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I'm sorry but I am having a hard time with some of the posts I read. I don't respond because my mother always told me "if you don't have anything nice to say...."
I have had cats ALL my life. Now, when I was younger (in my teens) I didn't know any better. I had cats that came and went but I was CLUELESS as to what the life of an outdoor cat can mean.
Now, 25 years later. My cats will never see the outdoors. I have two cats now. Sadie and Samson. My cat previously, Sheila was indoors only and she died from good ol old age. I miss her dearly. She did get out ONCE when I lived in Arizona and she almost became coyote lunch. She survived though.
At night, they sleep between my husband and I, or under the covers purring their heads off. I know where they are in the mornings and every minute of the day. Safe in my home away from the hazards of the world.
WHY OH WHY allow your cat outdoors???? Unless you just don't care and well, that's another story.
Sorry, not trying to make anyone mad but it makes me mad when I see cats die unnecessarily.
Yeah, that's what prompted me to write this post. Just drives me nuts. We have a responsibility when we own animals. Some people shouldn't have kids and some people shouldn't have pets. Usually they go hand in hand.
That thread made me very sad. If any of my cats were acting that strangely, I wouldn't just "deal with it in the morning", my butt would be immediately heading to the 24-hour Kitty Emergency Center.
All of my cats are indoor cats. My cats have health insurance plans that cover their routine checkups, shots, teeth, asthma for one cat, and emergency care. I've even checked to make sure the nearest three emergency centers would accept their insurance.
I can't imagine sleeping at night without my foot warmer and "the-cat-who-knows-I'm-allergic-to-him-but-he-still-sleeps-cuddled-with-his-head-on-my-pillow". As their human, it's my duty and responsibility to make sure that they are happy, healthy, and well-taken care of.
I have a fairly keen troll sniffer. Most of the threads like the one linked are not legit.
I belong to a pet forum and you should see how many threads like that are there, first post from the user designed to stir the pot, never to see the OP again.
I have a fairly keen troll sniffer. Most of the threads like the one linked are not legit.
I belong to a pet forum and you should see how many threads like that are there, first post from the user designed to stir the pot, never to see the OP again.
I must be one of the people that offended the OP. I know message board people in general love to tell others how to live, but come on! There's more than one way to live. There's more than one way to have a happy and healthy cat. There are many countries in the world where it's considered cruel to "imprison" a cat all day. I know my Ninja considers his 99% of the time home imprisonment cruel but I do it anyway as I don't want him to be A) stolen by a neighbor as he is cute, smart, and friendly with all people or B) fight with the neighbor cat who he hates. The neighbor has a different point of view on cat rearing than I do and lets his cats out whenever they want to be.
I am not going to feel guilty about letting him out just a little tiny bit (to be honest most of the times he gets out are when he outsmarts me and darts out the door) and he is most definitely a happier cat for it. I live with him. I KNOW that this is true. He always always wanted to go outside since he was a baby even though I never ever let him out until he was 4.5 as I lived in apartments with busy parking lots. Life has risk in it. Without risk there is no reward, however when I lived in the apartments I felt the risk was simply too great so I didn't take it.
You all have every right to make your own decisions about how to take care of your animals - I'm not coming on here to tell you never letting them out at all is cruel, I respect your rights - but to make these sweeping statements that somebody who would let their cat outside is cruel or stupid or not an animal lover or doesn't deserve to have pets is just plain absurd. I'm not directing my opinion just at the OP but at a variety of posts that I read in the other thread.
Here's a link to a long article discussing indoor/outdoor lifestyle and cultural differences in perception of which is better.
My cats are indoor only, and it's going to stay that way...aside from the obvious dangers of cars, kids, cat-haters, toxic stuff, and strays that may or may not pick a fight, I don't think it's at all fair to subject my neighbors to my animals peeing or pooping on their property, possibly messing up their gardens, or nagging them for food, (they get PLENTY of food around here, but my 2 younger boys would eat all day long if I let them, LOL!) The debate of indoor/outdoor is not just about what's safest for the cat, it's also about being considerate to those around you. Neighbors might tolerate someone else's cat visiting them daily, but that doesn't mean they actually like it!
Here's a link to a long article discussing indoor/outdoor lifestyle and cultural differences in perception of which is better.
It's an interesting piece. I would say despite what is written at the beginning, it has a bias towards defending indoor/outdoor living. For example, there is no list of outdoor hazards on the grounds that these are obvious. It's clear from some queries and discussion here that this is not the case! There's also a lot more writing in the piece about indoor issues than there is about outdoor. Seems like it was written 15 years ago by someone in the UK as a response to a lot of "must stay indoors" insistence from US folks in internet discussions.
What I would suggest is that factual differences in local circumstances could present a reasonable case. The case made for the UK, that there are no predators to the cat (and I believe no rabies in the UK from what I remember, not mentioned in the piece) are real, quantifiable items that you can point to that would suggest the outside there is potentially somewhat safer than the outside in the US, for example.
What is not reasonable to me is cultural differences alone dictating such choice. Traditions and perceived notions about what the cat supposedly needs do not present a compelling argument. The whole article is still based on an assumption that there's a need for the pet cat to go outside. It assumes that keeping a pet cat inside is depriving it of something. And yet I don't see that there is any hard evidence for this assumption.
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If any of my cats were acting that strangely, I wouldn't just "deal with it in the morning", my butt would be immediately heading to the 24-hour Kitty Emergency Center.
