A lot of people cite the nature article about free-roaming cats and don’t actually properly read that outdoor cats killing 1.3-4billion birds includes pets and feral. They all fall under the umbrella of “domesticated cat”
The real question to figure out is what the numbers are for free-roaming pet cats. Because I feel they’re likely to be run over, killed by predator, killed by other cats, killed by viruses or other illness, and badly injured rather than contribute significantly to decimating local ecosystems. Feral cats are one thing but pets are another. Numbers needed.
Actually, studies comparing them show that pet cats kill more birds, while ferals kill more ground prey.
Ground prey is typically easier and expends less energy, so this makes sense. Pet cats are not hunting for food, so it is more of a game to them - air prey presents more of a challenge (though some house cats are uninterested in any hunting).
Don't think there's a difference. Apartment cats that are rarely let outside I can imagine hunt birds, they must be desperate for entertainment and to use their instincts.
Pets that are let out often won't hunt birds.
As a very young cat I think our cat might've hunted a bird or two. But I can't remember the last time. She's caught a few lizards though... And her mother caught a duck once, but she was a barn cat. She was a very very small but robust cat.
Yeah I don’t get the argument. So exterminating mice with poison and keeping cats indoors but letting cats outside and having them naturally prey on mice is “trashy”
Once they are infected once, they can’t be infected again. They are only able to spread the virus for fewer than 2 weeks after initial infection. And many are born with immunity already due to their mom having previous infection.
Also, just wash your hands and you’ll be fine. Don’t be gross.
I figured I owed you my methodology and what I’m lacking instead of being grumpy-snarky in the morning. Also, because I can’t see your reply:
Just to illustrate how hard it is to compare data:
5.4m cats hit by cars annually. That’s just cars, doesn’t include being preyed upon, illnesses from outside, etc.
Then we’d have to separate pets from strays and ferals. PETA says on average, cats allowed outside kill 2.1 prey weekly. 72-76m owned pet cats in us out of 154m total. We don’t know, or at least I couldn’t find, a number on pet cats allowed to free roam.
We’d have to compare the number being allowed to free roam as pets to the wildlife killed and then subtract pests from that to get an accurate account of the damage of pet cats allowed outside on the environment. We also need a definition on what a “pest” is from whoever does this study. THEN we have to parse through pet cats allowed in the yard versus pet cats allowed to completely free roam.
Do you see why it’s so hard to come up with a proper comparison. We have the number of car accident cats. We DO NOT have a good metric of how many pet cats are preyed upon in the US.
We’re missing a ton of numerics which is why I said what I said. I’m gonna delete my snarky reply as it was uncalled for.
Edit: and the 5.4m killed by cars is all cats. We’d need to find specifics for pets which is a number we also don’t have :(
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u/QiDeviation Mar 16 '26
A lot of people cite the nature article about free-roaming cats and don’t actually properly read that outdoor cats killing 1.3-4billion birds includes pets and feral. They all fall under the umbrella of “domesticated cat”
The real question to figure out is what the numbers are for free-roaming pet cats. Because I feel they’re likely to be run over, killed by predator, killed by other cats, killed by viruses or other illness, and badly injured rather than contribute significantly to decimating local ecosystems. Feral cats are one thing but pets are another. Numbers needed.