I'm an indoor cat person...

>I recall hearing a lengthy interview with an animal psychologist
>on NPR a few months ago. He was making some very strongs points
>that keeping cats indoors leads to all kinds of weird and abnormal
>behavior by the cats.

He's right to some extent.

Many people who have cats like them because they're perceived as 'easy
keepers'. Many people don't really want to spend time with a pet, they
want to have one around for 5 minutes on tuesdays, and 10 minutes on
Saturday. The thought of spending an _hour_, each and _every_ day to
provide attention and an enriched environment for an 'independent' cat is a
foreign concept. If you take any animal and deprive it of attention and
things to do, it will probably develop behavioral problems. Even hamsters
need to be handled frequently and given plenty of toys. There's a huge
difference between liking an animal, and spending the time to really learn
about what it needs and then act on that learning. Cats are social
animals; they need to interact with their people and have interesting
activities provided. It does help that they're only awake about 4 hours a
day :-). But during those waking hours, they need the attention of their
conspecifics.

Recipe for a happy indoor cat: several cat trees and scratching posts
around the house, not just one; cardboard boxes to shred and hide in,
plants grown just for them to eat (wheat grass is good); training sessions
(cats and clicker training were made for each other); one litter box for
each cat, plus an extra; lots of beds scattered everywhere because they
like to change their sleeping places frequently; good window seats. Then
keep track of how much time you really give them your full attention every
day; idle scritches while reading are ok, but cats do know the difference
between that and the real thing, and they will vastly appreciate new games
and frequent training sessions.

> I'm afraid that I don't recall
>what program it was on, nor the name of the psychologist. It's
>possible that he was British.

Possibly Nicholas Dodman, who knows his stuff. He has two very good books,
_The Dog Who Loved Too Much_ and _The Cat Who Cried for Help_. His sample
is biased, because he sees the people who are already having
problems--people with happy indoor cats don't need him :-) And what he
leaves out altogether is that in the real world there has to be a balance.
He's right that cats are happier if they have the full freedom of the
outdoors. So are dogs. So would _I_ be! But in society, especially a
vastly overpopulated society, you have to make trade offs. My indoor cats
would probably choose to become outdoor cats, despite the risks. But I
think they prefer what they've got now to no existence at all. Just as I
hate living in a city and I'm not crazy about working for a living, but I'm
not even slightly tempted to end it all--there are enough benefits to help
compensate. So to have a happy indoor cat, or a happy leashed dog, you
have to actively provide those extra benefits. People who can't, or won't,
should probably get a furbie instead.

--
Allyn Weaks allyn at teleport.com
Seattle, USDA zone 7-8
Pacific Northwest Native Wildlife Gardening:
http://www.teleport.com/~allyn/natives/