lampfaced:

acti-veg:

perpetual-levity:

cephalopodvictorious:

fleshcircus:

pangur-and-grim:

witch3079:

pangur-and-grim:

pangur-and-grim:

pangur-and-grim:

my aunt talking about her outdoor cats: if they die a few years early because I let them out, so be it

me: -_____________________________-

“the safety of this tiny soft bastard who happens to love me is entirely under my control, but fuck that I guess”

ppl reblogging this post: “but my cats love going outside! I don’t provide any mental stimulation indoors, so they’re MISERABLE when not playing in the street – can’t you see there’s no painfully obvious solution?”

this makes me profoundly stressed cats are living things who absolutely want and should be allowed to go outside if your living situation allows it

me chucking my canary out the window: “you are a living thing who absolutely wants and should be allowed to go outside if my living situation allows it”

Me throwing open my doors: be free, dogs!! May your profound stress be eased!!!!! for my living situation allows you to do so!!!!!!!

Ah yes, let’s let this species cause mass extinctions of local birds in areas they’re not from while letting them drink antifreeze from puddles and climb into car engines and frolic with coyotes, that’ll make them happy

>mass extinction of local birds

Fucking lol

I cannot fathom why you would find it ridiculous that introducing millions of non-native, invasive predators into almost every single country when they have no natural predators just might have an impact on local animals. It is common sense, and conservationists have been telling us for years that cats are one of the leading drivers of extinction in wild birds and small fauna. On the list of predators posing the highest risk to native species, cats rank second, contributing towards the extinction of 63 separate species. You may find it funny that cute, fuzzy little cats pose a threat to wild animals, but the problems they cause for native species is well documented.

and there are ways to let your cat have outdoor access without enabling them to kill off local wildlife or contract illnesses from strays. they’re called catios. if you’re gonna have an “outdoor” cat this is honestly the only acceptable method in my book. 

those are some of the higher quality ones but they are all over Pinterest and there are plenty of how-to tutorials out there. the key is high walls, an enclosed roof space, minimal chance of escape, and an easy way for the cat to travel between indoors and the catio as they please, plus all the standard enrichment they’d have with an outdoor area. it might be a bit of effort but it’s worth it.

my Old Man Cat, bless his soul, lived to almost eighteen and was fortunate enough to never contract anything – but he killed so much wildlife in his prime that I don’t doubt for a second the damage that cats can do. I can remember when he was a few months old he caught and killed a scrub jay, and when he was a few years old and we’d moved to Arizona he started to successfully hunt rabbits. I was a kid and didn’t know any better, and neither did my family. he’s very lucky that when he vanished for a week in our mountain “neighborhood” – where bears and mountain lions and foxes lived – during the winter, that he came back in one healthy, albeit skinny, piece. I know better now and I wish I’d known back then.