By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER<\/p>\n
Published: 11:41 BST, 15 August 2026 | Updated: 12:10 BST, 15 August 2026<\/p>\n
If you're a cat owner, one of the biggest questions you face is whether your kitty will be allowed to roam outside or kept safely indoors.<\/p>\n
This is a debate that has left pet owners divided, with some claiming it is cruel to confine a cat indoors while others worry about an outdoor cat's safety.<\/p>\n
Now, a group of scientists have put this question to the test.<\/p>\n
And their findings suggest that letting your cat roam outdoors could help curb some of its more destructive habits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a paper, published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science, researchers discovered that cats who were allowed unsupervised outside time had lower levels of disruptive behaviour.<\/p>\n
While the results were modified by other factors, like the presence of other cats in the house, outdoor cats were much less likely to ruin your furniture by scratching.<\/p>\n
Lead author Dr Lee Neil, a\u00a0a behavioural biologist from the University of Guelph, Canada, told the Daily Mail: 'One possibility is that cats who scratch household items have not been provided with their preferred options for scratching indoors.<\/p>\n
'Cats with outdoor access have more opportunities to find these preferred options when outside which might give them an outlet that prevents the behaviour indoors.'\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scientists say that letting your cat roam outside can make it less destructive and less disruptive at night (stock image)\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Dr Neil acknowledges, uncontrolled outdoor access for cats is a 'controversial topic'.<\/p>\n
Recent studies suggest that 31 per cent of cats in the UK are exclusively kept indoors, but owners are divided over whether this is healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One one hand, many cat owners point out that the life expectancy of indoor cats is significantly higher than for outdoor cats, due to the risk of injury and illness.<\/p>\n
The lifespan of an indoor cat is 15 to 17 years, while an outdoor cat's lifespan is two to five years, according to researchers at the University of California-Davis.\u00a0<\/p>\n