Owning a Cat Could Double Your Risk of Schizophrenia, Research Suggests

Cat ladies are in danger, they keep the cats near at hand, sleeping and awake. Barn cats maintain a decent interval.

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My wife kept our kittens inside a screened porch for the longest time. We lived on a moderately busy country road in the Pocono Mountains of Penn, so she felt it was best to keep the critters inside for their safety.

But the curiosity of the cats looking out upon the lush woods behind the house soon became unbearable, so slowly my wife let one cat out of doors at a time. And soon enough, all cats were coming and going in and out of doors.

One cat was eventually wounded from a battle with a neighborhood cat -- and laid up for a while, but as soon as he healed, he was begging to get out in the great outdoors.

And letting the cats live outdoors caused trouble for other tenants in our neighborhood. It seems our porch was a rent-free shelter for a family of skunks. So one day and up and decided they would leave our premises. They were very civil about it. One morning they merely lifted their tails high and waddled away as a family.

The next stage was trying to manage 5 cats scratching at our doors to get in or out of the house. Hence, my wife built some cat-sided doors for the cats to come and go freely. It was a two-level security system. The cats entered a tiny door in the garage before coming through a second trap door door in the bathroom.

That plan backfired one night when I heard a commotion downstairs in the kitchen. When went down and turned the lights on, I beheld a good-sized raccoon raiding the cereal boxes and fruits. After raising a broom and yelling, the raccoon expeditiously ran back through the two stages of doors she so expertly discovered watching our cats.

Final solution: A high tech cat door requiring each cat to wear an electronic collar. That kept the raccoons out, so we all lived happily ever after...

Well, the point of this long footnote is to say: yes, barncats are the way to go. But even that solution has its problems :-)

“A cat’s lifestyle ultimately affects how likely it is to contract T. gondii and spread it to other animals and people. Outdoor cats that eat live prey like birds, rodents, and other small mammals are more likely to become infected. Indoor cats that eat undercooked or raw meat can also contract T. gondii.”

https://www.catster.com/cat-health-care/can-indoor-cats-get-toxoplasmosis/

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