Guest Post By Daniel Richardson
Every year in the UK, 230,000 cats are killed on the roads, that’s a colossal 630 cats killed every single day in the UK alone. Global figures are likely to be well into the tens of thousands.
With our roads more busy than ever your cat is infinitely safer indoors. Yet the arguments against keeping an indoor cat are usually along the lines of it being cruel to deny a cat the freedom to explore, hunt and play in the great outdoors.
Indoor Cats Have More Stimulation Than Ever
Thanks to a wide array of modern technologies designed specifically for cats your feline can almost have more entertainment inside the home than outside of it!
Incredible contraptions designed for cats include things like exercise wheels, this is like a giant hamster wheel for your cat, interactive toys which move in ways designed to stimulate and intrigue and of course there are still all the classic cat stimulators such as scratching posts and towers.
Indoor Cats Have Better Water
Another problem with allowing your cat outside is that they may drink from potentially contaminated water sources. Keeping your cat indoors means that you can ensure the water they drink is always fresh and clean, many modern cats even enjoy the luxury of a drinking fountain to provide them with fresh, filtered flowing water.
Indoor Cats Have Better Diets
Cats are curious creatures and the outdoor world is often enjoyed and explored through tasting and biting things.
This is all well and good until your cat encounters a potentially toxic plant or something else equally dubious. Indoor cats easily avoid getting ill by eating what you give them and not a great deal of anything else – do make sure though that chemicals are always stored in an inaccessible place and any house plants you may have are non-toxic (you can check this here on the cats.org website).
Indoor Cats Get To See More Action And Cause Less Carnage
A high window can create a great vantage point to view the comings and going of birds in your garden, this is something which will keep cats engaged for hours and hours particularly if you have a bird feeding tray or similar.
The modern cat also has the option of watching TV or playing games designed for cats on an iPad! Our cat regularly tries to catch balls on the TV when we are watching tennis or football and she loves nature programs too.
And all of this stimulation comes without the downside of feathers strewn everywhere and blood smeared across the kitchen floor as is a common occurrence with outdoor cats.
Indoor Cats Don’t get Lost
Sadly it is not uncommon to hear of peoples cats going missing without a trace, often an outdoor cat may sneak into someone else’s house and if they decide that conditions there are favourable then they may decide to stay.
Keeping your cat indoors means you don’t have to worry that one day your cat may ditch your in favour of someone else!
We hope this has given you an insight into why confining your cat to your house is not as bad as it sounds.
Keeping your cat indoors can both extend and enrich the life of your cat while also giving you peace of mind that your cat is always safe from the dangers of roads.
Tagged with: indoor cat • indoor cats
Filed under: Cat Care
A pleasure to contribute to your blog Gary,
our cat Whisky is an indoor cat and she is very happy and healthy!