20 Reasons to Keep Your Cat Indoors

1. Cars - Thousands of cats get hit by cars every year. If they are lucky, they die instantly.
2. Car engines - Cats seek warmth. In the winter they tend to climb up inside car engines where they can be subsequently ground up.
3. Anti-freeze - Cats like the sweet taste of anti-freeze, and they will lick it if able. Anti-freeze is extremely toxic and your cat will die a painful death within hours of ingesting it. It can take less than a teaspoon to kill a full-size cat or dog!
4. Poisoning - There are people who don't like cats and will set out poison on their property. Others may put poison out to get rid of other wildlife that wanders onto their property and your cat may accidentally ingest it.
5. Fighting - Your cat could be killed by dogs, raccoons, or other wildlife. Some people train their dogs to attack and kill cats.
6. Fighting Part II - Believe it or not, cats can kill each other during their fights.
7. FELV - Feline Leukemia destroys a cat's immune system. It is transmitted through body fluids. Even a sneeze can pass the virus from one cat to another. The vaccine for FELV is only 70 to 75% effective. Cats infected usually die within two years.
8. FIV - Feline Immunosuppressive Virus also destroys a cat's immune system. It is transmitted through body fluids and cuts a cat's lifespan in half. There is no vaccination for FIV.
9. FIP - Feline Infectious Peritonitis. FIP is always 100% fatal. Tests and vaccines for FIP are not reliable.
10. Animal Abuse - Cats are often shot with BB guns; burned with lighters, firecrackers; tortured by people causing loss of limbs, eyes, etc.
11. Starving to Death - People think that because they have lived in the same house for a number of years that their cat is too smart to wander off and get lost. NOT TRUE. People also think that because their cat has never left the front yard that it go any farther. NOT TRUE.
12. Getting Trapped - Your cat could get lost in somebody else's garage or utility shed. He could suffer brain damage if trapped in extreme heat or could suffer frostbite if trapped in extreme cold.
13. Research Labs - Your cat could get stolen and sold to a research lab. This practice does go on, even in Cincinnati!
14. Parasitic Infections - Your cat could eat something (rat, mouse, bird) and die of a parasitic infection
15. SPCA - Your cat could get taken in by someone thinking it is a stray. They might keep your cat or take it to the SPCA where it will be euthanized.
16. Unintentional Poisoning - By pesticides, lawn products, etc.
17. Fleas, ticks, worms, ringworm - Your cat could transmit these to other pets and people in the household.
18. Drowning - Your cat could accidentally fall in a swimming pool and drown.
19. Steel-Jaw Traps - People who live in the country think it's great to let cats out to roam. But many times domestic dogs and cats get caught in steel-jaw traps intended for other animals.
20. Spraying - When cats go outside they smell other cats' territorial markings. This may prompt your cat to start spraying inside the house to mark his territory.