1 yr. ago • 92%

Is it time to end cats' right to trespass?

i.stuff.co.nz Is it time to end cats' right to trespass?

Healthy relationships include boundaries. Share your opinion in our readers' poll.

22 comments

It's a reasonable discussion, but in practical terms I don't know if it's worth differentiating between cats trespassing on property and cats being allowed out at all. It's completely impossible for a cat owner to control where their cat roams if they are allowed outside at all. Maybe we need to think about whether cats should be allowed out, but it seems like that's how the debate should be framed, not like this.

Also, even if all owners kept their cats inside, there is still a massive feral population. Getting that under control will take a lot of time and money.

20
- I'm in the keep cats indoors camp. Cats live longer, healthier, happier lives if they're kept indoors. We expect other animals to be kept confined to their owner's property (dogs, cows, sheep, lizards, birds, etc) so I don't see why that expectation should not extend to cats.
  
  Given the enormous damage they do to our native ecosystem I think it makes sense. Feral cats are a pest and currently eradication efforts are hampered because we have to take measures we aren't indiscriminately killing pet cats along with the feral ones. If all pet cats could be expected to remain under owner's control, then the options for eradicating the pests go up a lot.
  
  First step though is to require cats to be micro-chipped and registered, just like dogs are.
  
  12
  
  Cats live longer, healthier, happier lives if they’re kept indoors
  
  Isn't that an American stat, based on conditions like coyotes and snow?
  
  9
  
  First step though is to require cats to be micro-chipped and registered, just like dogs are.
  
  Definitely agree with that, there's no reason every pet cat shouldn't be mircochipped (and most desexed).
  
  I agree the research definitely says cats are better off indoors overall, especially if they also have a catio. I'm not sure whether older cats can easily be transitioned to indoor life. Our cat has a curfew which she adapted to quite easily, but I think if we made her 100% indoors, she would not do well. A catio might help, but wouldn't be the most practical at our place and would be expensive to build.
  
  6
- It’s completely impossible for a cat owner to control where their cat roams if they are allowed outside at all.
  
  I dunno, a house on my street has some inward sloping wires along the top of their fences. It looks inexpensive and seems to do the job of letting the cat roam their backyard.
  
  I don't really know where I stand, but if dog owners have to have a fence capable of keeping their dog in, I don't see this as being impossible for cat owners - it just needs to be a cat fence.
  
  8
the right to roam – effectively, to trespass

These are not the same thing.

20
- Trespass is quite an emotive term and not really appropriate for animals. While they are territorial they have no understanding of human property boundaries.
  
  14
  
  We do though. I wouldn't want people's dogs to shit in my garden and don't want people's cat's doing it.
  
  5
I love cats. But I also love birds, so our two kitties are indoor-only cats and they're happy as. They have company, warmth, food on demand, and are much safer. Just yesterday I saw a cat that had been hit by a car, and it was quite a horrible sight. I hope it didn't suffer long. Its injuries were very, very unpleasant to see.

I don't really care about the main reason noted in the article (visiting cats and poop), for me it's more about protecting birdlife, and the safety of the cats themselves. I'd fully support a curfew for cats, like some states in Aus have. And mandatory microchipping and desexing.

13
Our 7 year old cat had to be moved entirely indoors when we bought an apartment and she.adapted to it a lot easier than we expected, naturally we had to buy her some toys and towers and toilets and things but she's doing fine.

That said I don't think it would be fair to just throw every cat indoors as not all owners and cats would be ready for that, microchilping and registration should be mandatory but it also needs to be affordable otherwise some just won't do it and it would be impossible to police

5
- We had a kitten a long time ago that we kept indoors for a few years, but then she escaped once and that was it, she wouldn't stay indoors anymore. She lives with my in-laws now, but hardly stays in the house. Only coming back to eat every day.
  
  1
I think we should end birds rights to trespass tbh

2

You've viewed 22 comments.