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Old 03-21-2008, 11:47 AM
 
8,317 posts, read 29,357,988 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by darjoh View Post
We just moved to Aurora, Colorado from the rural lands of Oregon about a week ago. We have 3 cats (10,4,2 yrs old) the 10 yr old is one tough cat (he is a Maine coon). He has cost me over 1000 dollars in vet bills from fighting with other cats, dogs, racoons and opossums throughout his life.
After reading this thread, and the mention of foxes, it makes me wonder how he would fair against one. I would rather not find out, but being he has been an indoor/outdoor cat his life, I could not keep him inside 24/7. We have been here a week now, and I just let him outside for his first night, last night. For the past week, I was only letting him out during the daytime, letting him get used to his new surroundings. I have been hesitant to let him out for an overnighter, I took the chance, and am still weary of continuing this routine. I met another cat from the neighborhood last night, and he seemed to be a pretty tough looking tomcat, so I am hoping the two of them can fend off a predator (if they decide to get along).
The other two cats we have, (4yr old is a calico, 2yr old is a seal point ragdoll) will be allowed outside only during daylight hours, while I/we are home. The ragdoll will, and has, been pretty jealous of the other two getting more "outside time" than he has, but tough cookies for him.

To touch on another topic mentioned in this thread, about travelling with the cats. We took our time getting here, 6 nights, 7 days, and the cats did fine throughout the trip. We had separate cages for each of them, stayed in pet friendly hotels (La Quinta, Red Lion), and only fed them at the end of the days drive. The litter box was set up in the rooms, and after a day or so of travel, they figured out quick to use the box in the morning before the travel started again. A little bit of whining the first two days, but after that, they just slept while in motion.

The only thing I can say about the indoor/outdoor debate is this, only the owner knows his/her cats abilities. I am pretty sure my 10 yr old cat is smart enough to be cautious around an animal taller then he is, although he has attacked pitbulls, and won , and that concerns me about a confrontation with a fox. I guess I should do some research on the predatory habits of foxes, and advise my cat of what he can be up against .
Don't forget rattlesnakes. Years ago, I had an "outdoor" cat who liked to hunt snakes. One evening, I found him in a confrontation with a young rattlesnake (their venom is supposedly more concentrated that that of an adult rattlesnake). I managed to snatch my cat away before he got bitten. The snake got away. Later, one of my neighbor's dogs got bitten on the nose (probably the same snake) and darn near died. He lived only because the owner saw him get bitten and immediately took him to a vet's office--only a few blocks down the street from his house.
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Old 03-21-2008, 02:05 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,147,178 times
Reputation: 35920
Quote:
Originally Posted by darjoh View Post
The only thing I can say about the indoor/outdoor debate is this, only the owner knows his/her cats abilities. I am pretty sure my 10 yr old cat is smart enough to be cautious around an animal taller then he is, although he has attacked pitbulls, and won , and that concerns me about a confrontation with a fox. I guess I should do some research on the predatory habits of foxes, and advise my cat of what he can be up against .
Do not over-estimate your cat's ability vis a vis another animal, particularly a wild animal. We had a feisty little female. She went out at night; would come meow at the bedroom window and DH would pop the screen out and she'd hop in. One night, she just didn't come back. We went to the Humane Society to look for her to no avail. She never came back. Now, we make sure our cats stay in at night, by not letting them out as dusk falls. We have had two cats who had to have major surgery for infected fight wounds, too.
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Old 09-22-2016, 05:14 PM
 
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we are moving to colorado springs this summer with a cat and a dog. both have been free run in the mountains of costa rica their entire life, though short they are both only 2 years old. the dog will make the adjustment fine to the law there but this cat, no way, she goes kamikaze on me when she wants out and it is not pleasant. i think she would rather have a shorter life and do her thing then be an indoor cat---she demands her freedom at night. 12 years ago i wouldn't of said that and i would of been all about responsibility and long life, but then i had never seen the joy of being free to come and go and just be. i'm struggling with do i bring her or try to find her a home here...because she isn't going to conform, she is a free spirit.
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Old 09-22-2016, 09:55 PM
 
1,260 posts, read 2,032,720 times
Reputation: 1413
Quote:
Originally Posted by CharLeo View Post
we are moving to colorado springs this summer with a cat and a dog. both have been free run in the mountains of costa rica their entire life, though short they are both only 2 years old. the dog will make the adjustment fine to the law there but this cat, no way, she goes kamikaze on me when she wants out and it is not pleasant. i think she would rather have a shorter life and do her thing then be an indoor cat---she demands her freedom at night. 12 years ago i wouldn't of said that and i would of been all about responsibility and long life, but then i had never seen the joy of being free to come and go and just be. i'm struggling with do i bring her or try to find her a home here...because she isn't going to conform, she is a free spirit.
Does she come home in the evening? Do you know where exactly you will live? Depending on your location the threat may not be as high as you think, especially, if you live in a big subdivision far from open space.

I have two cats - one never leaves my fully fenced in yard (she is overweight and can't/not interested in climbing the fence), one tries to escape at any possibility. The first one was with us since she was a kitten, the second is a younger male who we adopted when he was 3yo almost a year ago. He is a Houdini. We try to prevent younger cat from escaping as much as we can, but he still managed to escape several times. I was most worried when he did it once after dark - I was worried he wouldn't come home and then the risk of him being prey to coyotes was quite high. We live close to open space, and while someone claimed they saw mountain lion there several years ago, this was never confirmed. Coyotes though roam there all the time - I saw them in the distance while taking a walk more than once, and we can hear them at least several times a week after dark. I'm on the outskirts of Boulder.

Neighbors have cats roam free all day long, but they usually come home for the night. If they don't, you are pretty sure to see sheets of paper with "lost kitty" everywhere in the neighborhood the next day, but it's pretty clear that kitty was coyotes' dinner the night before.

I agree with both ideas stated in your post: indoor cats live longer and for some cats life indoors is not worth it. It's up to you to decide what you want to do about your cat.
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Old 09-23-2016, 07:40 AM
 
Location: The 719
17,874 posts, read 27,262,848 times
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I think it's disgusting to let cats "out at night" to terrorize the neighborhood.

We have two cats and they're fixed and strictly indoor.

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Old 09-23-2016, 01:09 PM
 
Location: Blah
4,153 posts, read 9,226,306 times
Reputation: 3086
Quote:
Originally Posted by CharLeo View Post
we are moving to colorado springs this summer with a cat and a dog. both have been free run in the mountains of costa rica their entire life, though short they are both only 2 years old. the dog will make the adjustment fine to the law there but this cat, no way, she goes kamikaze on me when she wants out and it is not pleasant. i think she would rather have a shorter life and do her thing then be an indoor cat---she demands her freedom at night. 12 years ago i wouldn't of said that and i would of been all about responsibility and long life, but then i had never seen the joy of being free to come and go and just be. i'm struggling with do i bring her or try to find her a home here...because she isn't going to conform, she is a free spirit.
This video was shot from our laundry room...by the previous owner's friend and their house cat. Anyhow, letting a house cat outside in our area is probably a death sentence. PS: if you live in the hills or near wildlife, make sure to lock your doors and windows. Black Bears can open home and car doors. I would avoid pet doors and placing any food outside....bird feeders will attract bears as well.

https://youtu.be/Vnmxg4h_Mio
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Old 09-23-2016, 01:57 PM
 
1,260 posts, read 2,032,720 times
Reputation: 1413
Quote:
Originally Posted by SVTRay View Post
This video was shot from our laundry room...by the previous owner's friend and their house cat. Anyhow, letting a house cat outside in our area is probably a death sentence. PS: if you live in the hills or near wildlife, make sure to lock your doors and windows. Black Bears can open home and car doors. I would avoid pet doors and placing any food outside....bird feeders will attract bears as well.

https://youtu.be/Vnmxg4h_Mio
Very cool video!
Actually, that reminded me.... I'm in the middle of a dense subdivision, on the east side of Boulder (i.e. good 8-10 miles from the foothills with lots of houses and densely populated areas in between). We had a confused young bear running around at 1 am a few months ago - it was garbage collection day. Our subdivision has regular trash cans that are not bear proofed, and the cub was just a little hungry. Nothing to say that it couldn't be mountain lion who got stressed out and hungry.
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Old 09-23-2016, 03:17 PM
 
Location: Blah
4,153 posts, read 9,226,306 times
Reputation: 3086
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhioToCO View Post
Very cool video!
Actually, that reminded me.... I'm in the middle of a dense subdivision, on the east side of Boulder (i.e. good 8-10 miles from the foothills with lots of houses and densely populated areas in between). We had a confused young bear running around at 1 am a few months ago - it was garbage collection day. Our subdivision has regular trash cans that are not bear proofed, and the cub was just a little hungry. Nothing to say that it couldn't be mountain lion who got stressed out and hungry.
Okay, we live in the foothills north of Boulder. Anyhow, we had an issue with our trash collection company one day and no one had their trash collected on our road. We ended up with both Mountain Lions and Bears It was interesting for sure. The bears took off with both our bear proof trash cans lol I found one down the drive on the side of the hill with teeth marks on the lid. The second one is still MIA.
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