Serious question, is it a hot take to say that forcing outdoor cats indoors is actually cruel?

I grew up on a farm in rural Ohio where every barn cat lived outside and caught mice, no issues. Last year I moved to the suburbs and adopted a stray, but every online group I join says I'm abusive if I let him outside even supervised. I tried keeping him strictly indoors for 3 months and he got destructive, stopped eating, and scratched up my new couch. Has anyone else dealt with a cat that just flat out refused to be an indoor pet?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_morgan21d ago

People really act like letting a cat see sunlight is the same as abandoning it in a war zone. I had a barn cat back home who would've clawed my eyes out if I tried to trap him inside for three months straight. Your cat stopped eating and wrecked your couch, that's not a "learning curve" situation, that's a miserable animal telling you it hates your plan. I get that birds and traffic are real dangers, but acting like there's only one way to own a cat is just silly. Some cats are built for the outdoors, you can't reprogram their whole brain with a litter box and some window perches.

wyatt_green3121d ago

That line about "reprogram their whole brain with a litter box and some window perches" really hit home for me. I actually listened to a podcast a while back where a vet was talking about how some cats have a genetic drive to roam, like it's literally bred into them from generations of barn cats and street cats. Your cat stopped eating, man. That's not being stubborn, that's a stress response. I think people forget that "indoor only" is a relatively new idea in the grand scheme of cat ownership, and it works great for some cats but not all of them.