I’m at a friend’s place and the cat keeps bringing in dead (or half-dead) animals into the house. It’s my understanding that cats think we are big, helpless kittens that don’t know how to hunt. Hence, they think they are doing us a favour.
It seems like a few mice actually escaped and found refuge in some walls in the house, so these “presents” are actually more than just annoying (and smelly if the dead animal ends up behind the couch).
Cats are anarcho-communist and just share food with their colony. Proving you don’t need it will not stop the cat from letting you have some. They bring home extra not just for the young, but also for pregnant mothers, the sick, the elderly, and whoever might have had a bad hunt that day. They typically eat their fill in the field first before taking one to go, too.
Cats are anarcho-communist
I knew that cats doing this were bringing back excess food for the colony (in their point of view, anyway) but this is the funniest way I have ever seen someone put it and I’m stealing it.
Also there’s the prestige of it. If your cat is a prolific hunter it will bring you back the freshest game as a way of putting on airs. Do you not see what a successful hunter this cat is?
It’s not so much that they think you’re incapable of hunting. It’s moreso that they just like you and bring gifts. However, like others have said in here, cats absolutely should not be let outside and there is a ton of research that backs that up. The best solution is to educate your friend on how damaging their behavior is to the environment as well as how it puts their cat in danger as well. I know many people in the veterinary field and they all agree that cats should not be let outside unless they are on a harness.
It’s also their way of contributing. You keep getting them food, and contributing to the colony, so they’re also getting food and contributing to the colony, to make sure you don’t go hungry, and the colony is fed.
Well the information you are being provided with is very wrong.
Here in the UK they’re still classified as wild animals and many people let them out. They also work on farms and perform vermin deterrence. But they’re mostly pets and it will be a very very rare thing for someone to use a harness.
I can walk up my street and see one or two sat outside sunning themselves or watching the world pass by and many just want petting. But not usually when I have my four legged boy with me.
Look up lifespans of indoor and outdoor cats. It’s pretty dramatic.
I live in the UK and we look after them. They live on average 15-20+yrs if they’re a good Hienz.
You don’t. A 2025 University of Edinburgh study analysed 12 previous UK veterinary investigations, revealing a stark 10-16 year lifespan gap between indoor and outdoor cats. Seventy percent keep indoor cats. Outdoor cats have an average lifespan of 2 to 5 years with indoor cats coming up at 14 to 18 years. That’s huge my dude.
Post the paper. You have made an assertion and the burden of proof is on you.
Until you do it’s just bollocks.
Do your own fuckin work. Or better, don’t have cats because you’ll cut off two thirds of their lifespan. Here’s a link to disregard while continuing to be belligerent. Numpty fucks arguing with plain facts, this fuckin place is worse than reddit.
https://www.slobberychops.com/indoor-vs-outdoor-cats-what-uk-studies-show-about-lifespan/
Ok lets break down your link. It cites a source but provides no link to the actual scientific peer reviewed articles.
That fact alone immediately consigns that website to the ‘absolute bullshit’ bin.
Like I said, you made the assertion and therefore the burden of proof lies on you to provide. It’s a simple rule that exists in all scientific and legal proceedings.
The fact you don’t understand that simple rule immediately makes me discredit you and anything further you have to say.
Cats outside are an aggressive invasive species in every continent except Africa. I love them but they need to be kept inside, and neutered/spayed. Cats do fine indoors, even ones who have gotten used to going in and out. They may complain but with enrichment and regular play they will get over it. If not, then a catio is a good solution.
The European wild cat exists. Domestic cats may have come from Africa, but cats have been native in Europe for a long time.
This is like saying because there are toads native to Australia, that Cane toads are fine. An invasive species is an invasive species, and is characterized by its spread, reproduction, and harm to the local ecosystem.
I think the problem with domestic cats is not the color of their passport, but the fact they are not subject to pressures limiting predators in the wild.
They have:
a) permanent shelter b) constant access to food
So while others animals are starving and being eaten, the cat just goes out there every day and kills everything it can find, and if it can’t find anything, it goes back and has a full meal, and it does this every day for most of its very long life no matter how much food is available or how cold it gets.
That’s the reason wildcats are not a problem, they have small stable populations and barely interact with humans and domestic cats.
“Modern” Wildcats have been in all of Europe for at least 300k years, so they were just another predator species among many others.
What specific wild cat are you talking about in Europe? Do you mean feral domesticated cats (which are essentially this one small African cat)? Or larger critters like bobcats?
The European wildcat - Felis silvestris.
Interestingly it seems that they avoided interbreeding with domestic cats for over 2k years.
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2023-11-06-european-wildcats-avoided-introduced-domestic-cats-2000-years
There is a species of wild cat native to the UK: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/mammals/wildcat
Yes but that’s not the cat people are usually referring to when they say "I have a cat I let outside "
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The RSPCA are barely better than PETA.
What’s your source on that? That’s news to me but I can’t find it anywhere on the RSPCA website.
https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/cats
There’s a lot of wild cats that live across europe, which is why the advise you get in the states is different because over there, cats are more of an invasive species which its prey haven’t evolved with.
We have many species, but here’s one example which has been around for 170,000 years: European Wildcat
that’s not a domestic cat being let outside
an entirely different entity than an indoor/outdoor cat
I agree, but the point is that domesticated cats aren’t invasive in the same way as they are across the pond. They are effectively the same species as european wildcats and have the same prey.
and that’s incorrect, domesticated cats have guaranteed food/shelter that keeps them unchecked in a way that natural predators are, thus making them invasive. they wreak havoc on local ecosystems worldwide.
(all European except the third from AP, couldn’t find their source so feel free to discount that one but I hope oxford and tilburg are good enough eu sources)
Play with it more often and don’t let it outside, that’s really the only way.
My friend insists on letting it out because animals aren’t supposed to be kept in captivity. And it’s not easy to play with cats if you’re gone 10 hours a day
My family used to have the view that keeping cats indoors was cruel until one of our indoor/outdoor cats came back after being attacked by some unknown animal in what seemed like a safe suburban area. He was fully vaccinated and recovered mostly without incident, but he had to have a surgery and spend extensive time in the Cone of Shame with limited movement so he could recover.
And once we started keeping the cats indoors? It was unbelievable how much nature outside recovered. It was more than just songbirds everywhere (though we did have plenty of those). We saw hawks and owls. Woodchucks and deer would wander in (yards weren’t really fenced at this area… it was more on the rural side of suburban). Foxes and rabbits and wild turkeys. I once saw pawprints in the snow that I think were from a stoat. We could not believe how visible a difference just keeping the cats inside made.
And honestly, the cats didn’t really miss being outside after a week or so adjustment period. Once, a year or so in, Mom accidentally left the door to the outside open, and one of our cats just got this resigned look like “oh, I guess I have to go patrol the area, huh.”
Now, this was a two-story house with like five bedrooms and a basement, so it was more territory than, say, an apartment, which can make a difference. We also had two cats to keep each other company, so the house being empty during the work/school day wasn’t as big a deal. Space concerns are a bit tougher to address (though I will recommend catification, catios, and leash training for cats to do supervised outdoor walks), but if the concern is a cat getting lonely during the work day, then I’m just saying that two cats are not appreciably harder to take care of than one and after the introduction period they can do wonders for keeping each other entertained.
Your friend is a bad pet owner.
If they don’t think animals should be kept in captivity, they shouldn’t keep a pet. Pets are, by definition, captive animals. If I befriended a pigeon by feeding it, it wouldn’t become my pet; it only would if I captured it.
Let your friend know that most experts agree:
Outdoor cats are devastating to the local ecosystem, and have a significantly shorter lifespan than indoor cats.
I have. They don’t believe the science. “Cats only kill weak and sick animals”. I’ve given up on it. Can’t convince a mind that’s made up. But the cadavers are annoying the whole household, so I was hoping for some possible solution that didn’t involve getting the friend all wound up.
Put a little bell on their collar; it’ll heavily cut down on the prey they can sneak up on.
Unfortunately there are no magic solutions. Corpses will keep happening if the cat is allowed outside. Be glad you’re not my childhood friend, her cat would deposit corpses on their pillows 😱.
Take the cat. Be the Cat Protective Services the cat needs. Then find real friends who aren’t so delusional they probably shouldn’t be considered legally capable of giving consent.
Jesus christ get a grip on reality ffs.
Where is my grip on reality (not socially comfortable consensus delusion, but reality) failing?
“Abandon your friend and steal their cat.”
That’s crazy.
Did the cat choose of it’s own free will to come live with your friend?
If not, your friend is already responsible for a domestic animal they chose to acquire. That comes with responsibility. Domestic cats aren’t compatible with the outside environment and cause ecological damage.
Cats are apex predators, and your friend is subsidizing their pet far past what the local bird population can support. (Plus indoor cats live longer.)
Unless you’re on an actual working farm, household cats belong indoors.
My cat was lousy catching birds… but man, did she ever open a can of whoop-ass on the mice, rabbits and squirrels.
Since she’s been dead - the fucking squirrels managed to get into the rafters (which are finally getting closed up as I type this) and we’ve had three mouse infestation waves. The rabbits have completely wiped out the backyard garden now, 5 years running.
Time for a new cat?
Ehhhh… We thought about it, but we decided that a pet wasn’t something we could emotionally or financially afford.
We had a great run with Celia the Monster and both missed her fiercely and just didn’t ever want to put ourselves through that again.
Also, we can take off for a few days and not have to worry about food, water and the rest of it.
Well, this is the consequence of letting it outside unfortunately- on top of risk of injury and death but I’m sure y’all know that already. There’s not really an effective way to train them against this behaviour the way you might a dog.
So long as there’s critters outside the cat is going to hunt them. Maybe you could try to give the kitty a snag safe cat collar with a bell? It might alert the wildlife so they have time to avoid being caught.
stop letting them out to eat the wildlife.
it’ll be healthier for the animal and ecosystem.
The cat’s a member of the household and believes they’re contributing. They aren’t, but cats are cats and are gonna do what they want anyways.
The cat may actually belong to the Mafia, but he’s not strong enough to bring a horses head to you.
You should watch your back regardless.
Imagine how frustrating it’d be trying send an intimidating message with all the dead animals but the intended recipient just thinks you’re trying be helpful in a misguided way
I’ll give him an offer he can’t meow at…
You come to me in my house on the day that my daughter is to puke in the clean laundry, and ask me not to do murder?
Well there are worse bodily ececrements she could do on the clean laundry…
I was gonna say “spray” but figured people would be like “why isn’t your cat fixed??”
Is your cat broken?
Two girls. Both missing their ovaries and uterus. And a boy with a suspiciously empty sac. I’m no detective, but it seems weird.
I had a cat with an incomplete neutering. I guess the vet had trouble counting.
We didn’t find out for years later, because apparently I wasn’t fondling my cat’s balls scrote as often as you were.
Yeah, get them fixed.
Turnabout is fair play. Start dropping dead animals in the cat’s bed and see how long the behavior lasts.
Catch mice yourself, basically just turn the tables
Actually, afaik thst had been disproven. They just bring food to snack it in safety.
Make the house unsafe for cats. Got it.
I’m afraid you’ve already lost that battle. It’s their home.
Sumbuddy loves you!
