Indoors or Outdoors?

By Jean Hofve, DVM

Are you thinking about allowing your cat to go outside? To make the
right decision, you need to know the facts.

The average lifespan of an indoor cat is 15-18 years. For a cat
allowed outdoors, the average life is only 2-5 years. There are many
dangers that can harm or kill an outdoor cat.

If your cat goes outside, or you're considering allowing it, please
read this entire list. Then be honest with yourself, and answer this
one question truthfully: can you absolutely, 100% prevent every one
of these things from happening to your cat?

Injury from a fight with another cat (or other animal). A bite-wound
abscess can cost a couple of hundred bucks to treat, not to mention
that it's very painful to the cat.

Diseases from other cats, such as Feline Leukemia, FIV (feline
AIDS), distemper, rabies, toxoplasmosis.

Injury or death by car, truck, motorcycle or other moving vehicle.
Even a bicyclist can injure or kill a cat (and if the cyclist is
injured in the accident, you may also be privileged to pay her large
medical bills, not to mention replacing the bike!).
Stationary cars—yes, even a stopped car can be dangerous. Fanbelts
cause the most hideous injuries you can imagine, ripping the fur and
skin right off the cat's body and slashing through the muscle. It's
not pretty. Those few that survive carry the scars for the rest of
their lives.

Leaking antifreeze can also kill. A cat walking through a small
spill of antifreeze and then licking its paws has ingested a fatal
dose—usually within days, although I have seen it take months for a
cat to actually die of the resulting kidney failure.

Dog attacks. Sometimes cats with seemingly minor injuries will still
die from the extreme fear they experience from the attack. Dog bite
injuries can be painful and costly to treat. I had to do multiple
surgeries on one cat who was severely bitten. Of course, dog attacks
often have even grimmer consequences.

Stolen to be sold to a lab for "research" or dissection. Many cats
dissected in America's classrooms today are stolen from owners or
captured off the streets and sold, alive, to biological supply
companies. In Mexico, children are given $1 for every cat they
catch. "We have irrefutable evidence that the cats cruelly killed in
Mexico were going to American biological supply firms who supply
public schools with animals for dissection." (Cat Fancy 1995) In
1990, an undercover investigation of well-known biological supply
companies documented Class B licensed dealers delivering hundreds of
live cats of unknown origin to those companies. (www.neavs.org).
Tens of thousands of cats die every year so that children and
college kids and nursing students can dissect them.
Stolen, killed and eaten by people. In some cultures, this is
perfectly normal behavior, just as some people eat beef, which would
horrify a Hindu, and others eat pork, which is taboo in Islam and
Judaism.

Stolen to be used as "live bait" for training fighting dogs (common,
especially if you live in or near a good-sized city); live cats are
thrown into the pit or tied up and dangled above it to be ripped
apart by the dogs, to "blood train" them.

Abuse by juvenile delinquents (of any age)—beaten, shot, stabbed,
sexually abused, dissected alive, etc. All of these are common and
well documented in cities, towns, and rural areas. I personally saw
many of these cases, and was involved in others when I worked at the
Animal Protection Institute:
A kitten with a fever of 107ºF and two shattered, infected hind legs
and numerous puncture wounds. The kids apparently dragged her out of
the dog's mouth, but didn't tell mom. The injured kitten did not
receive veterinary care until it was almost too late.
A sexually abused 8-week old calico kitten.
A Birman kitten rescued by a street person from a group of kids who
were repeatedly throwing him against a brick wall for fun.
Numerous cats injured or killed by guns or arrows or, in one case,
beaten to death with a golf club by a man walking his dog along a
bike path. Why he was carrying a golf club in the first place was
never explained.
Cats soaked in gasoline and set on fire.
A litter of newborn kittens deliberately crushed to death in a trash
compactor.
A kitten set on a hot barbecue grill for laughs. Rescued by an
outraged neighbor, she survived for a few agonizing hours before
dying of massive burns.
A live adult cat tied into a black garbage bag and thrown into the
Platte River, where a passerby noticed the bag moving and pulled it
out.
Kittens thrown from moving cars. A client of mine behind one of
these picked up the kitten and adopted her. Angel was one of the
lucky ones. I've seen 2 dead kittens on the median of I-25 in Denver
just this year, out of perhaps a dozen trips.

Encounters with a poisonous animal. Depending on where you live, the
deadly options may include rattlesnake, copperhead, coral snake,
water moccasin (also called cottonmouth), tarantulas, black widow
and brown recluse spiders, and scorpions.

Predators. Besides people, there are a lot of critters that can hurt
or kill a cat. You may have several of these in your area:
Alligators (if you live in the southeast, you probably know someone
who has lost a cat or dog to a 'gator).
Broad-winged hawks (wingspan over 4 feet, dive speed over 100 mph)
Owls – A friend of mine watched an owl strike and fly off with a
large, screaming Maine coon cat in his talons.
Eagles (cats are on the menu of Golden eagles, 4 of which were seen
circling my town just last week)
Coyotes—these resourceful relatives of our domestic dogs live
virtually everywhere in the U.S., including Manhattan and downtown
Los Angeles. One night, on major thoroughfare in Denver, I
personally saw a very large coyote trotting down the middle of the
street!
Foxes—one of my feline patients was brought in with a clear set of
puncture marks across her back and down both sides, in a perfect
imprint of a fox's jaws. This particular fox was living in central
Denver. A large cat might be able to escape a fox—or it might die
trying.
Raccoons—they don't necessarily kill, but they can cause devastating
injuries. Raccoons also carry rabies in many parts of the country.
Adult raccoons typically weight 25-50 lbs. Your cat is no match.
Skunks—the danger is not just from the unpleasant end! As members of
the weasel family, skunks have vicious teeth and bad tempers.
Other large predators -— in my little town west of Boulder,
Colorado, there are bears and mountain lions that have been seen
near the schoolyard or trotting down Main Street. More than a dozen
domestic cats and two dogs have been taken by lions; in just the
last week, two cats were snatched within sight of their owners.

Diseases from other animals and from the environment (rabies,
distemper, feline leukemia, feline AIDS, feline infectious
peritonitis, Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, cytauxzoonosis, ringworm,
sporotrichosis, and hundreds of other infectious organisms you've
never heard of). Some are merely annoying, others are fatal.
Traps and snares. Traps do not discriminate. Thousands of cats and
dogs have lost limbs and lives to steel-jawed traps set for raccoons
and other species. One of my neighbor's cats had what was left of
its leg amputated just recently after being caught in a leghold
trap. These traps are legal for control of "nuisance" animals—even
in states like Colorado that have banned leghold traps. Few of these
nuisance-control trappers are licensed or regulated. They do not
care what they catch; if they find a cat or dog in their traps, they
usually just kill it and dispose of the body.

Impoundment by animal control, an annoyed neighbor, or local cat-
hater. At the shelter, your cat will spend a terrifying few days in
a metal cage until:
you reclaim him (less than 5% of cats in shelters are ever re-united
with their families)
he is destroyed (the fate of the vast majority of these cats)
if he is extremely lucky, adopted to a family who will keep him
indoors!

Parasites—fleas, ticks, heartworm, roundworms, tapeworms—as well as
the parasites of the parasites, like tapeworms that live in fleas,
or West Nile virus and rickettsial diseases carried by mosquitoes.

Skin cancer—cats with white or light-colored fur around the face and
ears are prone to cancer from exposure to direct sunlight.
Hanging/choking from a non-safety collar, or a malfunctioning safety
collar.

Accidental poisoning from eating a poisoned rodent or walking
through herbicides, fertilizers, pesticides, eating poisonous
plants, and other sources.

Intentional poisoning. I grew up in a neighborhood where a vicious
woman deliberately baited and poisoned cats for many, many years. In
those days, all cats went outside; no one ever heard of an indoor
cat. Our family lost several cats to poisoning over the years we
lived there.

Exposure to weather (heatstroke, snow, ice, severe storms) and
unable to find adequate shelter.
Being accidentally trapped in a garage, basement, car, or other
enclosure. Before I knew how dangerous it is for cats to roam, one
of my cats wandered into an open garage, apparently hid inside when
the car started, and spent a long weekend locked inside while the
people were away. I once found my other cat standing on the
dashboard of a van across the way. Evidently she slipped in through
the open sunroof and couldn't get out again. Had the Southern
California weather been just a little warmer that day, she could
have died of hyperthermia. I had thought it was safe to let them out
there, because it was a cul-de-sac with hardly any traffic and open
space all around. Not!

Undetected disease. Guardians cannot always carefully observe cats
who spend a lot of time outside. Urinary tract problems are
frequently missed because the cat so rarely uses an indoor
litterbox. I've had clients find their male cats dead of a urinary
blockage before they ever knew the cat was sick.
Stupid accidents. Things happen. One of my cats broke a toe when she
fell off a fence and caught her paw between two of its boards, which
is where I found her.

A lot of people let their cats out "supervised". That is, the
guardian is actually out in the yard with the cat, or pretty close
by, mostly, at least until the phone rings or the timer goes off or
the kids scream or some other distraction occurs.

If you think your mere presence is sufficient to protect your cat,
you're only fooling yourself. You're always within earshot?
Great...you might be lucky enough to hear the squealing tires—and
the thud. Here are a couple of other experiences from people,
including me, who thought their cats were safe outdoors:

A man was outside one morning, standing on his deck, with his cat
sitting right next to him. He was drinking his coffee and enjoying
the sunrise. Suddenly he heard a funny noise and looked to see what
it was. He saw, already a long way off, a coyote with the cat IN ITS
MOUTH—snatched from RIGHT NEXT TO HIS FOOT. The guy yelled, and
fortunately the coyote dropped the uninjured cat and ran away. All
concerned were definitely sadder, but hopefully wiser. Did you know
that coyotes can run as fast as greyhounds? Cats can't, and neither
can you!

One lady's cat was outside, on his harness attached to a
clothesline. She went inside for just a couple of minutes. When she
came back out, she found that the cat had tried to jumped over the
fence, and was partially hanging from it. His feet were on the
ground but he was slowly suffocating. The cat survived, but the trip
to the emergency clinic was both terrifying and expensive.

My neighbor's elderly cat, Boots, was sitting on his own porch one
summer day, just 2 weeks before his 20th birthday. We had a big
party planned for him. He was dragged from the porch and torn apart
by two pit bulls, who played tug-of-war with his broken body.
Unfortunately, he was not killed outright. His owner (who was in the
house, literally only a few feet away) heard Boots screaming, scared
off the dogs, and rushed poor Boots to the emergency clinic, where
he survived for a few painful hours until he was finally euthanized.
Happy Birthday, dear sweet Boots. I miss you so much! I cry every
time I think of you.

A cat being walked on a leash was chewing on some grass. The cat
started coughing, but the guardians couldn't see anything in his
mouth. They watched the cat, who was still coughing sporadically,
overnight, and took him to the vet first thing in the morning. The
veterinarian found a 3-inch piece of grass stalk near the cat's
larynx, which she removed. Lung x-rays showed fluid, possibly from
lodged grass seeds. The cat eventually recovered.

Many years ago, my roommates and I were sitting on the porch one
evening with our cat Mr. Crosby, watching our 2 dogs play in the
yard, which was surrounded by a 6' wooden privacy fence. Suddenly
there were 3 dogs instead of 2; a large Irish setter had suddenly
bounded over the high fence like a deer. When he saw us, boing! he
jumped back out. We were so stunned we never even moved. (Even
though that story had a happy ending, Mr. Crosby did not. He moved
out with one of the roommates. As they were moving into their new
place, Mr. Crosby slipped out through an open door and was never
seen again).

Face it—as a human, you simply do not have the ability to react in
time to stop EVERYTHING that could possibly happen to your cat. Your
cat is faster than you. Your neighbor's dog is faster than you. Cars
are definitely faster than you.

Granted, some cats do live long and happy lives outside. My
neighbor's outdoor cat was 15 and doing fine. Then they got a
kitten. Sweetest little black kitty you ever saw. They started
letting him out when he was only about 8 or 9 weeks old. I found him
outside at 10 p.m. one freezing winter night when I walked the dog.
I took him in overnight, then went over to their house the next
morning to discuss it with them. They said he could get under the
house to stay warm, just like the older cat did; evidently the
kitten didn't know that. They also said their older cat would teach
the kitten to be street smart. I guess he was a slow learner,
because he died right in front of their house, struck and killed by
a car on our very busy street long before his first birthday.

Think about this: when you have just a handful of cats who reach old
age outside, how many other cats have to die very, very young to
bring the average age of death down to less than 5?

None of these people whose stories I've told wanted or expected
these horrible things to happen their beloved cats. But all of this
pain and suffering could have been prevented by one simple thing:
keeping them inside. It's your choice, but it's your cat's life.

A cat who has never been outdoors probably doesn't have the
slightest clue that there is an outdoors. I think when they look out
a window, it must be like "kitty TV" to them; with smell-o-vision if
the window is open!

It is never safe for a cat to go out. Rural cats are in at least as
much danger as city cats; the dangers are just a little different.
Less chance of being hit by a car, but more dangerous predators. A
fox or owl can and will easily catch and kill a cat. If you think
your cat is safe outside because it stays in your yard or doesn't
go "too far", you're only fooling yourself. Unfortunately, that
illusion could mean life or death to your cat. When your outdoor cat
just doesn't come home one day, you may never know why, and you will
only be able to hope and pray that his death was quick and painless.

There is another side to the coin, too; and that is the danger that
cats pose to birds and other prey animals, including endangered
species. Free-roaming cats are superb predators who kill many
millions of songbirds and other feathered friends every year. If
your cat goes outside, be prepared to deal with the dead -- or
worse, dying -- birds and small mammals (mice, voles, baby rabbits),
snakes and other wounded creatures that your can may leave on your
doorstep!

For those who really want to give their cats the outdoor experience,
it can be done without the risk. Consider cat-fencing or building an
outdoor cat enclosure. It doesn't have to be big. But it will keep
your cat in, and danger out.