A well written book, if a little light on solutions or suggestions, with plenty of great pictures of cats. I believe they’ve coined a phrase in “Felis interius” to refer to cats that are born inside, then live their entire lives within walls. They’re assertion, and one that I agree with, is that cats have always been semi tamed animals that made a choice to live with humans due to our associated comforts and ample food that seems to come with us, either pests like rodents or direct feeding. We’re still in the extreme early days of having cats inside full time, as it was only in 1947 that kitty litter was invented, so prior to that if you wanted a cat in your life, kitty had to be indoor / outdoor due to needing to poop. Now days we have robotic kitty litter machines to help us along. I was surprised to realize that we’re still only about 75 years from the point that we gained the technology to keep them out of the elements, and all the enrichment that being out there would lead to.
I disagree with their ultimate solution, which is to let them outside in either supervised or leashed situations, but there are plenty of other good suggestions on giving your indoor cat a fuller life. I was prompted to buy this because one of the cats in my house has developed a nervous tick of squinting one eye, then promptly over grooming his entire undercarriage. As I write this he’s staring out the the back window watching the rain come down, but he looks absolutely ridiculous with skinny legs and a fluffy back. I’m going to be building out some shelves for the cats to run up and down in my living room, and I’ve already spoken to my wife about building some sort of cat patio (catio!) for them to more fully envelop themselves in the sights and sounds of nature.
