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In reply to the discussion: House cats kill more critters than thought - researchers use cameras to track the slaughter [View all]SheilaT
(23,156 posts)generally have a much shorter life span than the ones who live indoors.
Indoor cats are incredibly useful at keeping things like mice from taking up residence indoors. That's why we acquired the cat I currently have. I don't think she ever actually caught any of the mice who'd moved in with us, but within a month or so they were all gone.
Back when I had more than one cat and I'd let them out into the backyard, supervised, all the birds would start fussing a lot, clearly warning every bird and small mammal within hearing distance that a cat or two was outside. My cats would just sort of cower. Oh, and rabbits would come into the yard. If one of the cats noticed a rabbit, cat would start stalking. Every single time the rabbit would suddenly freeze, and after about five minutes the cat would totally lose interest. Wildlife was quite safe around my kitties.