Optymalizacja życia kotów domowych

Optimizing an indoor lifestyle for cats

People benefit from living with pets. As companions, they provide stress relief, stability of routine, and improved health (14). Yet how to best care for our cats remains controversial, and there are cultural and regional differences in what people believe is the best way to house cats. As long ago as 1997, between 50-60% of cats were housed strictly indoors in the United States (17), whereas in the United Kingdom the majority of cats were allowed outside (18), whilst a study from Melbourne, Australia reported that 23% of cats were „mainly indoors” (10). Why are there such „cultural” differences? The decision to keep a cat indoors may be practical: living on the 21^st floor of an apartment building in a busy city prevents ready access to the outside. In other situations, it is true that keeping a cat indoors reduces the risks from wandering, poisoning, automobile accidents, contagious disease or fights with other animals (13, 20), and owners may also believe that it removes the risk of internal and external parasites (e.g., heartworm, fleas). Other reasons to keep cats indoors include avoidance of unwanted pregnancy (assuming the pet is not spayed) and to protect wildlife.

Key points

• Cats restricted to indoor living have a reduced risk for vehicular trauma, predation, aggressive interactions with cats and other animals, [...]

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