What can classify as animal cruelty?

[Keldi]

Animal abuse is usually visualized as kicking a dog, smacking a cat, starving, all that horrible stuff.
But what are the small things that count as animal cruelty?

Spoiler: Part of me is worried the following is considered animal cruelty

When we all leave the house(or when I leave, she follows me), we put my cat in my room and close the door completely. We do this to almost completely eliminate the risk of her getting out. She has food, water, litter box, an area she feels safe in, a cat scratch post, places to jump onto and toys in there, as well as an always on fan. We give her loads of love before leaving and when we get home. We put her in my room because I'm the cat mom out of the 3 of us. Thr longest she's in there is 8-9 hours if I'm at school and my family's out all day. If they're home all day, they open the door so she can get out and wander about, then put her back in when I'm on my way home. Is this a cruel thing to do? I just want to know in case I should change our system here.

 

[Markiemania95]

I wouldn't call it cruelty, but the closest to that I ever did with my cat was that we used to shut him in the kitchen with a bed, litter tray, food, toys, etc. every night the first two weeks we had him. It was heartbreaking though, because we'd hear him mewing and sticking his paw under the door every time we all went upstairs... so eventually when he was 10 weeks old, I let him sleep on my bed with me, and ever since then he's always had free reign of the house, even when we're out (he's 8 years old now). The only other similar thing that I can think to mention is that we don't have a cat flap, so if he's out when we leave the house, he'll stay out until someone comes back to let him in, but fortunately he really loves the outdoors. How old is your cat, out of curiosity?

 

[MapleSilver]

I'm sort of confused as to why you need to put them into a single room while you're gone. I always just let my cats have access to the entire house, and so far there have not been any problems. Is there something in your house that would allow them to escape outside?

 

[Keldi]

She's 3 years old and very curious about the front door. She's an indoor cat so shemost likely wouldn't be able to get back if she got out.

 

[Midoriya]

What we have always done, and what my dad does back at home, is let the cats roam the house, but just don’t let them outside. If they try to get outside while you’re going through a door, you have to make a “PSSSST” noise and put your foot or something in the way. Then quickly go through the door and close it without letting them out. The house he has currently also has a back closed-in porch, and they stay there sometimes, but in general I would say to let them roam the house, but not go outside.

Also, it’s not animal cruelty. If they have everything they need like you said, it’s to protect them from going outside and becoming wild.

 

[visibleghost]

She's 3 years old and very curious about the front door. She's an indoor cat so shemost likely wouldn't be able to get back if she got out.

my cat often tries to go outside when we open the door but we are expecting it so we are always careful when opening the door and if we're several people one will open the door and the other will be ready to catch the cat. he has never gotten more than a few meters out the door.
obviously this depends on if your cat takes off in 50 mph or just walks out but it shouldn't be too difficult to catch her. if you live in an apartment it's not like she will run outside and get run over by a car in three seconds and if you live in a house you can put up a small fence outside the door so she can't just run out. that's what we did for almost 6 months. im talking about things like this

Spoiler

it's not animal cruelty but i think she will be happier if she can walk around everywhere

 

[rhinoo]

I called my Aunts dog a ****head by accident...

 

[visibleghost]

I called my Aunts dog a ****head by accident...

damn verbal abuse of animals is no joke

i call my cat fatty all the time

 

[rhinoo]

damn verbal abuse of animals is no joke

i call my cat fatty all the time

Lol

 

[Keldi]

my cat often tries to go outside when we open the door but we are expecting it so we are always careful when opening the door and if we're several people one will open the door and the other will be ready to catch the cat. he has never gotten more than a few meters out the door.
obviously this depends on if your cat takes off in 50 mph or just walks out but it shouldn't be too difficult to catch her. if you live in an apartment it's not like she will run outside and get run over by a car in three seconds and if you live in a house you can put up a small fence outside the door so she can't just run out. that's what we did for almost 6 months. im talking about things like this

Spoiler

View attachment 219922

it's not animal cruelty but i think she will be happier if she can walk around everywhere

We were actually talking about getting a cat gate the other day!
Btw, her speed varies if she does go to the door. Sometimes it's a casual walk, and other times I swear she sees mice with that speed.

 

[-Blue-]

You can call your pet anything as long as your voice is friendly and playful. Like say 'How are you doing butthead?' in a singsong voice and they'll be super happy.

You kind of have to keep your new pets confined to a certain room, preferably where most things can't be destroyed, chewed, clawed, or whatever. Because they need to know their boundaries and limits. My aunts new kitten had free roam in her house and he just chewed the heck out of her sofa armchairs.

Also peed on my pillow one night when I went to bed. I woke up and was like 'woah my hairs really sweaty...wait this sweat smells like---!

 

[Dormire]

I think trying to boil them alive and eat them like livestock animals is animal cruelty.
or shooting them with a bow and arrow and post it like you shot a wild rabbit in Facebook.
or leaving your pet in a street to starve to death because you can't take care of it.

 

[Aquasplash]

I don't understand why you haven't taken the time to teach your cat not to run out the door. And I find it cruel that you don't let him have access to the entire house.

 

[Midoriya]

I don't understand why you haven't taken the time to teach your cat not to run out the door. And I find it cruel that you don't let him have access to the entire house.

Cats can be taught not to run out the door? I understand letting them have access to the entire house, but I thought it was their base instincts to want to get outside and become wild.

 

[Aquasplash]

Cats can be taught not to run out the door? I understand letting them have access to the entire house, but I thought it was their base instincts to want to get outside and become wild.

With some breeds of cats it's in their nature to hunt outside when need be. But if you have a cat with certain personality & breed than they need to spend time playing outside in the yard. It's okay for cats to explore outside in your neighborhood all day long or all night, whichever your cat prefers to do...LET THEM! But as for domestic breeds, they can play outside too but these kinds of breeds are most likely to just wander around on your porch and will not explore very far. Overall pretty much all cats should have the option to spend time outside for some fresh air. As long as you, the owner, put trust in your furry companion to be outside than your cat will trust you too. This builds playing outside to be fun between the both of you.

 

[Midoriya]

With some breeds of cats it's in their nature to hunt outside when need be. But if you have a cat with certain personality & breed than they need to spend time playing outside in the yard. It's okay for cats to explore outside in your neighborhood all day long or all night, whichever your cat prefers to do...LET THEM! But as for domestic breeds, they can play outside too but these kinds of breeds are most likely to just wander around on your porch and will not explore very far. Overall pretty much all cats should have the option to spend time outside for some fresh air. As long as you, the owner, put trust in your furry companion to be outside than your cat will trust you too. This builds playing outside to be fun between the both of you.

Huh, I didn’t know that. Thanks for explaining it. Like I mentioned before, we have a closed-in porch that’s technically outside where our cats stay a lot, but I can imagine letting certain breeds of cats go outside too.

 

[Nicole.]

So long as your cat is comfortable, safe, watered and fed, then I can't see the harm. Cats (especially kittens) take such unforeseeable actions, so it's expected that they could escape out the window/door at any time. When owning a family cat back at home years ago, it was always a caution having the window open. Also, I remember having to store boxes tightly under the bed to prevent our (once) kitten from crawling under as she was terribly small for the age that she was. We were afraid of losing her. I can't remember ever having to leave her on her own as a kitten as my dad would always be at home. Fortunately, that wasn't a problem.

However, years later I got a dog. Got her when she was just 8 weeks, and she was worryingly tiny to the point of hardly weighing a bag of sugar. So, for her own safety, I would leave her in her cage whilst I was out of the house. She was not big enough neither old enough to be left on her own freely, there was a risk of her chewing on the wrong objects, such as cables, carpets, etc. Though, she would often just sleep in a ball during the times when I was gone or even out of the room. Puppies sleep A LOT. A lot of the time, she would also try and gnaw her way out. However, I do wonder whether that was due to her teething stage. She was given a toy to use this for, but it was typical for her to never use it. With that said, I remember one horrifying incident that I'll never be able to forget.
At this stage, she must have been about 1-2 months old (can't be entirely sure) when she caught her tooth in between the bars of the cage. I was on the phone talking to my mum when I tried to open the cage door. As I did so, I heard this enormous squealing yelp and instantly witnessed this sudden rage of panic within her. It lasted for about a minute, but I had never felt my heart drop so fast and abruptly. The cage violently rattled and clacked loudly for seconds that felt longer before I launched myself towards that cage and rescued my baby. At first, it was difficult to distinguish what was actually caught in the bar until I investigated closely with tears streaming down my face.

Sometimes, I question whether I had done the right thing. To leave her free or restrict her from running into danger.

Thankfully, today she is a healthy and happy 2 year old yorkie.

 

[ali.di.magix]

Spoiler: Part of me is worried the following is considered animal cruelty

When we all leave the house(or when I leave, she follows me), we put my cat in my room and close the door completely. We do this to almost completely eliminate the risk of her getting out. She has food, water, litter box, an area she feels safe in, a cat scratch post, places to jump onto and toys in there, as well as an always on fan. We give her loads of love before leaving and when we get home. We put her in my room because I'm the cat mom out of the 3 of us. Thr longest she's in there is 8-9 hours if I'm at school and my family's out all day. If they're home all day, they open the door so she can get out and wander about, then put her back in when I'm on my way home. Is this a cruel thing to do? I just want to know in case I should change our system here.

No, this isn't animal cruelty for sure. Your cat is in a place that it feels safe, it has food, water, things to play with and in a cool environment. I'd be worried if he/she was in a constrained area where temperature may be a problem, you wouldn't want your pet to overheat, dehydrate or suffocate. Unlike others, I'm not concerned about limiting to one area of the house. To me it's no different to limiting a dog to a dog kennel, play pit or cage. We used to keep our dogs in an outdoor kennel for up to 8 hours with bedding (old duvet covers, pillows), food, water and toys. We moved house and then didn't have any room on our section for a large kennel, so for a long time we had to set up a space in the laundry for them with bean bags, food and water. Probably much like your cat we couldn't let them roam the whole house otherwise the house would turn to chaos. My dogs used to chew everything, the blinds or even electrical cables lol. My dogs took ages to get out of the phase, hence why we kept them in kennels or rooms for such a long time. They roam freely nowadays because they're older and a bit more docile.

TL;DR: as long as your pet has all the necessities (food, water, cool environment, bedding etc.), then surely it isn't abuse because they have access to the basic things to live.

 

[DJStarstryker]

I don't think that's cruelty. Especially not for a cat. They don't need as much space and your cat has everything it needs.

I do think it's pretty cruel when people leave their dog out in their backyard all day when it's super hot or super cold. I've got 2 neighbors that do this. They just put the dog outside every day when they go to work so the dog doesn't poop in the house. That's OK for nice days, but when it's super hot or super cold? No. Especially because the dog is out there like 9-10 hours straight.