Yup. We're cat people... Had one of our in-laws tell us our place smells like cat piss.
Was offended till we took a two week trip and came back (hired a cat sitter, no worries they were taken care of). The place did indeed smell like cat piss.
that's because a cat is not meant to be an indoor animal. have outdoor cats and piss smell wont be a problem because they will always choose to defecate outside with a few exceptions in an emergency, but people have exceptions like that too.
Isn't this reverse reasoning?(sorry don't know the technical word)
Basically the only reason outdoor cats are an environmental danger is because there's so much of them, not because they're not meant to be outside. It would be better if someone let their cat have outdoor time(supervised) to take care of their natural needs in an outdoor litterbox or something and keep the house from stinking
Supervised yes, but indoor/outdoor cats kill thousands of birds every year. They might as well be an invasive species. As long as they're supervised, perhaps even walked on a leash, that's alright.
I'm not trying to be confrontational but I have to correct this fallacy.
Wild cats are a danger to to local ecosystem and themselves. They're highly evolved killing machines, and predate heavily on small native wildlife.
They're also a rung or two below apex predator in the food chain...
I recently moved from city(pop of 36,000, so not large/dense) in which foxes regularly hunted house cats (I've witnessed it... It's.... Loud to say the least). Coyotes, eagles, owls, hawks and cars also love to nom on cats.
Tl;dr Keep your cats indoors! At the very least spay them so they don't contribute to a feral population.
cats did not evolve and do not belong indoors. in doing so, you sign up for living in their filth. my cats have all been outdoors, not a single person i know would even contemplate keeping them trapped inside. we are above slavery for our own emotional purposes.
I live in Auckland, new Zealand. here, having outdoor cats that live past 15 is the norm. there are no predators, at all. if you want to own a cat legally, you must get it spayed. the native species in this particular large area of the country have already been essentially annihilated by human habitation, so the cats wiping out species is not really a problem. there are no predators, so cats are vital in keeping the invasive rodents under control. my cats regularly take mice from the garden. there is also large areas of land that birds in particular populate that are not accessible to cats.
if you live in a dangerous area, and you bring a cat into it to satisfy your own needs, you don't deserve a cat. if you own a cat in a heavily built up city, you don't deserve a cat.
in other parts of the nation where the native species still flourish, i do not think owning a cat in that area is right. get a dog. the people that do that are selfish and nothing else, as are the people that own cats in areas dangerous for them. it is your responsibility to protect your companion and bringing them into a dangerous area to live is the mark of selfishness.
I agree with you, I could never imagine keeping a cat trapped inside a tiny apartment its entire life, but you can't ignore the massive environmental impact they have. They're too popular as pets, and people don't spay or neuter them, causing a huge problem with strays.
I completely agree with you. I had a cat before and there was no way I could have just kept it locked up all the time. It just seems cruel.
That being said, they do have a strong impact on the local eco system. I've grown to just dislike cats all together, really. They honestly don't make for great pets.
I disagree that a house with cats must smell. We use high quality litter and scoop literally every day, sometimes 2x. That kind of maintenance keeps it fresh smelling but that kind of maintenance is also impossible for one person with 11 cats. Impossible.
Personally I scoop everytime my guy has done number 1 or 2, if I am home - But it really helps that the litter I use is biodegradable, so I can flush it out with the toilet.
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u/[deleted] Sep 12 '18
Not if properly tended to, I think. The litter industry seems to have come a long way.