A debate about whether pet owners should leave their cats outside is going on after a TikToker found her neighbors’ cat outside in the cold.
In the Dec. 19 clip, Lupita (@lupyv) shares how at 2am, she saw her neighbors’ “cat outside in the cold so I let him into my apartment for a bit.” In the caption, she wrote how the cat “looked so sad.”
In the comments, Lupita said that the cat ended up going back outside on its own, and she just gave it water. “I felt bad but didn’t want the neighbors to freak,” she wrote.
She also shared that she saw the cat outside again a week after she posted the TikTok.
The comments section lit up in debate over indoor versus outdoor cats. “Our neighbors leave their declawed cat out ALL the time. We just installed a kitty door in our shed/man cave for her. She now has heat, food,bed…” @hmoss01 wrote.
“Aw it’s so cute and still so little. They shouldn’t leave it outside especially so late,” @beelooove commented.
Many commented how they would have kept the cat. “I would’ve just kept the cat. People can be cruel,” @flyoverthesea wrote.
Others commented how their cats like being outdoor cats more and gave the cat’s owners the benefit of the doubt. “Y’all are trippin on indoor/outdoor cats. my cat is doing great as one, he always comes back at night to sleep with me and checks in during the day,” @saraa.salgado wrote.
“Maybe he refuses in when called. My cat stares at me when I try to get him in & he stays out. I check every 20 mins & sometimes he still refuses,” @livingflower wrote.
“I hope you gave their cat back. My cat went missing for 3 days. Damn neighbors had him,” @mio_kyo urged.
In a TikTok posted on Jan. 3, Lupita shows the cat left outside again as she was leaving her apartment building. She also posted another TikTok saying how she’s “scared af” to run into her neighbors who own the cat since her first video about it went viral. She adds that she hasn’t seen the cat since Christmas.
According to the University of California’s Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, it’s recommended to keep your cat as an indoor cat for its health and safety. An outdoor cat is at risk of many more issues than an indoor cat, like being hit by vehicles, attacked by other animals, or contracting parasites and other diseases. Statistics show that indoor cats typically live for around 10 to 15 years, while outdoor cats live for about 2 to 5 years.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Lupita via TikTok comment.
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