Indoor vs Outdoor cat - Why are there more "house" cats now?

(03-01-2012, 07:27 AM)CrazyCatLady Wrote: That's a good question! I remember when I was a kid a lot of people would let their cats outside. I have 5, only 2 of whom go outside. One we adopted as an adult, and he was already an outdoor cat, so it wouldn't have been fair to him to change that. The other one we adopted as a kitten and intended on keeping him as an indoor cat, but he decided one day that he wanted to see what the outside world was all about, as he decided that he liked it. We tried to discourage him from going outside at first, but then gave in. There is no humanly possible way to tell a cat it can't do something Our other 3, also adopted as kittens have shown no interest in going outside, so we keep them inside.

I think the difference between then and now is people just don't feel as safe as they used to.

Welcome, CatLady!

I never personally had a cat myself, but when I was a kid I've seen cats walking outside all the time lol. My dad always had family cats when he was a kid. The cats would go out and have fun, then return for food on time.
I agree that the outside world is more dangerous for the cats as well as for humans lol. At least compare to stay at home.

One of my dad childhood cats died because of suspected rat poisoning. She had several kitties while still going out for fun, but she would come back for food and to breast feeding the kitties. One day my great grandmother prepared the cat food and did not see her come home on time. When she looked for the cat, the cat was already home early, but she was dead beside the kitties. I think she struggled to come back to her kitties when she didn't feel well.
At least all the kitties were healthy, and my dad kept one with him while the rest were given away.

Well, I don't see many cats walking around outside any more. It is a rare sight around here these days.