#why is he letting him wander around unsupervised doesn't he understand how much trouble this guy gets into?

[ramblebrambleamble]

He'll never admit it on pain of death, especially after everything that happened afterwards, but for a moment, just a moment, flush with victory as Jin Chan fled, Jin Ling thought crazy Uncle Mo was the coolest.

[captainclickycat]

My actually-controversial internet opinion is that people need to stop being dicks about people who let their cats go outdoors. No, really.

So this isn't even me saying "don't try to persuade people to keep their cats indoors". I think educating people about that is absolutely a worthwhile goal. There are many good and solid reasons to keep your cat indoors. I also do not want to play a game of Traffic Roulette where I have to just accept that my little friend might one day just get hit by a car and die or wander off and disappear forever and I'm supposed to just be cool with that happening. And yeah, I fully agree that it's weird and annoying that this is somehow considered an unreasonable stance to take about your beloved pet. I also understand that concepts like domestic cats making a considerable dent in bird populations and potentially spreading viruses are issues that should be seriously taken into account and not just brushed off as "oh well, what can you do."

However.

So first of all, let's imagine a scenario here. Let's say that someone sees all these arguments on the internet, and they think "hey yes, they have some very salient points. Maybe I should start keeping my cat indoors from now on."

...so they try to put this into practise. They make sure all the doors are shut, seal off all possible escape routes, and do their best to convey to little Billy that he doesn't get to play in the garden anymore, for his own safety.

And Billy doesn't like that. He gets stressed and bored and restless. He spends a considerable amount of time just standing in front of the door yelling his head off, obviously desperate to go out, even though they're doing their best to entertain him. He gains a troubling amount of weight. He starts over-grooming himself to the point where he has bald patches. They try putting him on a lead, but he obviously hates the lead and spends the whole time chewing on it or trying to wriggle out of it. It's clear that this transition is causing him a not-inconsiderable amount of distress.

So obviously, Billy's human is very concerned by this. They understand why it's not a good idea to go back to letting their cat roam around unsupervised outdoors, but they can also see their cat is severely stressed and struggling to adjust and they wouldn't have the first idea of how to make it better. Furthermore, this person has grown up with cats themselves, and the notion that it's unethical to let cats go outdoors is completely new to them. And it's not just a new idea, it's basically the antithesis to what they were always taught. From their point of view, for the vast majority of their life it was considered cruel, maybe even a little irresponsible, to not let your cat go outdoors.

As in, if you said to someone that you wanted to keep your cat indoors all the time, they would basically react in the same way they would if you said that you wanted to try to feed your cat a vegetarian diet. Like oh gosh, of course I respect your decision, but don't you think that maybe that's going against their nature and it would be a lot healthier for them if you let them go out. And as much as the judgemental Tumblr crowd don't like to admit it, those people also think they're looking out for the welfare of people's pets. They're not thinking "oh well, I'm just not going to bother doing the extra work it takes to look after an indoor cat; I'd rather just leave it all in god's hands and if something happens oh well", they're thinking "My cat's happiness and wellbeing matters more than my personal anxieties, that's why I'm not going to be overprotective and instead I'll let them have their outdoor enrichment time."

Anyway, sidenote...so I realise this has turned into a tediously long post, and I have a habit of rambing at length in a slightly annoying way when I latch on to a topic. That being said, in this case it really is important to me that people actually read the points I'm making before trying to debate my post with me. So I'm going to request that if anyone wants to argue or even just generally debate with me about this topic, they preface whatever they're saying with the word "Obelix". As in, "Obelix: I disagree with you because blah blah blah." I'm not promising I'll engage with you even if you say the code word, because that's not actually my job, but I'm definitely going to ignore you if you don't say Obelix. Also if you message me on anon. Sorry if you're just doing it because you're shy or whatever, but if I have no idea who you are I have no reason to assume good faith and I'm not going to listen to you.

Anyway! All that aside. When it comes down to it, transitioning from letting your cat roam to keeping them indoors is a big transition, and will involve some very specific - and potentially expensive - accommodations. That's not to say it's not a worthwhile endeavour, but as much as shouty motherfuckers on the internet might be loath to admit it, there's a lot more to it than just "Oh my god, if you would take the time to ACTUALLY TAKE CARE OF YOUR PET, this WOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM!!"

And when you actually consult more official sources (such as your local vet, or registered animal welfare charities) the response you get is often liable to be a lot more even-handed. A lot of sources will outright advise you to let your cat have time outdoors if keeping them inside is proving stressful for them and all other possibilities have been exhausted.

And again, that doesn't mean that every argument for keeping them indoors is null and void, or that these issues can't be worked around or accommodated!

What it does mean though is that I think maybe it's time to ask yourself what you really hope to achieve by going on the internet to say over and over and over again that they're the scum of the earth, that they're a sadistic animal abuser, that they secretly hate their cat because they let it go outdoors. And, ultimately, to consider the possibility that when people are presented with the options of "listen to a professional vet, or registered animal welfare charity" or "listen to a snarky tumblr post written by some stranger", they're not actually being all that unreasonable if they choose the former.

If you want to persuade more people to keep their cats indoors, you can actually do the work involved in giving them the information and resources that might make it a feasible possibility. Talk them through the reasons for doing it in a level-headed way. Give them links to reliable sources and websites that talk them through all the ways that they might be able to make this a feasible possibility. Keep a clear head and take the time to patiently explain to them why it's a better option, even if it seems like it should be obvious, even if you feel strongly about it, even if you personally have been presented with these ideas and it seems a little unbelievable that it might be someone else's first time being presented with them. Yelling at people about how awful they are for not just knowing this from the beginning might feel cathartic for you, but there's no guarantee that it's going to have any concrete effect other than getting you written of as a judgemental arsehole.

Stop being a dick.