Outdoor access for cats provides significant behavioural benefits but introduces genuine risks. Evidence-based risk management strategies enable cats to experience outdoor enrichment while minimising harm.
The indoor/outdoor debate for cats involves genuine welfare trade-offs rather than a clear ethical hierarchy. Permanent indoor housing prevents outdoor risks but can cause boredom, frustration, and obesity without adequate environmental enrichment. Unsupervised outdoor access provides environmental enrichment and behavioural complexity but exposes cats to road traffic, territorial conflict, disease, and wildlife predation. Evidence supports that enriched indoor environments, catio access, or supervised outdoor access provide welfare outcomes comparable to or better than unsupervised ranging, while substantially reducing risks. The welfare calculus depends on individual cat temperament, local environment, and the quality of indoor enrichment provided.