this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2025
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House cats shouldn't even be outside
Strays who lived outside can't be house-only cats anymore.
Absolutely they can. Perhaps not all of them but I have lots of first hand evidence that outdoor cats and even feral cats can become happy housecats.
Given every single shelter I've ever been to in Germany lists adoption requirements for each cat (one of them if they are a freeroamer or bot, i.e. need outside access) and would not let you adopt a cat if you can't provide them, with the professionals at the shelter even pointing out that "taking away outside access from a cat can, depending on the cat, amount to factual animal abuse" (roughly translated)… yeah, sorry, but there's zero chance any anecdote here could convince me.
I've already posted an example on another reply. Right now they even got an additional box above the list stating that "most our current cats do not accept being held only indoors" (the green one), given that's what most people look for. Most of them specifically state "Freigang" (Freeroam) as requirement.