I see it differently. Hunting and playing with their food, while unfortunate, is their natural tendency—and unlike humans, they can’t do better.
I sadly feed my cat meat-based food—there is no reliable vegan option available where I live. When she does go out and hunt (and I am an firm believer that cats, as all other animals, deserve freedom), while it is often upsetting to watch, I know that the quick suffering her prey goes through saves heavier, more prolonged suffering of the animals her store-bought food is made out of.
It sounds intuitively right that cats are happier when they can hunt outside, but it would be interesting to see research on whether, and how, a cat that is kept indoors permanently, can still be happy.
I don’t agree that the prey killed by cats go through ‘quick suffering’. From what I have personally seen, they can “play” with their prey while it is still half-alive and twitching for quite some time. Maybe it is because of directors’ editing choices, but usually when I see a lion or bear or fox kill an animal in a nature documentary, it looks like they don’t torture that prey for nearly as long as the typical cat does.
But even if it is true that compared to farm animals raised for meat, mice and birds at least have happier lives before they are mauled by a cat, then it remains true that pet cats who are allowed to go outside eat both store-bought food and prey, and that reducing the demand for pet food meat by making your cat survive solely on prey is probably not that good for the cat’s own wellbeing, as it may then occasionally go hungry, stressed or aggressive due to lack of food. Maybe it might even run away permanently because it no longer finds an easy source of food in your home. In any case, a cat that does not get fed by its owners probably catches more prey than a cat that does receive store-bought food. At least that’s what I would expect, maybe this is not what happens in practice?
It sounds intuitively right that cats are happier when they can hunt outside, but it would be interesting to see research on whether, and how, a cat that is kept indoors permanently, can still be happy.
Indeed. I can only attest from my own experience, as well of that of friends’. Including cases where a cat was thought to just have an irritable, discontented character, until they gained access outside (whether by the humans moving houses or the cat shawshanking his way out), and were then found to actually be happy, relaxed kitties.
Cat “gurus” and the likes have their recommendation as to how to keep your cat more content while still confined, but in my opinion, it will never fully give them what they need. Same as I could never be truly happy without going outside, no matter how grand and well equipped my home might be.
Re “quick suffering”: I do not mean it is instant, only that it is still a matter of minutes (it is rare that it is over 10 minutes, and most times would not even get to that), which is infinitely less that the whole lives of animals in the meat industry.
Re not reducing demand for store-bought food, I am not sure I follow. What I say is that when a house cat also hunts and eats wild prey, they eat less of their store-bought meat.
I would be careful to compare cats and humans so directly. Yes, it sounds intuitively right that much like how people don’t like being confined to a home, neither do cats. But remember how the typical housecat will probably not roam away much further than 200 meters from their home. I don’t think most people would enjoy being confined to a radius of roughly 200 meters around their home, but for most cats, this seems perfectly fine. So I don’t know how directly cats and people can be compared in that respect. Cats are in any case far more territorial than humans.
If it is still truly impossible to have happy indoor cats, then I think the case for exploring the option of making cats go vegan (and further focusing on spaying and neutering cats) becomes all the stronger from an animal advocacy point of view. Yes, it is true that the prey killed by cats don’t suffer for that much longer compared to farmed animals who are killed (although I still feel like cat prey suffer more badly because of the killing method), but let’s not forget that cats may catch up to ten mice per day, so the amount of animals being killed is huge, I think that also matters. Also, I really doubt that cats eat less of their store-bought meat when they are allowed to go outside and hunt. Have you not seen how often cats leave their prey behind without eating it, presumably because they have already eaten enough of their store-bought food, which they may find more enjoyable to eat?
I see it differently. Hunting and playing with their food, while unfortunate, is their natural tendency—and unlike humans, they can’t do better.
I sadly feed my cat meat-based food—there is no reliable vegan option available where I live. When she does go out and hunt (and I am an firm believer that cats, as all other animals, deserve freedom), while it is often upsetting to watch, I know that the quick suffering her prey goes through saves heavier, more prolonged suffering of the animals her store-bought food is made out of.
It sounds intuitively right that cats are happier when they can hunt outside, but it would be interesting to see research on whether, and how, a cat that is kept indoors permanently, can still be happy.
I don’t agree that the prey killed by cats go through ‘quick suffering’. From what I have personally seen, they can “play” with their prey while it is still half-alive and twitching for quite some time. Maybe it is because of directors’ editing choices, but usually when I see a lion or bear or fox kill an animal in a nature documentary, it looks like they don’t torture that prey for nearly as long as the typical cat does.
But even if it is true that compared to farm animals raised for meat, mice and birds at least have happier lives before they are mauled by a cat, then it remains true that pet cats who are allowed to go outside eat both store-bought food and prey, and that reducing the demand for pet food meat by making your cat survive solely on prey is probably not that good for the cat’s own wellbeing, as it may then occasionally go hungry, stressed or aggressive due to lack of food. Maybe it might even run away permanently because it no longer finds an easy source of food in your home. In any case, a cat that does not get fed by its owners probably catches more prey than a cat that does receive store-bought food. At least that’s what I would expect, maybe this is not what happens in practice?
Indeed. I can only attest from my own experience, as well of that of friends’. Including cases where a cat was thought to just have an irritable, discontented character, until they gained access outside (whether by the humans moving houses or the cat shawshanking his way out), and were then found to actually be happy, relaxed kitties.
Cat “gurus” and the likes have their recommendation as to how to keep your cat more content while still confined, but in my opinion, it will never fully give them what they need. Same as I could never be truly happy without going outside, no matter how grand and well equipped my home might be.
Re “quick suffering”: I do not mean it is instant, only that it is still a matter of minutes (it is rare that it is over 10 minutes, and most times would not even get to that), which is infinitely less that the whole lives of animals in the meat industry.
Re not reducing demand for store-bought food, I am not sure I follow. What I say is that when a house cat also hunts and eats wild prey, they eat less of their store-bought meat.
Does that answer your question?
I would be careful to compare cats and humans so directly. Yes, it sounds intuitively right that much like how people don’t like being confined to a home, neither do cats. But remember how the typical housecat will probably not roam away much further than 200 meters from their home. I don’t think most people would enjoy being confined to a radius of roughly 200 meters around their home, but for most cats, this seems perfectly fine. So I don’t know how directly cats and people can be compared in that respect. Cats are in any case far more territorial than humans.
If it is still truly impossible to have happy indoor cats, then I think the case for exploring the option of making cats go vegan (and further focusing on spaying and neutering cats) becomes all the stronger from an animal advocacy point of view. Yes, it is true that the prey killed by cats don’t suffer for that much longer compared to farmed animals who are killed (although I still feel like cat prey suffer more badly because of the killing method), but let’s not forget that cats may catch up to ten mice per day, so the amount of animals being killed is huge, I think that also matters. Also, I really doubt that cats eat less of their store-bought meat when they are allowed to go outside and hunt. Have you not seen how often cats leave their prey behind without eating it, presumably because they have already eaten enough of their store-bought food, which they may find more enjoyable to eat?