More scientific evidence has surfaced to show that while mittens may be your sweet angel, letting her roam outside is also a big threat to biodiversity.

  • mateomaui@reddthat.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    20
    ·
    7 months ago

    And my little senior citizen buddy will continue having good mental health to his final days by still being allowed outdoors.

    • tomatoisaberry@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      Mental health for felines does not necessitate killing other animals. Mine gets sufficient stimulation by just observing and being played with.

      • mateomaui@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        16
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        Cool story.

        Until the end of last year, mine was indoor-only, and had multiple health problems requiring ongoing expenses and treatment, then a change in my living situation necessitated him being outdoors for part of the time. Ever since then, he has gone into almost complete remission, supplies that would last for weeks now last for months, and his vets agree that the only thing that has changed is he is now getting something from the outdoor experience that medicine couldn’t provide. IE, mental health.

        He was played with and given attention constantly, and it didn’t matter, we thought he had only a few months left. Now he could have years left.

        So he will continue to be outdoors, despite opinions from random people on the internet.

        • LilB0kChoy@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          the only thing that has changed is he is now getting something from the outdoor experience that medicine couldn’t provide

          Well, your living situation changed too…

          When we would take our cat to the vet for various ongoing ailments they’d always ask if anything changed at home. Seems like that might play a factor.

          • mateomaui@reddthat.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            Yes, and him being outdoors when he wants is part of that change. There were no issues with the previous residence. If anything there are problems with the new residence. The vets and I went through everything for years and nothing came up that could be addressed. We have this under control, the decision is made. The cat is still going to be outside when he wants, and after all this I will now encourage him to try to catch the fucking birds destroying fruit on the orchard trees.

            • LilB0kChoy@midwest.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              7 months ago

              I will now encourage him to try and catch the fucking birds destroying fruit on the orchard trees.

              Your feelings got hurt by strangers on the internet so you want to actively try to be the bad cat owner you claim you’re being painted as?

              👍 you do you I guess.

              • mateomaui@reddthat.com
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                7 months ago

                Sure, if I’m considered a bad owner despite all my efforts to take care of him well, may as well lean into it. And these birds actually are destroying the crops, so if he doesn’t eat them, we’ll probably start shooting them. And as mentioned in a different reply, none of them here are native, they’re all invasives. So be happy about it. Or don’t. Whatever.

                And, again, as mentioned elsewhere, the likelihood this old cat will actually catch any bird is severely low.

                • LilB0kChoy@midwest.social
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  7 months ago

                  I don’t really care one way or another about your cat. You seem very petulant and kind of antagonistic, especially looking through your comment history.

                  I bet you’re a real treat to be around if this is how you interact with people in person. Thankfully the digital world has a block feature.

                  Bye bye!

                  • mateomaui@reddthat.com
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    2
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    7 months ago

                    You don’t seem to have actually read anything. I have taken such good care of this cat that my vets are amazed he’s lived this long, much less suddenly doing so much better than he was before. Your opinion is trash.

                    Feel free to block me, you didn’t have to offer your opinion to begin with. One less asshole replying to me like they know everything.

    • stopthatgirl7@kbin.socialOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      7 months ago

      If your cat is supervised and leashed, sure.
      If not, it needs to be kept indoors for the sake of local wildlife.

      If you can’t provide your cat with proper indoor stimulation, quite honestly, you shouldn’t have one. It’s a part of responsible pet ownership.

        • stopthatgirl7@kbin.socialOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          And reread the first part of what I said:

          If your cat is supervised and leashed, sure.

          Oh, and as for “years left”?

          The average lifespan for an indoor cat is 12-15 years.

          It’s 3-5 for an outdoor cat.

          That’s the OTHER reason for cats needing to be kept indoors OR supervised and leashed/harnessed if allowed out.

          • CarlsIII@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            7 months ago

            It’s 3-5 for an outdoor cat.

            Source? My family has had at least 4 cats that have gone outside and lived longer than a decade at least.

              • CarlsIII@kbin.social
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                edit-2
                7 months ago

                Are they talking about cats that only go outside during the day, or cats that always stay outside, and does that make a difference? Because, as I’ve said, apparently we’ve raised at least 4 outliers.

                • stopthatgirl7@kbin.socialOP
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  7 months ago

                  It makes a difference. Purely outdoor cats die sooner because of food, parasites, and illness, along with predators, cars, and accidental poisoning. Mostly indoor cats that are let out are fed at home and go to the vet. But they’re still at risk from cars, poisoning (ie, say a neighbor planted some lovely lilies and your cat goes to sniff them - lilies are deadly toxic to cats and just biting a leaf can kill them), and larger predators if they aren’t supervised.

          • mateomaui@reddthat.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            8
            ·
            7 months ago

            My cat is already 19, and now he’s doing better than he was last year. That’s how well I take care of him.

            I already read the first part, I don’t care.

            Back to getting over it with you.

            • stopthatgirl7@kbin.socialOP
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              7
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              7 months ago

              So you don’t supervise your cat while he’s out, is what I’m getting. Ok.

              Then I sincerely hope your elderly cat, who REACHED his age by being kept indoors, doesn’t end up hit by a car, accidentally eating poison or something poisonous, or depending on where you live, eaten by a coyote or gator. As happens to many cats allowed outdoors unsupervised.

              If you let a cat out, be responsible by supervising and leashing/harnessing it or have a special enclosed cat run in your yard.

              • mateomaui@reddthat.com
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                arrow-down
                6
                ·
                7 months ago

                I didn’t bother reading any of that, because my vets feel like I’ve made the right decisions for his welfare and commend me every time I’m there for doing such a great job and being such a good parent.

                So get used to disappointment here, because I don’t give a fuck. And you can stick your judgmental comments regarding poor ownership and not deserving to have a pet back up your ass where they came from.

                • stopthatgirl7@kbin.socialOP
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  6
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  7 months ago

                  I didn’t bother reading any of that,

                  So I’m not reading anything you wrote past that line. Have a lovely day.