NEW ZEALANDERS ARE LOCKING DOWN THEIR CATS, FOR GOOD

Raikou has never stepped a paw outside in her life.

When the 3-year-old Cymric cat isn’t sleeping, she hangs out in her favourite pizza boxes and plays with her toys. Occasionally she’s loaded into a carrier cage and driven to compete in a cat show.

Raikou’s owner Vikki Skinner says the only responsible way to have a cat is to keep it inside. Indoor cats are happier, healthier and live longer, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Nor would the 29 other cats who live in her house.

New Zealand is a nation of cat lovers, and increasingly – at least anecdotally – we’re keeping them inside. Owners say welfare and conservation concerns are the main drivers; experts are cautious not to say too much, and cats are silent on the issue thus far.

Skinner rescues and rehabilitates cats through her charity Outpawed, either rehoming them or providing sanctuary for those not able to be adopted – hence the 30 permanent residents in her Palmerston North home.

Kitted out with climbing trees, cat wheels (a kind of treadmill for cats) and cat walks, the house is designed to keep its inhabitants’ indoor lives busy and enriched. With three catios (patios) allowing access to fresh air and sunshine, Skinner says the only downside is the cleaning.

“They don’t smell if you keep them clean.”

That aside, Skinner says there’s a definite shift in the culture of cat-keeping. She prefers her rescues adopted by indoor-only homes and rarely encounters much opposition.

“Things are definitely changing, I can see indoor cats becoming the done thing in NZ. I hope it will.”

About 41% of NZ households have at least one cat, putting us ahead of both Australia and the US, and more than double the rate of ownership in the UK. Forest & Bird estimates we have 1.4 million domestic cats.

There isn’t any data on how many live indoors, but cat management has long been a contentious issue. From a proposed cat ban in a Hamilton subdivision, to bylaws capping cat numbers, and a failed politician’s desire to get rid of them all together, opinions abound, yet cat ownership is almost entirely unregulated.

Forest & Bird regional conservation manager Amelia Geary says cats’ impact on our wildlife is well documented. Just last week a domestic cat was filmed eating all the eggs of a banded dotterel nest in Kaikōura.

“It’s not the first nest lost to cat predation this season, just the first one caught on camera.”

Animals are going to hunt, and the only way to stop that is keeping them permanently inside.

Charlotte Benge is all too aware of the damage domestic cats can wreak on native wildlife, though admits that’s not the reason she keeps Mork and Mindy inside.

“My main reason is to protect my cats.”

Having lost a previous cat to the road, Benge says her 2-year-old pets are safer and happier indoors –she’s certainly happier with them shut inside.

“It’s not like having a dog. You can’t fence them in. And you put so much love and money into these animals, why would you risk them being killed?”

The Bengals spend their days lounging on climbing trees, playing with toys, and using litter boxes Benge “obsessively” keeps fresh. She has plans to build a catio, though they’ve never shown any interest in heading outdoors.

“People think I’m mad to do this; I think I’d be mad not to.”

Neil Sanderson says you can actually fence a cat in, and he’s made a business out of doing exactly that.

His Auckland company catfence.nz sells a product featuring a series of four-bladed paddles that attaches to the top of existing fences. When a cat scales the fence, they put a paw on the paddle which then spins and the traction-less cat falls to the ground.

“They land on their feet because they’re cats, and walk away miffed.”

He says the practice of containing cats has grown in popularity especially in the wake of lockdowns that have let owners observe what their pets are doing, where they’re going, and what they’re bringing home.

People who buy the fencing system come from one of two camps: they’re either concerned about wildlife, or the safety of their pet. Most spend between $1,000 and $2,000 to fence a portion of their property.

Massey University veterinarian and animal welfare lecturer Kat Littlewood says her international students are often surprised at Kiwi’s somewhat laissez-faire attitude to our cats.

“We tend to think of cat ownership as feeding them and pretty much letting them do their own thing. Overseas it’s much more common to keep them inside.”

Cat management is a hugely controversial issue, Littlewood says, and approaching the topic purely in terms of the cat’s welfare is tricky: “Is it good for the cat? I’m not sure.”

There are pros and cons, she says. An indoor cat isn’t going to be hit on the road, or get into scraps with feline neighbours; though can more susceptible to anxiety, depression, and urinary tract infections brought on by stress.

It’s a decision only an owner can make, and should they decide to contain their cats they’re duty-bound to make sure an indoor life is fulfilling. While many indoor cats are happy sleeping their days away, others need entertaining with toys, playtime, and food puzzles.

“Otherwise, it’s like keeping a zoo animal.”

Littlewood brings her cat inside at night for safety – bright car lights tend to blind cats – and says there’s a flaw in the common argument that keeping a cat indoors when it’s dark stops them hunting.

“Cats are crepuscular, so they’re most active at dawn and dusk. Domestic cats aren’t nocturnal, so you’re letting them out right when they’re really active to go and get some birds.”

One Wellington owner is so worried she’ll look like a “crazy cat woman” she doesn’t want her real name used, nor her cat photographed in case her identity is revealed. Her 6-year-old moggy – who we’ll call Mr X – has lived entirely indoors since he was hit by a car two years ago.

The vet bill was bad enough, though it was the trauma and anxiety that saw Mr X become an indoor chap. It hasn’t all been plain sailing.

“He spends a lot of time looking out the window.”

Mr X has been seen by a cat behaviourist to try and stop his spraying on the furniture, and he and his owner are working on keeping him entertained.

“I feel a bit guilty, but what do I do? Does it make me a bad owner to let him out to be injured, or make me a bad owner by keeping him inside when he wants to go out?”

Chief veterinary officer of New Zealand’s Veterinary Association Helen Beattie says indoor cats can lead happy and healthy lives, but owners must be prepared to put the work in. She cautions against trying to change the behaviour of a previously outdoor cat.

“If you’ve got a free ranging cat used to having a 5km home base it’s going to be challenging to transition it to being a stay-at-home cat without seriously affecting its welfare.”

Even starting with a brand-new kitten unused to an outdoor life poses conundrums when it comes to whether keeping cats indoors is good for a species designed to roam, hunt and climb.

“Covid has allowed us to understand in a way we couldn’t have before how many of us have felt about long term containment…we find it quite challenging right?”