Indoor cats? Hopefully someone can clear this up for me...
I've heard from this community and other cat communities that it's considered "stupid" cat ownership to allow your cat outside, regardless of the situation. This seems absurd to me. I have met many, many cats in my lifetime, some of which were all indoor, some of which were indoor/outdoor. While the indoor/outdoor cats in general are sweet, sociable and in-shape, the majority of the indoor cats I've met are touchy, antisocial, and fat to boot.
I'm not suggesting that people who keep their cats solely outdoors are not stupid. They are, and in fact I believe that it's stupid pet ownership to keep any pet, regardless of species, solely outdoors. What I am wondering is why it's considered "better" to keep your cat indoors when it seems to affect their quality of life. They do not seem happy or in-shape (and I certainly am not trying to speak for all. I don't doubt that there are indeed indoor cats who are happy and in-shape). I know I also don't need to bring up the fact that indoor cats are more at risk for getting declawed by ignorant owners, which we know in itself is cruel.
Obviously this depends heavily on where one lives. If you live in New York City, or in an apartment that your cat would have a hard time finding, or in an area where the cat could get eaten by wild animals, you're not gonna want to let your cat outside, and I'm not disputing this. But if you live in a subdivision in the suburbs or in a rural area with little traffic, there's little reason why one must keep their cat solely indoors. I believe that if the owner is responsible when he or she first brings the cat home, trains the cat to come when his or her name is called, and never leaves the cat to stray too far, the vast majority of outdoor-related accidents can be prevented, and I don't believe that forcing a fresh-air-breathing being to stay indoors his or her entire life is the answer to avoiding such accidents. One must also not disregard the fact that accidents can happen within the home as well.
I realize that it's been scientifically proven that cats have "better" qualities of life living completely indoors, though this does not make sense to me. No, the risk of getting hit by a car does not exist, but an antisocial obese cat has a small quality of life, in my opinion. This seems common sense to me.
I hope to avoid any holier-than-thou attitudes with this post. We're all adults here.