Seeing as the previous unofficial official megathread got locked, welcome to the new struggle session megathread! This is the newest in our long line of megathreads for discussion containment. This time’s struggle session is a classic - outdoor cats. No discussion of other struggle sessions other than the megathread topic are allowed in the megathread, feel free to start a future struggle session megathread about that. I’ll ban you myself if I see you talking about Mario or whatever the fuck the last one was about.
Cat predation on wildlife is the result of the natural instincts and behavior of both feral and owned house cats to hunt small prey, including wildlife. Some people view this as a desirable trait, such as in the case of barn cats and other cats kept for the intended purpose of pest control in rural settings; but scientific evidence does not support the popular use of cats to control urban rat populations, and ecologists oppose their use for this purpose because of the disproportionate harm they do to native wildlife. Recognized as both invasive species[1] and predators,[2] cats have been shown to cause significant ecological harm across various ecosystems.[2][3]
Due to cats’ natural hunting instinct, their ability to adapt to different environments, and the wide range of small animals they prey upon, both feral and free-ranging pet cats are responsible for predation on wildlife, and in some environments, considerable ecological harm. Cats are disease carriers and can spread diseases to animals in their community and marine life. There are methods to help mitigate the environmental impact imposed by feral cats through different forms of population management. Reducing cats’ impact on the environment is limited by perceptions society has towards cats because humans have a relationship with cats as pets.[4]
In Australia, hunting by feral cats helped to drive at least 20 native mammals to extinction,[5] and continues to threaten at least 124 more.[5] Their introduction into island ecosystems has caused the extinction of at least 33 endemic species on islands throughout the world.[2] A 2013 systematic review in Nature Communications of data from 17 studies found that feral and domestic cats are estimated to kill billions of birds in the United States every year.[6]
In a global 2023 assessment, cats were found to prey on 2,084 different species, of which 347 (or 16.5%) were of conservation concern. Birds, reptiles, and small mammals accounted for 90% of killed species. Island animals of conservation concern had three times more species predated upon than continental species.[7]
My centrist compromise is to lock my cat between the screen door and the main door
New Megathread nerds
🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
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@awholebunchalosers
Only current struggle session discussion here on the new struggle megathread, i will ban you from the comm and remove your comment, have a good day/night
You’re missing the part where you @ the admins to pin the mega to local, try to keep up.
First
ok i pull up
Genetically engineer housecats to never stop growing, so we can have outdoor megafauna cats. They’d be like big cats, but not the sort of cat that’s supposed to be big.
Grant funding please.
I like this, but what’s the ecological impact? Destroy native large animal populations instead of small animals?
Get them big enough to hunt cars. They can ride 18-wheelers like housecats ride roombas. They can squish down houses to serve as large cardboard boxes.
Or at least to the size of a bobcat.
here’s how Australia can retroactively win the emu war
That is literally just cheetahs and pumas.
I think people should only be allowed to own cats if they live in the original territorial range of the African Wildcat, where it is a natural predator
the only people who let cats outside are fromsoft grimdark slop enjoyers
I just saw my indoor cat stare down a mouse who was hiding under my vacuum cleaner for 2 hours, I moved the vacuum.cleaner when she was poised to attack and immediately lost interest, wandering away and literally stepping on the mouse as she did so, once the mouse started on the run she was a bit more on the ball and chased it into a closet, where I closed the door, the mouse escaped still. She fucking sucks at hunting so should be allowed outside.
indoor cats hunting rodents are fine imo
I agree. My argument is she should.be able to go out cause she’s absolutely terrible at hunting and can’t even take out a mouse in an enclosed space with help. She should an outdoor cat license cause she’s piss poor at killing.
Sharing a reply I wrote below, in particular this bit https://hexbear.net/comment/5731478
the visible presence, or markings (urine, scratching, poo) of predators in a garden alone can be enough of a deterrent to mobile species causing them to move elsewhere (having knock on effects on territory/isolation of populations/overpopulation in ‘safe’ areas) and/or causing stress to those wild populations that are nesting or less mobile.
So even if she isn’t able to catch any of the more mobile species, it still can cause them distress and displacement, and there are many less mobile species that cats can and do kill out of curiousity/boredom
I don’t let her out cause there’s a lot of cars around.
good onyaI wish she had more space tho, she’s got a lot of energy even though she’s pushing 10
Extra space never goes unwasted definitely, especially as she’s aging. I cat sit for my friend’s ragdoll of unknown age (foster turned into permanent carer) and apparently they’re predisposed to back problems (cos they have foreshortened front paws which means their spine isn’t level to the ground?) so basically he has no comfortable vertical leaps anymore and can’t get himself into the scratching towers . My friend is rejigging it so there’s more gradual inclines but it takes up more room :/
My cat gets to go outside sometimes… on a harness. He also loves pets from people he doesn’t know. Basically has the survival instincts I had up until years of biking and midnight jogs.
Lionizing outdoor cats?
All cars should be indoor cars
every bird killed by an outdoor cat deserved it, you can fly idiot #skillissue
I oppose outdoor cats because we have psychopaths (or perhaps just klutzes) who poison them. I want to think they just do stupid crap like absent-mindedly leaving out poisonous substances the cats get into, but I fully imagine there are people who’d see “it used my petunias as a litter box” as worthy of capital punishment.
But at the same time I can’t resist the highly talkative lomghair tortoiseshell on the next street over. I do worry if I see him looking less than 100%
Outdoor cats, by definition, are tail(ism) havers. Yet, I will continue to propagate counter-revolutionary thought, because ganking CEO’s is cool as hell.
my cat is neither indoor nor outdoor, but some secret undiscovered third position
