what the cat eats

Question
hey teresa,
i got a question for you just about general health about any cat not just mine imparticular, the Cat im taken care of cause its not mine goes outside everyday it's an outdoors/ indoors cat now when ever i see this i stop it from doing it but im just wondering cause i had cats i myself never new if this hurt them When a cat finds something outside and eats it like a wild animal does it get sick that way or can it? im just wondering cause this cat im taken care of goes and finds animals and kills them alot but i try to get them all before it eats into them but im wondering does it hurt the cat if it does eat it? i really like to know cause lately the cat i been taken care of seems a bit slow but that could be cause of the tixs i pulled of it giving it something or im thinking what it's eating outside do you think? well i really like to know what you think i appreaciate a write back thanks Bebelicious462@aol.com k.mason

Answer
Hi Kate, well the question you ask really has two different schools of thought. I will tell you my opinion. I do not think cats should be killing and eating things they find outside. The animal they are after could have rabies, worms, ticks, fleas, contagious fungus,  or any of the many parasites that are carried in little outdoor animals. (ie giardia,trichonomis)
A cat on a well balanced CAT diet that lives indoors will live to be 20 barring any unusual diseases hitting him! A cat outdoors usually lives to 3 yrs old. There are just so many perils out there.. not just the other animals he is eating. It is possible this cat has picked up Lyme disease from one of the ticks you mentioned you have been pulling off of him. It depends on where you are located whether the disease is prevalent but it certainly would cause him to be tired and achy.  
Now the other school of thought feels that we should let cats live and eat the way mother nature intended. That cats should eat rodents and birds and that is better for the digestion etc.  And certainly there is some credibility to that but then the cat will also die at a young age like mother nature intended... There are compromises that are made by some owners who buy frozen mice for their indoor cat so that the cat has the "best of both worlds" ... yuck..
It is really a matter of personal opinion.
Teresa