[Closed] Thoughts on house cats?

Basically, cats don't like change. House cats are perfectly happy, outdoors cats are equally happy, but you can't readily take one and make it the other.

House cats have evolved from the cat who comes and goes and are self sufficient .....there are cats who stay in all the time
Cats are cool !

You can get cats that can't go outside, I forget why now but they can get some disorder that stops them being allowed out. I doubt they'd be as happy as being able to go outside but there are loads of online resources on how to keep your cat happy in the home.

Our cat whines miserably outside the door every time we put her out. She never seems happier than when she's curled up on the sofa

I personally think cats should come and go as they please.
Imagine never smelling fresh air or shitting in your neighbour's garden again 😉

We adopted a cat from an animal sanctuary very recently, and there were 2 or 3 cats up for adoption who had leukaemia and had to be indoors cats. We were told they might recover, but we went with a different one.

some of them are described as "house cats"

My local Cat Protection League will describe cats with FIV (cats aids) that need re-homing as house cats, as they will only home them with people who will guarantee not to let them out.

If I didn't occasionally kick the little ****ers out, our cats would only ever move off our bed to eat. And even that they do grudgingly, really thinking I should be bringing it to to then on a silver platter

Thanks all. Just wanted to check I wasn't doing anything cruel / unkind by keeping them indoors.

I've had/got house cats and they're perfectly happy. They don't know any different and when we've given them the chance to go outside they aren't interested anyway. So long as your flat is big enough for 2 cats, who will likely want their own space sometimes, it'll be fine.

We havea house cat, she's perfectly happy

Until reading this thread I would've said it was cruel. As my cat when kept in for a short time to recover from an injury literally smashed his cat flap up to get out as we locked it. He also moved a kitchen chair and other obstacles in front of it! But I guess cats are like people..some like fresh air and outdoors activities and some like staying in watching tv!

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I also live in a top floor flat.

It can be OK to keep cats indoors - if you put in the effort to give them a good environment and keep them entertained. Give them plenty of places nice and high up where they can sit and watch the world go by, some toys - tunnels, balls and cat springs, and take time to engage them in play with wand toys and the like.

Actually, if you want a couple of sweet, playful, charming, [s]little monsters[/s] bengal kittens, mine have just stealthily climbed on top of the bookcase that I thought was safe and knocked something expensive off the top, with it and a kitten landing on me without any prior warning.

2 kittens, yours for a pound - delivered.

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We have a house cat who is not the least bit interested in going outside. He likes to watch it though, preferably from the windowsill in my home office. When he gets bored with looking at outside he tends to walk all over my keyboard with his tail in my face

Friend lives on a busy road and has two cats that never go out not even into the back garden. Open the window for them and they just sit on the windowsill in an anxious kind of way. They keep themselves company and seem totally content to stay indoors

Ours only comes indoors when it wants something

@Cranberry, I'll take those Bengals! They look awesome.

Thanks for the posts all. Will have to have a deeper think to ensure I can give them the care/attention they need (sure I can, just want to mull it over in my head).

You could get an older cat (5 years+). Cats age a little differently to us and reach 'old age' at 7 though they can stay that way for another 10.

No one wants to Rhome the older cats and a lot of them just want to sit around, sleep, get petted etc

I used to think it was a bit cruel but then met a friend who had a couple that had been indoor cats forever, they were happy friendly and very normal cats. They'd kept them indoors since kittens as they were posh cats, they were happy. They were Persians and werent the brightest of breeds but lovely. So, no I dont think its cruel as long as they are pretty docile breeds and / or only known indoors. plus you have a big enough place for them.

Our lilac British Shorthair seems pretty happy indoors - sometimes he rushes towards an opening front door but it is just to play with the rustling draught excluder on the bottom of the door as it brushes over the doormat.

He also sleeps a lot - including an afternoon nap for several hours and a full nights sleep on our bed.

I also feed him one of the high meat content diets which has the big advantages that his number 2s are really solid and don't smell at all, which is a major plus in the house.

http://www.naturalinstinct.com/categories/cat-food/

Compared to rubbish like Whiskas and even the 'gourmet' cat foods which are very often only 4% meat!

He gets through 4 tubs in about 3 weeks, so that is under 50p a day.