reduce some of the health risks associated with mating and fighting. Neutering also means they are less likely to roam, and in my experience, my cats have always tended to stay close to home as they like to keep an eye on their territory.

The average lifespan of an indoor/outdoor cat in the UK is considered to be 16-18 years, and as all of my cats have lived until at least their mid-teens (last one was 19) I would tend to agree with that data.

I accept that there are risks associated with allowing my cats to spend time outside, but we humans also face risks every time we step outside the front door. None of us know how long we will live, so I believe that quality of life is just as important as quanity. When adopting a cat, my priority is always how happy can I make it's life, not how long can I keep it for.

Though I have visited the US, I have not lived there and don't judge people for keeping their cats indoors, so I would appreciate the same respect from Americans who have never lived in the UK.
 
Yes, there is a huge debate on here regarding that.

I am in the UK, and here it is the absolute norm for cats to go outside. In fact, when i adopted my latest cat from the shelter, i had to fill in a questionare, and sign a declaration, and i had to say that she would have access to a garden and i was willing to have a cat flap fitted. In general, we really do believe that a cat should be alowed to go outside. Also in the questionaire i had to say whether i lived on a main road or not, and if i had said yes, then i doubt very much they would have let me have her. Personally, if i lived on a main road then i wouldnt have a cat, because i strongly believe that they should be alowed to go outside.

Is it safer? Well, i dont know. We dont have the wildlife here that you have, so thats not a problem at all (as in racoons, bears, coyotes etc). People deliberatley harming them is not unheard of, but it is extremely rare. The UK is well known for being a nation of animal lovers. Then theres the biggie, being hit by a car. I will get thumbs down here, because I have lost 3 cats on the road, and the house that i lived in then was a residential area, and not on a main road. The 3 that were hit we actually took in as strays, and it was just not possible to keep them indoors. We actually believe its cruel to keep them indoors, we believe that cats should be alowed outdoors. i dont know about residential areas in the US as such, so i dont know if theres lots of main roads, maybe theres more traffic because its a bigger and more populated country, so cats have more chance of being hit by a car maybe?

The bottom line of it is really, theres two sides to this argument. The side that says its safer for them to be indoors, which in all honesty, it is. But then again, the argument can go that to keep them indoors is unnatural and is depriving them of living a natural life, and personally that is what I believe.

Maybe we should just not keep them at all?

Edit: However, i dont let them out at night. Most people who let their cats out would agree with me on this one. And I have also found that the ones who we didnt take in as strays, never really went out of the garden, and spent more time actually indoors than outdoors, but they always have daytime access to the outdoors via the cat flap.
 
I don't think that it's safer at all, I just know that it's more common in the UK than it is in the US to have outdoor cats, so the general public is more aware of how to treat them and how to handle it when they see a cat wandering around outdoors.
I also know that those from the UK are generally very stereotypical and judgemental of those in the U.S., so they always want to make sure it's known that they do everything better, even if it's not true in this case. It's just a game- they haven't a clue what it's like over here, and we haven't got any idea what it's like over there, so its he-said, she-said. Opinions are opinions, it doesn't matter which country or if the facts prove it or not.

All I know is we're right and they're wrong. Na-na-na boo-boo.
(Haha. Just kidding. No wait...No, we are right! Haha.)
 
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