fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5691 ]

[ SECRET POST #5691 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5691 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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03. [SPOILERS for The Orville]

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04. [SPOILERS for What We Do In The Shadows Season 4]

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05. [SPOILERS for The Boys, season 3]

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06. [SPOILERS for Control Z]

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07. [SPOILERS for The Umbrella Academy]
[WARNING for discussion of non-con]

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08. [WARNING for discussion of non-con]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #814.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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More stressing than venting; we have two young cats who have recently started going outside and one of them hurt herself trying to get away from the neighbour's dog this morning. I heard a ton of barking and scrabbling and meowing and she came back in with all the skin scraped off her chin; I'm thinking she probably slipped trying to climb the wall.

I know I can't coddle her and follow her around forever but I already live in constant anxiety about something awful happening to them now they're out. I've only ever had adult cats so this is my first time raising kittens. I know this comes with the territory with outdoor cats but my partner insisted they not be kept in. I'm assured that the dog is all bark and won't actually hurt her but I can't help worrying constantly.

Awww. Poor kitty. You sound like an amazing kitty mom. I totally get it. I stress about my girl a lot too. I'm sure the kitty knows she is loved. I'm sorry your parents are insisting on them being outdoor cats, because I have strong feelings about that. But I'm sure you will take great care of your kitty and make sure she's okay, even outdoors. Sending all the hugs your way.

Thank you so much <3 You sound like a fantastic kitty parent too! I totally get wanting her to have freedom but there's just so much that can go wrong and every time they go out I think they might not come home. Our last cat got hit by a car so that makes me doubly worried. She's happily snoozing away on my lap so she's a lot less stressed about the whole thing than me, haha.

"I know this comes with the territory with outdoor cats but my partner insisted they not be kept in."

... why? Letting cats out is so dangerous for them and shortens their lives. There are so many things that can kill cats outdoors: cars, predators, poison/poisonous things, they can get trapped in places, etc.

My neighbor accidentally killed a cat once - he left his backyard shed open while he was doing yardwork on a hot day, and the cat must've gone inside to nap because the shed was nice and cool. He finished his yardwork and locked the shed up and didn't open it again until the next weekend, and of course by then what he found was a dead cat. Obviously he didn't mean to do it and it wasn't his fault at all, but that didn't make the cat less dead. That kind of thing can happen with cats that are allowed to go outside. It just isn't safe to let them out.

Yeah, sadly these are all things that go through my mind every second they're out of my sight. :( My partner has always had outdoor cats growing up; he grew up on a farm where they were just allowed to wander around and says that it's not right to keep them in because they need their freedom. The two he had when I met him were very outdoorsy. I thought he'd be a little more uneasy about this since we lost his last cat to a car earlier this year. But he's such a glass-half-full person, the day we let them out I was in tears worrying about everything that could go wrong and following them while he was so happy talking about all the fun they'd have, they're growing up and it's beautiful, they'll be great, etc.

I don't want to go against him and I want them to be able to explore but I just keep waiting for it to go wrong.

I'm so sorry about your neighbour; absolutely no fault of his but I know that would haunt me forever, the poor guy. These things happen so easily and it's terrifying.

why don't you want to go against him? if you really feel this strongly about it, why aren't you putting your foot down?

are you the flaming anon

I'm sorry, but the idea that cats "need freedom" is a complete and total fallacy. What cats need is opportunities for play and enrichment, all of which you can provide while living indoors. A lot of people will claim that cats aren't happy indoors, but that's because you aren't stimulating or playing with them.

My sister has a cat who was a stray that she took in after someone dumped it near her workplace. It lived outdoors for almost a year before she adopted it, so she thought it would be difficult to get it acclimated to being an indoor cat. Nothing could have been further from the truth. This cat LOVES to play and so it gets vigorous playtime every night and as a result, it hasn't once shown any interest in going back outside. It's perfectly happy to be an indoor cat because it gets exercise and attention on a daily basis.

Bullshit. No animal enjoys being caged, no matter how many toys you give them.

Being in a house is not being caged. Put places for them to sit/lay near windows. That is just as enriching as actually being outside, without shortening their lives.

Bullcrap. You're an immigration lawyer FFS. You should know that animals need freedom. Humans do not have monopoly on that.

Re: Venting thread

(Anonymous) - 2022-08-06 13:10 (UTC) - Expand

What cats need is the opportunity to get sunlight, fresh air, and greenery. Just like humans need that.

That's what outdoor catios and harnesses are for.

Assuming you're, a) a rich fucker with consent to alter the property you live in and b) not disabled, you supercilious twat.

Re: Venting thread

(Anonymous) - 2022-08-06 09:53 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Venting thread

(Anonymous) - 2022-08-06 13:10 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Venting thread

(Anonymous) - 2022-08-06 13:11 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Venting thread

(Anonymous) - 2022-08-06 18:29 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Venting thread

(Anonymous) - 2022-08-06 19:17 (UTC) - Expand

That's what catios, porches, harnesses, and windows are for.

Your partner is wrong, tell them that. They only think that because of lazy nostalgia.

Why does your partner insist the cats not be kept indoors only? If the cats themselves don't show any great affinity for the outdoors, it's probably safer for them... and safer for the local bird population, if that matters to you.

I'm... a little impatient with people who insist that a dog won't hurt a cat. Even if the owners say so, frankly, they cannot know this for certain. Even a dog who gets along with _a_ cat won't necessarily like _all_ cats. And even a dog who's never harmed any cat is no guarantee that they will never do so. People who claim to be able to guarantee this are lying to themselves and you. Not to mention that even if this dog doesn't directly hurt your cats, they've already demonstrated that they might (accidentally or not!) frighten your cats so much that they hurt themselves in the process of escaping. What if they ran out into the road and got hit by a car?

I mean, you're right that increased risk of injury and death comes with the territory re: outside cats. So why's it so important that your cats go outdoors?

He was super outdoorsy growing up on a farm, and their cats were free to roam around and he's just never done it any different since; I'm the total opposite in that all of my childhood cats were indoors, so this is really weird for me.

I think you're spot on about the dog thing; I've heard so many horror stories from friends of friends where the dog "just flipped" one day and attacked the cat they'd shared a home with for years. The neighbours have an adult cat which my partner keeps reassuring me is good but that cat has been there the whole dog's life; like you say, there's no guarantee they'll be fine with all just because they're fine with one. :(

If it was entirely down to me, I'd keep them in because I straight up don't trust them to look after themselves. But I know he's completely against it. Thank you for your comment and sorry for rambling. This is stressing me a bit. x

He was super outdoorsy growing up on a farm, and their cats were free to roam around and he's just never done it any different since; I'm the total opposite in that all of my childhood cats were indoors, so this is really weird for me.

Honestly, where I grew up pretty much all cats were outdoor cats (I can't think of anyone I knew who had an indoor cat), so I can understand where your partner is coming from. I live in a city apartment now, so if I had a cat it would have to be an indoor cat, but it's not what feels normal to me. However, if your cats don't show a persistent desire to go out, or an affinity for the outdoors, then I do think your partner should consider doing it your way and have them be indoor cats.

And dogs can hurt cats not even on purpose, especially if the dog is big! They can play too rough and hurt the cat because they don't understand that a cat can't take the same sort of roughhousing that another dog could, just like how big dogs can accidentally hurt smaller dogs too.

Would it be possible to compromise and build a "cat run" so that they can spend time outside but within an enclosed area?

Your partner isn't taking into account the differences in environment between a farm and (it sounds like) the suburbs. The latter is a lot more stressful and dangerous for cats, in ways that aren't always immediately obvious to people.

Also, outdoor cats genuinely do have a large negative impact on the environment, primarily due to how many pet cats there are. Again, less of an issue if we're only considering farm cats, but way bigger an issue if we're considering all outdoor cats. See: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/moral-cost-of-cats-180960505/

Jesus fucking Christ, how many times people? Keep your cats indoors. The outdoors are not good for them, and they are certainly not good for the outdoors. If you keep them as indoor cats they'll live longer, and you can give them more fulfilling lives. Unless all you care about is not having to empty a litter box, there is no good reason to put them out.

As someone who found their neighbour's two years old cat dead on the street after a car hit him just two days ago (he was such a friendly little guy, I cried buckets), I 100% agree.
I had to hug my indoor cat really hard after that

What some people here don't seem to realize is that the possibility of letting your cat indoors depends on plenty of factors. Some cat breeds/mixes prefer indoor environments, some will go out as soon as they can. Some people have a lot of space inside their houses and gardens, others don't. Some people don't have proper windows. Some neighborhoods are dangerous for cats, some cats are naturally less skilled at fleeing from dangerous situations than others.

And there are more dangers than just being trapped in a fence or hit by a car - for instance, getting sick from hunting prey like birds and rats if you have those in the neighborhood. Or even dirty water or poisonous plants. But of course, some breeds will feel a lot happier if they can play outside. If you can afford to let them play outside while keeping watch that's good. If not then I would say that whether you can let them play outside or not also depends on the personality and physical aptitude of the cat. Do argue with your partner about this.

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