In Belgium (w/ my parents) we had a (big) garden and our cats could always freely roam outside. Some of them stayed near, others disappeared for many hours and probably went relatively far.
It's true that they are fantastic hunters: it's in their genes. Even if they won't eat the prey, the amount of birds, mice, even small rabbits they returned was staggering. Cats are dicks though, they kill for fun and kill billions (?) of other animals every year. And won't eat them.
We also had a neighbour that thought it was fun to shoot animals (including cats) in his garden. Took a while before the neighbourhood found out why cats kept disappearing (having a cat come home with a tiny lead bullet wound gave it away).
There's also roadkill and thieves. I'd say for a long period (before we found out someone was shooting cats) cats we disappear quite regularly (every 2-3 years a cat would never come home).
But I still agree cats should be allowed to roam outside: they'll be less bored, less destructive, and less annoying.
I have now moved to Singapore and adopted a lost kitten ("Tofu") roughly 2 years ago and an abandoned ~1 year cat ("Taro") (left alone on a 7th floor balcony without food in 30°C sun while the owners were out of town for several days) roughly a year ago.
Cats in Singapore commonly "fall out of the sky" -- meshing and protecting windows is not that common here, yet. Cats (including mine) love to sit on the ledge and stare outside, and once in a while they slip.
I've moved from a 12th floor apartment to a 3rd floor apartment: in both cases you either keep the windows shut or make sure it's meshed up. It's a requirement here now before you're able to adopt a cat from a shelter. They come and physically inspect your home to make sure it's suitable, clear and big enough.
We're lucky both our cats are long-haired nice looking cats. There might be some pedigree in there, somewhere. We've had people randomly walk up to us and ask us how much we paid for the cats ($0) and if we'd be willing to sell them (no). That makes me believe if they were to walk alone they'd be stolen and sold off.
The abandoned-rescued cat is fine staying indoor -- he is pretty traumatised and scared of every tiny noise. The other cat we've taught from early on to walk with a leash.
We take her out anywhere between 1 to 3 times a day depending on whether she asks for it or not. Walks are unlike walking a dog: you follow the cat and the cat usually doesn't go very far (it'll often just sit in the grass and look at the birds/lizards). Once we reach a quiet area near the apartment I remove the leash, and she gets to hop or walk around a bit. She never goes far and actually waits for me.
Needless to say it's a very quiet, green area here without roads and very little passer-by's.
So I'd say it really depends on the circumstances whether the cat should be allowed out (unsupervised). Yes, it makes sense as they are semi wild, but also a living cat is probably better than a dead cat.
I've had quite a few cats in my life.
In Belgium (w/ my parents) we had a (big) garden and our cats could always freely roam outside. Some of them stayed near, others disappeared for many hours and probably went relatively far.
It's true that they are fantastic hunters: it's in their genes. Even if they won't eat the prey, the amount of birds, mice, even small rabbits they returned was staggering. Cats are dicks though, they kill for fun and kill billions (?) of other animals every year. And won't eat them.
We also had a neighbour that thought it was fun to shoot animals (including cats) in his garden. Took a while before the neighbourhood found out why cats kept disappearing (having a cat come home with a tiny lead bullet wound gave it away). There's also roadkill and thieves. I'd say for a long period (before we found out someone was shooting cats) cats we disappear quite regularly (every 2-3 years a cat would never come home).
But I still agree cats should be allowed to roam outside: they'll be less bored, less destructive, and less annoying.
I have now moved to Singapore and adopted a lost kitten ("Tofu") roughly 2 years ago and an abandoned ~1 year cat ("Taro") (left alone on a 7th floor balcony without food in 30°C sun while the owners were out of town for several days) roughly a year ago.
Cats in Singapore commonly "fall out of the sky" -- meshing and protecting windows is not that common here, yet. Cats (including mine) love to sit on the ledge and stare outside, and once in a while they slip. I've moved from a 12th floor apartment to a 3rd floor apartment: in both cases you either keep the windows shut or make sure it's meshed up. It's a requirement here now before you're able to adopt a cat from a shelter. They come and physically inspect your home to make sure it's suitable, clear and big enough.
We're lucky both our cats are long-haired nice looking cats. There might be some pedigree in there, somewhere. We've had people randomly walk up to us and ask us how much we paid for the cats ($0) and if we'd be willing to sell them (no). That makes me believe if they were to walk alone they'd be stolen and sold off.
The abandoned-rescued cat is fine staying indoor -- he is pretty traumatised and scared of every tiny noise. The other cat we've taught from early on to walk with a leash.
We take her out anywhere between 1 to 3 times a day depending on whether she asks for it or not. Walks are unlike walking a dog: you follow the cat and the cat usually doesn't go very far (it'll often just sit in the grass and look at the birds/lizards). Once we reach a quiet area near the apartment I remove the leash, and she gets to hop or walk around a bit. She never goes far and actually waits for me. Needless to say it's a very quiet, green area here without roads and very little passer-by's.
So I'd say it really depends on the circumstances whether the cat should be allowed out (unsupervised). Yes, it makes sense as they are semi wild, but also a living cat is probably better than a dead cat.
FWIW we've started an IG account, just because. https://www.instagram.com/tofurawr/