I keep seeing the ‘cats shouldn’t be let outside bc they ruin the environment’ post everywhere and I feel incredibly guilty now abt one of my cats being an indoor/outdoor. She’s got minor brain damage and can’t catch anything except grass and flowers, and has some separation anxiety and never moves farther than the neighbours fence. She’s never outside past sunset either. She’s never caught any living thing outside the house in the 8 years we’ve had her, but is it still bad if I let her outside?

fuzipenguin:

It’s ultimately your decision. I’m not going to link to all the different peer-reviewed journal articles out there about cats being harmful to other species – there was plenty of good links in that last reblog I did. In your kitty’s case, the danger to other species is probably low since she is handicapped. 

my biggest worry would be for her safety – if she has anxiety as well as brain damage, I would imagine she could be easily spooked. A roaming cat could come into the yard or a loose dog could come up to the fence and freak her out. If she ran off, would be she be able to make it back? Would she be able to defend herself? Would she run out into the middle of the road and get hit? 

Maybe she should be harness-trained and let out on a leash, or you should build a catio for her. In this specific case, the only issue seems to be safety for her. If you have a really good fence (to keep out dogs and keep her in) and no large birds of prey in the area, she should hopefully be OK. No guarantees, though, hence my suggestion of something a bit more controlled.