Iceland split on banning free-roaming domestic cats

Icelanders are discussing whether to keep domestic cats indoors full-time. The town council of Akureyri, the "Capital of North Iceland" has decided to ban outdoor cats from January 1 2025. It was a majority decision in favour. They are going to stop the free movement of domestic cats in this town and they've given residents a long lead-in to get used to the idea.

Akureyri. Photo: in public domain.

However, a poll suggested that Icelanders in general do not support banning the free movement of domestic cats. But there are distinct regional differences. In Hafnarfjörður, 60% of the residents were either very or rather supportive of outdoor cats, for example. Almost the opposite view was taken in East Iceland where 55% of the residents were very or rather opposed to allowing cats to go outside.

RELATED: Icelandic government proposes changes to the law regarding feral cats

The Veterinary Society of Iceland is opposed to a ban on outdoor cats. They also say that the proposed law concerning Akureyri is badly formulated. They argue that keeping cats indoors all the time can have a negative impact upon the health of the animals.

They say that if they are used to free movement, keeping them indoors may cause behavioural problems due to stress and even disease. Bára Eyfjörð Heimisdóttir, the director of RUV (Icelandic veterinary association) is no doubt referring to stress causing cystitis. This is correct but it is a balancing act between various competing objectives.

Note: Below is an embedded FB post. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

RELATED: Police kill tourist’s cat brought into Iceland illegally

The ban is to protect wildlife. The veterinarians think that there is a better way to do this by, for example, putting brightly coloured collars on cats and limiting their outdoor activity during the nesting season. They also believe that the better option is to focus more on feral cats and reduce their population and encourage people to get their cats micro-chipped. In other words they are going for a more nuanced approach to protecting wildlife.

It 2016, I wrote an article about the difficulties of obligatory sterilisation, micro-chipping and registration of domestic cats. This was an article about Western Australia amending their Cat Act 2011. The amendment required that all domestic cats were registered, micro-chipped and sterilised at six months of age from November 2013. There were difficulties in obtaining compliance.

The biggest barrier to banning outdoor cats is having a handle on it. You need to know how many cats there are and where they live in order to enforce the law. To achieve that you need to register cats. What if people don't want to register their cats?  You don't know where they are so it is hard to enforce.

You may struggle to make a law which bans outdoor cats effective. That's the argument against a universal ban on outdoor cats and the alternative argument is that you can protect wildlife in a more effective way with a more nuanced approach as suggested by the veterinarians of Iceland.

Source: three articles on the Reykjavik Grapevine website.

Greater Bendigo, Australia order cats to be "contained to the property 24/7"

NEWS AND COMMENT: The city administrators i.e. councillors of the City of Greater Bendigo, Australia have voted that domestic cats "must be contained to the property 24/7". One councillor, Julie Sloan, said that it is important to make a distinction between "restrict cats to indoors 24/7" and "contain to the property 24/7". That's a fine distinction which I had to think about for a while to work out the difference. The difference must be this: they have ordered that domestic cats should be kept within the bounds of the property which means inside the home and/or the front and back yards. 

Greater Bendigo, Australia order cats to be "contained to the property 24/7". Image: MikeB

The cats don't have to be confined to the indoors i.e. inside the home. They can wander into the back garden front garden but clearly if they do those areas must be fenced in a way which prevents domestic cats escaping to the outside. That is my interpretation.

It's a progression for this city from an earlier curfew which required cats to be kept inside the owner's property between sunset and sunrise. So the screws are gradually being turned tighter on cat owners in terms of restrictions. This is one of the few total curfews that I know about in the world of domestic cat ownership. It's about as restrictive as you can get. Although, there have been lots of discussions about confining cats to the boundaries of the owner's property 24/7 in many jurisdictions on the planet, primarily in America and Australia.

These countries lead the world in terms of legislation to control cat ownership. What is the purpose of the curfew? The usual reasons: to prevent predation on wildlife and, in their words, "less fighting and transfer of diseases and breeding between cats and would reduce nuisance issues between neighbours".

The councillors surveyed the residents of the area. The feedback was 80% in favour of confining domestic cats to their homes. Under the legislation, cat owners have to pay up to AU$120 to reclaim their cat if it is held between five and eight days by the local authority.

The residents will be given time to get themselves organised to comply with the new restrictions. It'll take a bit of work. The cat confinement fence manufacturers will do a roaring trade 😅.

What is the at the root of the indoor-outdoor cat debate?

The image below spells out in simple terms the root issues in the debate about keeping cats indoors full-time or letting them go outside. It really is about cat safety and protecting wildlife against allowing a natural life for a domestic cat with a reduction in safety together with predation on wildlife.

The indoor-outdoor cat debate. Image: MikeB based on Pixabay image.

There appears to be a general trend towards keeping cats inside. What is the motivation for this? Is it genuinely to improve domestic cat safety or is it more about convenience for their caretakers? Perhaps it is about both. I am generalising. There will be people who are thinking solely of their cat. And the cat comes before wildlife I believe.

People don't want the inconvenience of taking their cat to veterinarian who has been seriously injured on the road. There will be high cost and plenty of stress for the person and an incredible amount of pain, stress and discomfort for the cat. Life is far more even and undisturbed for the full-time indoor cat and owner but it is at the expense of boredom and an unnatural world for the cat, which is infrequently made more exciting by the caregiver.

The argument about indoor only or indoor/outdoor cats. Image: PoC.

I feel like I have to take cynical approach on this and claim that people are drifting towards the indoor solution because it suits them. There is also the anxiety factor. If a good cat caregiver is genuinely concerned about their cat's health, which they will be, to allow their cat to go outside is to invite anxiety not in the cat who is highly energised and excited but in the person who is anxious as to whether their cat is going to be injured or worse, killed.

The major dangers are road traffic, in America predators such as coyotes, and there is always that nastiest of animal: the miscreant, abusive young male human who takes pleasure out of taking pot shots at domestic cats with a BB gun or even a .22 rifle. That's the worst-case scenario almost or there is a poisoner somewhere out there who takes pleasure in poisoning cats with antifreeze. Even stabbing them seems to please some people such as the Brighton Cat Killer.

So, I think this big debate comes down to the personal feelings of the human caregiver and what they do is dictated by which decision improves their lives. That sounds like selfish and uncaring attitude but I stress that I am generalising. Humans are inherently selfish. That's why the world is in a mess. And humankind has a habit of ranking themselves above animals. When push comes to shove, the animals take second best (e.g. house fires: cats die, humans escape). 

The cat, himself or herself, doesn't understand these nuances in the argument. All they want to do is to go outside and hunt. They don't understand why they've been kept inside but they learn to accept it over many months and snooze and sleep the days away. They don't see the danger and when and if the danger arises, they accept it. It is a natural event to them. They don't rationalise that but it's a simple acceptance.

Domestic cats don't fear death like humans. They don't think about the future and whether they might be killed when they go outside. They live in the present. All these complicated thoughts about what the future might hold and whether a domestic cat might be killed are in the heads of cat caregivers. That's why they are at the root of the debate and in my view, it boils down to convenience and I don't blame people for that.

Image: MikeB

Life is complicated for people. They want to simplify it and keep their life as calm as possible. They don't want massive emergences and upsets and catastrophes to occur. They want their life to be controlled and controllable. This is at the root of the debate about indoor/outdoor cats and full-time indoor cats.

For a full-time indoor cat, a walk on the leash in the garden will be thoroughly enjoyed

This is about providing your cat with an enriched environment. Something as simple as walking your cat around the front or backyard of your home once a day for, say, 20 minutes will be something that your cat can look forward to if she/he is a full-time indoor cat. 

It really doesn't have to be something exotic and clever. It's just allowing your cat to 'connect' with nature as best you can achieve it. This will be in stark contrast to being inside the home which is entirely artificial and the human world.

For a full-time indoor cat, a walk on the leash in the garden will be thoroughly enjoyed. Photo: Getty Images (harpazo_hope) 

There is a good example of this on the Internet right now from The Guardian newspaper. Interestingly, it concerns a family living in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. We know how sensitive the Australian government and indeed Australian citizens are to the predation of native species by domestic cats. This man, James Shackell, decided he wanted to enrich his cat's life, so the benefits of wildlife conservation was a secondary matter.

As expected, it took a while for his cat, Monkey, to adjust to wearing a harness because they almost invariably cause a cat to flop over on their side and become totally passive and immobilised. It is as if they have been zapped with a taser. But bit-by-bit they get used to it and are able to walk fairly normally when wearing one.

And so with patience James took Monkey out to his front garden and over time Monkey learned to love it and he would encourage James to take him out. It has become a daily ritual and whenever he grabs the lead Monkey trills and purrs and runs to the front door "like an excited puppy". Great to see. You know you are doing well as a cat guardian when you see that feline behavior.

I would expect his front garden not to be an enormous 'domain' of several acres but quite small but it is large enough for a domestic cat to enjoy smelling the earth, the grass and the scents that waft in on the breeze. And to feel the earth and grass under his paws is a great experience for an indoor cat.

The point of this brief note is to say that something as simple and is easy to do as this will have great benefits to a full-time indoor cat and therefore it should be done if at all possible. I am passionate about trying to encourage people to ensure that their cat enjoys nature. It will be a compromise, as demonstrated by the arrangements of James, but this is far better than nothing at all.

One downside which he has got used to is that his neighbours think that he is eccentric. It's funny but people do see cats on leashes and cats in strollers as very strange. This is because it is still very rare and a lot of people have preconceived views about domestic gas being independent and free roaming. 

Both the cat stroller and the cat leash are excellent tools to work out a compromise to allowing a cat to behave naturally while protecting them from injury and protecting nature from the predatory instinct of this beloved animal companion.

P.S. An alternative is to build a large backyard enclosure but that is far more expensive and intrusive. It is still a good idea though if you are up to the disruption. It will hard though to convert a free-roaming cat to a confined cat. Be prepared for difficulties and/or failure.

Parasites that can infest full-time indoor cats

It may surprise people to know that full-time indoor cats can be infested by a range of parasites. On this page I will briefly list them and how they come to infect full-time indoor cats. I'm not going to go over any other aspect of this discussion in this article but by all means click on the links below to read more about parasites.

CAT PARASITES

CAT WORMS

Fleas are the obvious parasite which can infest indoor cats because they can be brought by their owner into the home. Or visitors to the home can bring one in or if there are other pets in the home which go outside, they may bring a flea inside the home. They will then jump onto the cat. The cat can ingest them when grooming. They can bite the cat causing a flea bite allergy which is most distressing. They transmit tapeworms to domestic cats.

Cat flea the most common cat parasite which can infest a full-time indoor cat. Photo: Shutterstock.

This brings me nicely to the next parasite which is tapeworms. This is a gastrointestinal parasite and the most common internal parasites in adult cats. They live in the small intestines and can be several feet in length. You sometimes see body segments containing the eggs passed in faeces and sometimes attached to the fur on the cat's backside. They are transmitted to cats by an intermediate host. One species of tapeworm is acquired from fleas or lice. Another species of tapeworm is acquired by eating rodents, uncooked meat and raw freshwater fish.

Roundworms are acquired by cats by ingesting the eggs. They can do this inside the home by eating a host animal such as a beetle or rodent which has acquired encysted larvae in its tissues.

Hookworms can be acquired by full-time indoor cat when the cat eats a mouse which is a host to hookworm larvae.

There are some rare worm parasites such as trichinosis which is acquired by ingesting uncooked pork which contains cysts. People acquire this parasite. It would be rare for a cat to acquire this parasite because they would have to eat uncooked pork but it is possible because sometimes people give cats treats such as uncooked meat. They may do so in order to attempt to provide their cat with a raw diet which some people consider to be beneficial.

Stomach worms most likely infect cats living in the south-western United States. Cats acquire them by eating beetles, cockroaches, crickets or lizards. Insects are on the domestic cat's menu.

Protozoan parasites can infect full-time indoor cats. These are single-celled creatures invisible to the naked eye. The first is giardiasis which is acquired by drinking water from streams and other sources that are contaminated with infected cysts. This may affect a full-time indoor cat if the cat it has access to an enclosure outside the home.

Toxoplasmosis is a very well-known protozoan parasite which has been endlessly discussed on the Internet. Although normally cats acquire this disease from consuming infected birds or rodents, they can also get it from eating raw or undercooked pork, beef, mutton or veal and/or unpasteurised dairy products.

Coccodiosis as a gastrointestinal parasite which usually targets young kittens. There are several species. One of the species, Cystoisospora is acquired by kittens from their mother who are the carriers. The mother would have acquired it when they eat a host animal such as a bird. This would be unlikely to happen if the owner keeps all their cats indoors full-time but it is conceivable.

Heartworms are delivered to a cat through a mosquito bite as larvae are in the mouthparts. The larvae burrow beneath the skin.

This list is probably quite comprehensive but I may have inadvertently have missed out one of the parasite species. As you can see a full-time indoor cat can acquire parasites and a veterinarian would recommend that you treat your cat for parasites. 

There are various ways of doing this. The most common parasite is fleas and provided you keep your home clean and tidy my advice is to flea comb your cat daily or twice daily to check for fleas. In this way you can keep fleas down without any harmful insecticides being deposited on your cat. 

My cat hunts mice and he regularly brings them into the home. He also kills birds occasionally but rarely. In the six years of his life he's only had two fleas. I combed them out and killed them immediately. 

It is possible to manage and eradicate fleas without harmful insecticides but you make your own choice on that. If the infestation is bad you will have to treat the entire home and treat your cat with an insecticide. You might like to consider using diatomaceous earth which destroys the exoskeleton of fleas and kills them that way. Click on the link to see what it is all about.

Can house cats adapt to going outside?

People ask whether indoor cats can adapt to going outside. The answer has to be a convincing Yes provided they continue to have access to the inside! This is because the default position in the minds of domestic cat is freedom to roam outside. The outside is their natural environment and therefore they will naturally want to be in it.

Stray cat makes a den for her kittens and herself in a bird's nest. Photo: Cats Protection.

Also, domestic cats are highly adaptable. The better question is whether an outdoor cat i.e. one who has been allowed to go outside freely but lives inside the home, can adapt to being confined to the home. The point here is that most house cats have not been selectively bred to be full-time indoor cats 24/7. 

Domestic cats are adaptable to a wide range of environments and they don't normally show "stereotypic behaviour". This is a reference to pacing that you see in tigers and other wild cats confined to cages at zoos. Domestic cats don't do this which indicates that they are fairly relaxed about being confined.

But there are certainly far more difficulties in keeping a cat indoors than allowing a cat that has been kept indoors full-time access to the outside. That said, if you open the doors wide to a full-time indoor cat who has never had access to the outside, they will be reluctant to go through those doors. It will appear as if there is a glass barrier between them and the enticing outside environment.

However, they will go through it once they pluck up the courage. It is a kind of agoraphobia albeit temporary. It's a fear of the unknown, out there, because full-time indoor cats are completely cosseted by this artificial environment in which there is little or no natural stimulation except when they look through windows.

The question in the title has wider implications. It might also be asking as to whether house cats can successfully live on their own outside as a stray cat or a feral cat. Well, some do and they do survive. But it depends on the climatic conditions which is why you see lots of community cats in countries where there is a warm, hospitable climate such as the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. On that topic, both Cyprus and Greece have many community cats. The former has more cats than people: 1.4m versus 1.2m.

SOME PAGES ON STRAY CATS

But in other places where the winters are harsh, it is likely that a domestic cat would quite quickly succumb to the weather conditions if they are forced or voluntarily choose to live outside full-time. Perhaps if 100 house cats were forced or voluntarily chose to live outside you would expect about 50% to survive while the rest would die within 6 months. That is a wild guess.

One issue here is that domestic cats who do find themselves living outside for whatever reason tend to be fed by volunteers or neighbours who take pity on them. So, they are not truly surviving in the wild environment. They are surviving in an urban environment with the help of humans. They may even make a new home for themselves in a neighbour's property and be adopted by that person.

It appears that a lot of people believe that house cats can survive outside because they dump them in woods where they expect them to survive. Or there might be a known feral cat colony supported by volunteers where people who want to abandon their cats dumped them. It is a falsehood to think that true domestic cats living indoors can easily adapt to living outside. Some can while some can't but we don't have a percentage except for my guesswork above.

Australian Capital Territory (ACT) residents will have to confine their cats to their homes

The ACT government has plans to confine domestic cat to their homes from July 1, 2022 regardless of the suburban where they live. It's called the ACT Cat Plan 2021-2031. It's a policy which has been developed in consultation with others including environmental groups and cat owners which is designed to "help cats live longer and healthier lives while better protecting native wildlife."

ACT Legislative Assembly. Photo in public domain.

There are already cat containment regulations with respect to 'containment suburbs' in Canberra. Outside of "declared suburbs, cat containment will only apply to new cats, because we understand that existing cats and their owners may not be prepared or used to containment", said ACT Minister for Transport and Silly Services Chris Steel.

The new rules will also allow owners in cat containment suburbs to take their cat for a walk on a lead. This is currently prohibited. At the moment there are 17 cat containment suburbs in the ACT.

The maximum penalty for breaching the new local laws will be AU$1600. Steel said that the ACT is a leader in introducing cat containment. This is certainly correct. I do not know of any other country where these concepts are in place and being expanded. It is certainly part of Australia's desire to protect native species. It comes with a package of procedures including the destruction of feral cats designed to protect, primarily, small Australian native ground dwelling mammals but birds and reptiles too.

There are other plans to encourage responsible cat ownership. They say that there are seven other strategies to be rolled out over the next 10 years, one of which is a compulsory requirement for new cat owners to register their cats in the way that dog owners do currently. And from July 1, 2022 new cat owners will have to pay a fee when they register their cat for the first time. Registration will need to be updated annually. Existing cat owners will also have to register but there will be no fee.

The authorities say that they estimate free roaming cats kill 61,000 native birds, 2000 native mammals and 30,000 native reptiles together with 6000 native frogs annually, on my understanding.

They believe that domestic cats confined to the home can still live happy and contented lives. This is true but there are more demands upon cat owners to ensure that their cats are stimulated for obvious reasons. Confined domestic cats live in an artificial world and there has to be some substitutes to nature within that world to which domestic cats are attuned. They need the sights, sounds stimulation of nature.

I do not believe that the average cat owner will be able to satisfactorily substitute what their cats will be missing once they are confined to the home.

The Conservation Council ACT Region welcomed the plan but said that they could go further and also that they could introduce it sooner. They say that it is wrong to allow one more year of newly-acquired cat be free to roam and hunt.

Australian citizens can have their say online. If you are interested you can read about the government's vision and the ACT Plan 2021-31 by clicking on this link.

Mini-catio gives indoor cats a breath of fresh air

Here is a mini-catio and I like it. It is a compromise between a proper catio - a cat enclosure attached to the side of a house one side of which is open to the elements behind a protective mesh to stop the cats getting out - and access to the outside which can often be unsafe. 

And this little mini-catio, as I have described it, is cheap to purchase and quick to put up. That will appeal to many people. I would expect that it could be erected in as little as an hour. The only difficulty will be providing a cutout panel for the window through which the cats have access to the tiny enclosure. But these sorts of tiny enclosures can be attractive to domestic cats who are confined to the indoors. 

Photo: Reddit.com

We know how cats like to rest in their favourite place (which they tend to change on a daily basis) and therefore a little enclosure like this can add to their menu. It would be an extra place where they can go to. It would add a little bit to their lives and make it more colourful and interesting. In short, it would be a way of enriching their environment inexpensively. For that reason, I would heartily recommend it. 

Anything that can make the life of a full-time indoor cat were enjoyable must be welcome. It won't suit everybody because a lot of people are too houseproud to have this sort of construction sticking out of it. It doesn't look great but it is effective.

On a separate subject, I note that the person is jacking up the tunnel with Tidy Cats litter boxes or that is what it appears. The lightweight version of this cat litter is problematic as allegedly there have been some deaths from it because it creates too much dust. You might like to read about that by clicking on this link.

Indoor cat likes to be carried around in a paper bag so owner tried it outside and it worked great

PORTLAND, USA: I think that this is an interesting cat story because it goes to the heart of feline emotions and insecurities and it also demonstrates to us away around those issues. The owner said that her cat, Charlie, is a full-time indoor cat. In a rather eccentric way she found that he likes to be carried around the home in a brown paper bag. I don't think the colour is important but being inside a bag is important because the obvious reason why he likes it is the actual reason why he likes it, namely, that it provides him with a feeling of security.

Indoor cat likes to be carried around in a paper bag so owner tried it outside and it worked great. Screenshot.

I think, wisely, Seyoung Yeo, decided to try the method out when outside the home. Therefore, she took Charlie outside in a brown paper bag and made a video of it at the same time. I can't show the video on this page because I cannot embed the code into the page but I can provide a screenshot of the video from which you can readily see that the was as content as could be. She walked around the neighbourhood and Charlie enjoyed it. She said that he was completely relaxed and made no attempt to jump as she carried him.

So what can we take from this? Sometimes there is a way of providing a full-time indoor cat with the enjoyment of going outside in security. This is an unusual way but Charlie's life has been improved. And I think his owner is quite brave to do this. She must be quite strongly motivated to do her best to improve the life of Charlie which is a good sign of top class cat guardianship.

Internationally 41 percent of cat owners keep their cats indoors full-time

This study is interesting because it looks at the attitudes of cat owners in respect of keeping them indoors full-time on an international basis. We know that geographically there will be variations in attitudes because some countries have more space in them than others. 

For example, the UK is heavily urbanised with a resultant increase in possibility of road traffic accidents killing cats. This should drive cat owners to keeping their cats inside all the time. Set against this, in countries like the United States, which is much less urbanised there are more predators of domestic cats (e.g. coyotes) which is another factor for keeping cats indoors.

Full-time indoor cat. Picture in the public domain.

In round terms, the 5,000 cat owner survey found that getting on for 50% of domestic cats are kept inside for their safety. The main safety factors are road traffic accidents, being attacked by a predator or stolen by thieves. The survey, which is published on the MDPI website is entitled: Indoors or Outdoors? An International Exploration of Owner Demographics and Decision-Making Associated with Lifestyle of Pet Cats. It was conducted in the UK at the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottinghamshire and the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education.

One interesting finding was that in the US and Canada 80.6% of domestic cat are kept indoors at all times which is much higher than previous figures discovered in previous studies. Those studies reported that 63% and 60% of cats are kept indoors in the USA. In other words the figure is around 60% whereas this new study indicates 80.6%. Previous studies regarding Australia New Zealand indicated 44% of 46.5% of cats are kept indoors respectively. This study found in Australia and New Zealand 42.2% of cats are indoor-only.

A major factor with respect to Australia and New Zealand is not so much road traffic accidents driving cat owners to keep the cats indoors but an enhanced attitude of protecting wildlife from predation by domestic cats due perhaps, in part, by government campaigns to protect native species.

There is a generational shift in attitude between the more elderly cat owner and the younger cat owner. Younger cat owners in the age bracket 26-35 years old tend to keep their cats indoors whereas cat owners in the age range 46-55+ tend to be predisposed to allowing their cats to be indoor-outdoor cats. 

This would point to a greater sensitivity amongst younger cat owners towards domestic cat safety as set against allowing domestic cats to express the natural desires and going outside. The issue, here, is whether this admirable desire to keep cat safe is supported by allowing them to be healthier both mentally and physically which tends to be a product of being free to roam. It is that perpetual balance between safety and welfare which tests cat owners.

There is clearly a general trend towards keeping cats indoors full-time because there is a general trend towards higher human population numbers which leads to greater urbanisation which in turn, as you can imagine, leads to an increased danger from road traffic accidents. There is no doubt that the trend over the past hundred years has been towards indoor cats. I'm sure that you can imagine that in the 19th century there are probably almost no full-time indoor cats at all in countries like the UK. The overriding influence is road traffic accidents killing cats.

What I take away from this study, which you can read in more detail by clicking here, is that there is a strong trend towards indoor-only cats globally but this trend varies from country to country due mainly to the human population densities of these countries which increases the risk of harm through road traffic.

There is also a need, I believe, to a shift in attitude as to how to entertain for-time indoor cats and ensure their mental and physical well-being through substitutes to being allowed to roam naturally during which they are able to express the natural desires and motivations.

Please read on by clicking this link.......

Indoor cat loves the smells of the outdoors

From @henrythecoloradodog: “Sometimes I swear B is actually a dog.” #catsofinstagram pic.twitter.com/1K0V5Drc5E

— Cats of Instagram (@catsofinstagram) November 12, 2020

I've taken the liberty of deciding that this cat, who is so enjoying a car ride, lives inside their owner's home all the time. When they're taken outside in a car ride and the window is wound down all the smells of the exterior come to her. You can see she's taking it all in. She loves the breeze and the gentle smells of the countryside. Her dog companion is enjoying the journey as much. I could be wrong about the cat being full-time indoors. But you can see the owner has brought her cat on a lead which is sensible as the cat is allowed to perch at an open car window while the car is travelling but this looks like a trip that the owners have taken for both their pets to give them a bit of fun and stimulation and also make a neat little 10 second video.

Modern prefabricated homes should have a catio option

Modern prefabrication techniques for the building of homes is far superior than the way it was after the Second World War. Even some of those small prefabs, that were put up quickly, still stand today so I think we can expect good things about modern factory built homes. It goes without saying, when you think about it, that if a house is built in segments and those segments are manufactured within an enclosed space where conditions are warm and stable and where machinery is used to cut the parts accurately, that the homes are going to be of a higher quality than if they are built piecemeal by possibly unskilled or semi-skilled people in all weathers using old-fashioned techniques.

Timber prefab home which should have the catio option. Photo in public domain.

Perhaps a problem with prefab homes is their image because in the UK people perceive the prefab home as the Second World War version. Times have changed dramatically. I would expect factory built, prefabricated homes to be of substantially superior quality than conventionally built homes. And they will be cheaper and they can be erected far more quickly, perhaps in days.

The government of the UK has to build homes rapidly to accommodate a rapidly increasing population in part due to mass immigration over the preceding 20 years.

The government is considering using some of its £3 billion housebuilding fund to support this new generation of prefabs to ease the housing crisis. It is reported that the government wants to see 100,000 new homes constructed off-site in a factory in a rush to build new homes. In November, the UK government is going to publish a White Paper on this project.

With that background in mind, and knowing how beneficial some outside space is to a domestic cat if they are confined to the home, modern prefab homes should come with a catio option. What I mean is this: the manufacturers should build into their designs the option to tack on to the side of the building a catio. I would not expect this to be hugely complicated because these are, after all, kit houses built in sections.

There are very many cat owners in the UK. And the British people need to be encouraged to keep their cats inside. There is a default culture in the UK that the domestic cat is allowed to go outside no matter how dangerous it might be because of road traffic, for instance. Providing an option of a catio would encourage them to consider keeping their cats full-time indoors. In America this is an option which is often taken up partly because in that grand country they have predators such as the coyote which preys upon domestic cats.

In the UK we don't have the same animal predators of the domestic cat but we do have human activity in a much more compressed urban environment than in the USA. There's more traffic on more roads presenting an ongoing danger. I want to see Britons encouraged to consider keeping their cats inside and in this regard a catio option on prefab houses for the future would be beneficial.

Looking very long-term into the future there will come a time that even in the UK there will be calls to keep cats indoors in the interest of wildlife predation. There is talk today about domestic cats preying upon wildlife. Wildlife is under huge pressure from human activity. The domestic cat contributes to this and there is a general decline in biodiversity in the UK. I foresee a change in attitude perhaps in 20 to 30 years time. In preparation for that moment, let's consider the catio option for prefab homes.