If you have an indoor cat it's not. Toxo is only shed by cats for a few weeks after exposure, and the toxo lifecycle can't be completed indoors so your cat will not be reinfected. Unless you have a mouse infestation, in which case I'd be more worried about hantavirus than toxo.
Just keep your cats inside, everyone! It's better for the environment, it's better for birds, it's better for the cat, it's better for you.
Indoors is categorically not better for the cats. They're nocturnal predators. Let them hunt as is their desire and way of living. It's like keeping birds in cages and not letting them fly. Or chickens in battery farms.
There are so many unhappy cats imprisoned for the benefit of their fluffy -loving captors. If you have cats, you must let them be cats.
So here's the rub: we really have to stop keeping so many cats
That's exactly like saying humans ought to only live in the savannah of Africa as hunters and gatherers. Just because that's where humans evolved doesn't mean that that is the only way they are "supposed" to live, nor is where they are "happiest". For starters, humans in civilization and indoor cats live a heck of a lot longer and don't have to worry about getting eaten by predators.
Our modern ways of living, sedentary, often little visceral excitement, control by overlords and paperwork and rules do lead to an awful lot of depression and anomie. Why do you think so many people are unhappy?
Indoor cats have that without any of the benefits.
> Indoor cats have that without any of the benefits.
You mean, except for significantly reduced exposure to diseases and prompt care for any health issues that do arise, better food, and risk free entertainment?
Based on the average life expectancy alone, an indoor cat has a lot of benefits.
The youngest straight up chose to be an indoor cat. He was a feral kitten, about 12 weeks when I first encountered him (based on the vet's estimate of 16 weeks when I eventually brought him in). I left food out for him for a month, as he progressively hung around more and more and watched my two indoor cats through the sliding glass door in the back of my apartment. After about a month he seemed to trust me, so I picked him up, took inside, took him to a vet to get him a checkup (he very badly needed to be dewormed), got him fixed, and now he doesn't even want to go outside, even if the door is left open. He saw how good my indoor cats had it, and he wanted it. He's the most affectionate cat I've ever had. He constantly wants to be touched.
My oldest cat is over 17 years old, and has arthritis. She's never been a good hunter, even as a young cat. She got out for a week when she was around 3 years old, and came back so thin you could touch your fingers together on either side of her stomach. She could have never survived outdoors, then or now.
The oldest cat is the only one I set out and said, "I'm going to get a cat," and adopted one. The middle cat was an abandoned kitten my mom rescued at 3 weeks (she waited all day after she found the crying kitten in the barn to see if the momma cat came back from hunting, but she never did, nor did she ever find the rest of the litter). Given the area my mom lives in, she would have been eaten by a bear or fox even if she hadn't starved.
Indoor is better for almost all cats. You just have a provide an enriching environment with lots of high surfaces for them to explore and exercise them with toys.
Even if you think cats should be indoor/outdoor, there's no way you can compare keeping a pet cat to chickens in battery cages.
She was actually pretty emotionally traumatized. I lived in a fairly small apartment at the time, and she would wander into the next room, realize she couldn't see me, and just start crying.
I would try to call her back, so she could find her way back to me, but she would just sit in the next room and cry until I physically went into the room she was in. Then she would run to me and rub against my legs and follow me back out. Then she'd be calm for 30 minutes or so, then wander into the next room, repeat. It was worst the first week she was back, and gradually got better until she could handle leaving the room and coming back to find me when she wanted company again on her own.
Exactly. Cats make bad pets. And I say this as an owner of two cats. One of our cats loves people and is very happy to be our pet, the other one, not so much. We feel bad for him and let him go out on our patio as a very modest way to feed his needs. It does help, but he really would prefer to be free.
My wife and I have decided no more cats going forward.
