I just re-watched TNG “In Theory” (S04E25) and Data says that the door to his quarters is set to only allow humanoids to enter or leave when Geordie finds Spot in the hall.
Whilst I get that it would be dangerous for Spot to wander the ship freely I think it’s kind of mean to keep him locked in a small room like that forever. There doesn’t seem to be any cat toys in the room but maybe the computer is capable of some sort of environmental enrichment we can’t immediately see.
Maybe Spot gets holodeck time
They used to be allowed to run through the decks but then they started peeing in the Jeffrey’s tubes and engineers couldn’t work with the smell.
So you have never lived in an apartment and had a cat?
It seems like the upper staff on the ship get quarters that are roughly the size of a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Not great, but not worse than what lots of people do IRL.
Plus maybe he sometimes takes spot to a cargohold for more active play. There would be plenty of space, lots of height, etc. And that’s all before even considering the holodeck.
Are you kidding? Spot got out whenever she damn well felt like it. There’s no way that Data didn’t figure out how to keep the cat from unlocking the door; I’m pretty sure that spot came and went whenever she felt like it. Especially when you remember that all of the toughest guys on the ship were terrified of that cat lol