Indoor-Outdoor Kitties

Almost all of our cats over the past two decades came to us, mostly dumped in the country and grateful to be taken in, some born here in unpreventable litters. Great affection for each and every one of the dozens we've cared for.

We have had outdoor-only cats, but none has been strictly indoor. We've had cats come home with battle scars, one with a broken leg, a few out of the dozens that didn't come home. Owls & hawks, possum & raccoon, cat stupidity - they've got enemies aplenty in the Outside. One dear feral cat (outdoor only) I thought I heard (can still hear) his death-scream, over the wall in the woods. I notice the ones that stay up close to the house and don't wander far afield tend to live longer with fewer scars. All quite Darwinian. I can see keeping the shedding little disease balls out of the house, but can't imagine confining a cat to the indoors. In the city, sure, but not with all this country around us.

I suppose we were lax in proper concern for diseases, though, or, just added that threat to the whole stew of threats in living. Whether brought in by pets or met directly in the yard, the outside abounds with that which is out to kill us. I shrug, scratch, and go on, but some folks even get phobic about the outdoors, I've heard. Like "Islamophobia," begs the question, are you still paranoid if they really are out to get you?