7/27/2019 Cat Confinement

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Authored by

Mia McKenzie

Dr. Michael Moyer 

October, 2013

The subject of cat confinement within the No

Kill paradigm, like mandatory desexing, is

greatly misunderstood.

We define cat confinement as confining your pet

cat to the boundaries of your property or within

an outdoor cat run. The word 'confinement' does

convey a negative connotation, but there are

varied points that need to be explored.

 No Kill does not support cat confinement laws.

Pet laws, like mandatory desexing, punish pet

owners by fining them for not complying with

the legislation. If the pet owner refuses to pay or 

cannot do so, the pet is seized and taken to a

shelter.

Pet laws increase a shelters intake unnecessarily,

and given that Australia is dominated by shelters

who do not implement life saving strategies, a

higher intake equates to a higher kill rate. Pet

laws provide no benefits to pets and they

exacerbate the already contentious relationship

 between councils and pet owners.

The PAW Project supports cat confinement

where the pet cat has indoor and outdoor access.

The outdoor access can be achieved by a fencing

system, like the system provided by theAustralian company, 'Oscillot' ( see image below).

A cat confinement solution that can be installed

onto existing Colourbond, Good Neighbour, Post

and Rail, Timber and Masonary fencing, and

disables the ability of the cat to scale a fence.

 

Outdoor access can also be

achieved with closed circuit cat

runs and enclosures. They

allow the pet cat to have perpetual access to the outdoors

and fresh air.

Catnip tunnel

In Australia, a company called 'Catnip' provide

awesome modules, tunnels and accessories for 

your pet cat to access the outdoors.

 

Catnip Wall Module & London Bridge

Mia was fortunate to visit Michael Linke's home,

CEO of RSPCA ACT in 2012, that consisted of 

an intricate cat run to entertain and enrich his

seven cats.

The cat run began at the back door and wrapped

around half the house. It consisted of tunnels, an

enclosure and the design enabled the cats to peep

through the windows.

The cat run provided fresh air, enrichment,

safety, exercise and a solitary place to chill out

from the dog, Dahlia.

It is essential for a pet cats health, both physicaland mental, that they have access to both indoor 

and outdoor environments.

Cat Confinement

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Dr. Michael Moyer is a shelter medicine expert

and a practising veterinarian. In his clinical

experience, while there are very clear benefits of 

indoor-only lifestyles for cats with respect to

disease and injury avoidance, there is a tendencyfor indoor cats to develop diabetes mellitus,

likely related to a sedentary lifestyle.

Dr. Michael Moyer states that it is only very

recently, twenty to thirty years, that animal

advocates have taken up the argument of a

strictly indoor lifestyle for the cat, even though it

is accompanied with a potential increased health

risk.

He believes that indoor only for pet cats, withenrichment, is much safer on average than

indoor-outdoor or exclusively free-roaming

lifestyles. But, with indoor confinement, there

can be a lack of stimulation and physical

movement, resulting in an increase risk for 

diabetes and obesity. To counter that tendency,

use of play structures, cat-safe fencing, and other 

methods of enrichment for the cats' environment

are highly encouraged.

There is more impoundment of cats than dogs

across the nation, and as a consquence, more cats

are killed than dogs.

So the adoption (and even fostering) obstacles

that relate to confinement, need to be explored to

enable more cats to be saved and to be placed

into home environments that are suited to the

cats needs.

More and more people are moving into highdensity living arrangements due to the increasing

cost of living, like apartments that have no

outside access. Given that we support indoor and

outdoor living for cats, as No Kill advocates we

also must explore adoptions to indoor only

environments.

We are becoming more imaginative in providing

a substantially enriched life for indoor only cats.

The 'Catnip' apartment outdoor wall module is a

great idea to allow outdoor access for pet cats.

Owners are providing their pet cats with

interactive toys, perches and elaborate obstacle

courses. People are also walking their pet cat on

a lead for exercise and enrichment.

The RSPCA ACT acknowledge the shift to

higher density living and provide information on

their website to assist people who wish to adopt a

cat, but are living in an apartment. Click here:

http://rspca-act.org.au/files/view/?id=234

Michael Linke states “We do not advocate that

the cat is locked in confined space like a laundry,

cat welfare is a priority. We want to ensure that

cat welfare is looked after and we need to also

consider the ramifications of excluding indoor only adoptions from our criteria.”

The No Kill paradigm advocates for any options

that increase life saving and animal welfare. No

Kill shelters like Nevada Humane Society, who

has a 94% save rate for all cats, supports cat

confinement. They also have an idea to keep an

indoor cat happy , “provide him with a playmate

and companion—namely, another cat.”

You got to love their marketing!