Reader wants to clarify the benefit of keeping cats indoors

Category: Cats

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Reader wants to clarify the benefit of keeping cats indoors

Updated Dec 8, 2024

This references another letter in the post “Helping a grieving cat”

Dear Cathy,

In your letter to Mundy Rado from Lawrenceville, Georgia, why didn’t you take the opportunity to tell the owner that cats should not be loose outside? You could have given her stats on the longer life of housecats at the very least. You shouldn’t suggest a future kitten without encouraging responsible pet ownership.

– Cris O’Keefe, Setauket NY

Dear Cris,

I have been in the animal welfare field for 25 years and try to use every opportunity I can to educate readers on responsible pet care, so I went back to the letter to see what I missed. She was talking about a kitten who was mourning the loss of another kitten who “disappeared.” I focused on addressing the kitten’s grief and what she could do to alleviate it, and glossed over the word “disappeared,” which certainly could have indicated it was an outdoor cat who slipped away.

I don’t know for sure if that was the case, but I am happy to use your letter to encourage responsible pet ownership and advocate for keeping cats indoors. On average, outdoor cats live three to seven years compared to indoor cats who can live 14 years or more. Several of my indoor cats, in fact, have lived past 20.

So keeping your cat inside not only reduces the chances your cat will “disappear,” but ensures more quality time with your best friend.

Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, children’s author, syndicated pet columnist, and pet expert with more than 30 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to moc.tidnuptepobfsctd-6f8d54@yhtac. Please include your name, city, and state. You can follow her @cathymrosenthal

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Cathy Rosenthal (aka The Pet Pundit), CHES, CFE

Animal Welfare Communications Strategist, Writer & Educator

Cathy M. Rosenthal is an award-winning humane educator and author, animal welfare strategist, pet columnist, and speaker who has spent more than 38 years working in animal welfare with local and national humane organizations. She helps people better understand and care for animals through her nationally syndicated My Pet World column and has been the longtime pet columnist for the San Antonio Express-News since 2003.

In addition to her writing, Cathy develops humane education, leadership, customer service, and compassion fatigue training programs for animal welfare organizations nationwide, and has helped raise millions of dollars through grant writing, strategic communications, and program development.

Cathy is the editor and curator of Humane Perspectives: Leadership in Animal Welfare and is the author of several books, including Grant Writing Boot Camp for Animal Advocates, The Lucky Tale of Two Dogs, and The Happy Tale of Two Cats, which was the 2026 winner of the Association of Professional Humane Educators’ (APHE) "Educator’s Choice Award" for Best Humane Education Book for Young Children. She also received the 2026 APHE Nathania Gartman Heroes Award for Impact in Humane Education. Her humane education programs in Texas have reached more than 45,000 elementary school children since 2019.

She resides in Texas with her husband, their cat Sterling, and a former community cat, Maddie, who successfully negotiated an indoor living arrangement but still considers human affection highly negotiable.