10/25/2025
Hi everyone, I must admit I used to be a "I've always had outdoor cats" kind of guy. But... I've recently recognized that a cat's "freedom" has a cumulative cost on wildlife when you consider how many cats are out there. I've had some really great conversations with owners and vets alike, and when I came across this light-hearted editorial from the National Observer, I had to share.
Dr Neil
"Cats are predators.
Now that we have the biology out of the way, on to the sociology: why, then, do we let cats run around, being predators, in our neighbourhoods?
My colleague Matin Sarfraz reported this week that cats are responsible for an eye-watering 60 million dead birds each year in Canada alone. Sixty million. If we assume all those dead birds are the size of sparrows, and we assume they would crowd as tightly as possible on seats at Toronto’s Rogers Centre to watch (who else?) the Blue Jays play, my careful calculation suggests we’d still only have one per cent of the space we’d need for all those birds to watch the game.
But of course it’s hypothetical, not only because of the mess but because — again — outdoor cats killed sixty million birds this year. Bird populations in North America are already in freefall due to other factors, and it shouldn’t need to be pointed out but, as Matin reported, the cats are not helping.
There is a 100 per cent chance this statement will elicit a knee-jerk reaction from at least some of the people who read this, decrying the cruelty of keeping a cat that yearns to be outside, indoors. What does it yearn for, I might ask? Since you can’t respond, this being a one-way medium, I’ll go ahead and wager that what it yearns for is “to murder birds.”
As Matin discovered, there are a number of easy answers to this quandary, with a little cooperation.
First, there’s the charmingly named “catio” April Campbell treated her cats to — an indoor-outdoor space where her cats can sit, enjoy a breeze, sniff the air and dream about all the predation they would like to (but can’t) engage in. But a catio surely isn’t for everyone; I once helped my friend Kurtis build a catio, and I can tell you, it sure took Kurtis a long time to build it while I sipped beer and offered helpful advice.
If your cat must — must! — prowl, reflective collars can protect birds, helping them spot a crouching tiger/hidden cat a bit sooner. (The same can’t be said for mice, but this column is about birds. Mice can get their own advocate.)
Finally, walking a cat was once frowned upon. Silly, even. No longer! Now it’s your civic duty. Leash up your cat and enjoy the spoils: exercise for your cat and fresh air for you. Listen carefully and you might even hear some birds."
