I do keep my cats-and dog-indoors, but that is because I don’t want them to become food for some wild hogs, a pack of coyotes or a mountain lion. My Husky is 16, and I’m pretty sure she would rather end her days in comfort in her sleep than be dragged off and eaten.
There is a neutered male cat that I feed every day, and he sleeps here nearly every night-he belongs to a neighbor down the road who is hardly ever home to feed or care for him. When I move to more acreage, I’m putting him in a carrier and he is getting a change of address-he will have company, food and a cushy life-all he has to do is what my three do now-keep out the rodents and such...
I switched my cat to an indoor cat in the 1990s when a diseased looking feral male cat showed up, and I didn’t want my cat getting sick.
I lived on a alley at the beach and built her a little bed and cage that stuck out into the alley about 5 feet off the ground, and with permanent access through the window, she had an opening that she could stick her head through to be petted and cooed at by passerbys.
The beach is heavy with cats and cat people, and she got tons of attention from all the people going back and forth to the beach and the pier.
I came to see that indoors was best, and probably won’t have an outdoor cat or dog again, that cat made it to 18 years with only one early vet visit for spaying and the initial shots, that really impressed on me the importance of keeping them indoors.
When everyone’s pets were outdoors in the distant past, pets didn’t seem to last long.
My next door neighbor brought an Arabian Sand Cat home with him when he returned from a job he had in Saudi Arabia. It’s not a house cat, it’s as wild as any raccoon, it won’t go indoors, and it runs wild in his yard and mine and in any yard it wants to in the neighborhood.
I once had a snake and rat infested creek running down the edge of my property, but no more. The Sand Cat made short work of them.
I once had moles and voles tearing up lawn, but no more. The Sand Cat took care of them too.
The raccoon that enjoyed turning over my garbage can has now found some other form of entertainment.
That Sand Cat has been a welcome addition to our community.