Cats - indoor/outdoor?

Cats - indoor/outdoor? (Full Version)

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subtlebutterfly -> Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 7:46:12 AM)
One person I know recently got an addition to her cathousehold....had had the new cat for 2 weeks or so when the poor lil thing got hit by a car last night and died immediately...so it got me thinking Do you believe in keeping your cat as an indoor cat or indoor&out on a leash or allow it to be free as they like?

LaTigresse -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 7:58:51 AM)
Quigley goes where ever he wants. He first came to us as a daring little feral kitten. He was supposed to remain an outside cat. Then he started sneaking in when the dogs came in. He worked his magic on us and was allowed to spend a few hours snuggling on a lap before being booted back out. More kitty manipulating and he was spending the night. Then it was decided that he would take the big visit to the kitty doctor and become an inside cat. That worked well for awhile then he started sneaking outside the same way he initially snuck in. Waiting in hiding, then dashing under the bellies of the big dogs to get out, totally unseen. Now, he comes and goes. Yes, he's had a few emergency trips to the vet for battle wounds and yes, I've had to kill a few feral tomcats bent on poor Quigley's destruction. But I would rather him have a happy and perhaps shorter life, than be miserable cooped up indoors. Fortunately the highway doesn't seem to be an issue as there are much more interesting fields and old buildings to explore.

Icarys -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:03:06 AM)
quote: had to kill a few feral tomcats You had to kill them?

LaTigresse -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:04:17 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Icarys quote: had to kill a few feral tomcats You had to kill them? In light of the limited options, yes. You would expect what?

Icarys -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:07:10 AM)
quote: You would expect what? Maybe keep the cat inside till you got someone to pick them up? Trap them? make some sort of effort other than snuffin them? Did you video tape it so your friends could see?

LaTigresse -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:09:20 AM)
Who would you propose I should call to come pick them up? Will you purchase the live trap for me and where do you imagine I will take an adult feral tom cat that would rather rip your arm off than be touched? And why on earth would I video tape such a thing???

Icarys -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:13:01 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LaTigresse Who would you propose I should call to come pick them up? Will you purchase the live trap for me and where do you imagine I will take an adult feral tom cat that would rather rip your arm off than be touched? And why on earth would I video tape such a thing??? Sure I would buy it if I actually knew(since I don't know where you live and all) you and you couldn't afford to purchase it yourself. I've called animal rescue before and they come out.....Did you try anything other than yelling at them..My point is I'm sure if you wanted to you could have found a different way of handling it...as creative as you are and all.

Llyren -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:13:54 AM)
I could be mistaken, but living in the country is different than in town. Feral cats really -are- feral, and sometimes do have to be put down, though I hate the thought. In town, there is the option of contacting your local chapter of Sterile Feral, preferably, and getting them fixed, or contacting Animal Control. Where I live, it is actually illegal to let your cats outside, and my cats are used to going in and out as they please. Meriadoc spent his life as an indoor/outdoor cat, but that isn't what killed him. He was poisoned by Hartz flea drops and went from healthy to dead in less than two weeks.

AnimusRex -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:15:59 AM)
In the last house I had, we kept the cats indoors, since we were in the hills, with a family of coyotes across the street. The coyotes roamed freely through our neighborhood and would consider a cat to be a tasty snack. Where we live now, in the suburbs, there are no coyotes, so we let the cats roam free. They came to us as semi-feral, and were adopted spayed and neutered.

GreedyTop -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:16:52 AM)
I had a cat named Arrow. He was originally strictly an indoor cat (my Mom had him declawed.. we lived in center city, Philly..so no option of him going out). Then we moved to CA. He became an indoor outdoor cat. Until the day some neighborhood dogs rat-packed him and killed him. NONE of my cats since then have been outdoor cats. The ones that took to leashes I'd take out. otherwise, forget it. My girls get to go out on the porch, but thats it.

LaTigresse -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:16:59 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Icarys quote: ORIGINAL: LaTigresse Who would you propose I should call to come pick them up? Will you purchase the live trap for me and where do you imagine I will take an adult feral tom cat that would rather rip your arm off than be touched? And why on earth would I video tape such a thing??? Sure I would buy it if I actually knew(since I don't know where you live and all) you and you couldn't afford to purchase it yourself. I've called animal rescue before and they come out.....Did you try anything other than yelling at them..My point is I'm sure if you wanted to you could have found a different way of handling it...as creative as you are and all. Okay, as an animal lover I really appreciate your intent. But as you do not have any idea of the location I live, what the local shelters and animal control are like, it is misguided. Seriously, if you want a full explanation, I will be more than happy to give it to you. Or you can trust sometimes the most humane choices are not the must warm fuzzy ones.

subtlebutterfly -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:20:11 AM)
yea..I live in a city where there're no deserted/old houses or interesting places that are more interesting than the highways..and there'd be no way to keep a cat inside if it was miserable ha! I just started wondering..since I don't have cats myself. One of my best friends has an indoor cat..and a rabbit (besides the point....and they live in an apartment) he seems to like it just fine.. I just don't think I'd like to get my cat (if I had one) used to the fact that he could wander everywhere when there're the biggest traffic roads around where I live.... Icary..if there was a point in calling the animal rescue I'm sure she would.

Icarys -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:20:49 AM)
You don't owe me an explanation. Believe me I know the things we do aren't all fuzzy and warm but I am sure if someone worried over something enough that really mattered to them..A way would be found. Maybe I'm just a little more tenacious when it comes to things. It's done and as long as your okay with it..it doesn't matter.

AnimusRex -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:28:43 AM)
I come from a family of animal rescuers, and as heartbreaking as it is to kill an animal, I reserve my rage and indignation for the idiots who let them breed and become feral in the first place.

Llyren -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:30:19 AM)
I have a battered, cross-eyed yellow tom named Claudius who hangs out in my neighbourhood. He showed up on my doorstep one day with a very nasty abscess from a fight. I had him taken care of at the vet, and fixed through Sterile Feral. Sadly, he now refuses to come in the house, because I wouldn't let him outside while he was healing. He'll come up for food and petting, but refuses to come into the house. But he is more mellow. LaTigresse, you might want to look into Sterile Feral. Because even feral tomcats mellow if they get their trouser-snake addendum snipped. Though they may avoid your place forever as a result. They also fix female cats. A lot of people criticize them because they don't take in all the cats and make them housecats, but I think it's silly. What they -are- doing is slowly reducing the feral cat population, and trying to improve the quality of life for those cats.

LaTigresse -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:34:25 AM)
Icarys, I know I do not owe anyone an explanation. I simply know the reaction I would receive should I even make the phone call. These are people that ignored multiple calls about starving and dying horses. They would quite literally laugh at me if I called and asked them to come get a feral cat off my property. Then add to it, the huge and I mean HUGE population of cats already in the shelters here. Some will literally spend their entire lives in a no kill shelter because they are not cute enough to be adopted. It is a buyers market. So, let's say I spend the $ 60.00 or so dollars (I don't remember as it has been awhile since I priced one) on a live trap. I somehow manage to catch the wily, battle scared old yellow tom cat that has been prowling around the place. He appears to weight approx 15#, has stubs for ears, a badly scared up face and threatened me, an adult human, when I chased him out of the old shed. Now I have him in a trap and he is MAD AS HELL. I have to double glove with leather gloves to be able to pick this trap up without getting bitten. I put it in the back of my truck and drive into the local shelter. Not only will they charge me for bringing him in. They will toss him in a cage out back, then deem him unfit for adoption, and guess what happens to him? We are not talking about cute, hissing, scared little kittens here. We are talking about disease ridden wild animals that would cheerfully kill my littlest dog given the chance. The local coyotes are less trouble. The above is one of the reasons I am so very passionate about spaying and neutering because guess how those feral cats came to be? Some yutz that didn't want to take responsibility for their pet didn't want to keep the offspring so they decide they will take them out on some gravel road near some farm and dump them. Most get eaten immediately by coyotes or birds of prey, or run over. A few survive to reproduce and create more like them.

NuevaVida -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:35:42 AM)
I picked up my little guy from a shelter. He was maybe a year old and had been found wandering, as a stray. He was emaciated, covered in fleas and car grease, his fur was thin and falling out, and he was so weak he couldn't even meow yet. I brought him into my apartment and told him "Your days of wandering are over." He is now a healthy, happy little guy, always playing (he's chasing his tail around and around right now, in fact), always getting into things, and always keeping me on my toes. He will remain an indoor cat. I live on a busy road and I'm always seeing dead cats who literally never knew what hit them. My little guy will not be one of those cats. I did try a harness leash with him but it kinda freaked him out. I need to introduce it more slowly next time. He stood very still and then, very slowly, began walking backwards, trying to get out of it lol. He is not de-clawed and he won't be. I cut his nails myself and keep them short. My furniture is all intact and he has a really tall cat tree that he likes to claw at for all the reasons cats claw at stuff. He likes knowing I'm here, and follows me from room to room, and wakes me up at 4am to play. When I'm away, my nephews come and check on him and play with him. I do feel badly that I live in such a small space so his adventures are limited. But that's a temporary situation.

LaTigresse -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:36:54 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Llyren LaTigresse, you might want to look into Sterile Feral. Because even feral tomcats mellow if they get their trouser-snake addendum snipped. Though they may avoid your place forever as a result. They also fix female cats. A lot of people criticize them because they don't take in all the cats and make them housecats, but I think it's silly. What they -are- doing is slowly reducing the feral cat population, and trying to improve the quality of life for those cats. This is a programme we are working very hard to get started here. Iowa City is the closest to accomplishing it but we are still lacking the necessary funding right now.

NuevaVida -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:38:31 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LaTigresse The above is one of the reasons I am so very passionate about spaying and neutering because guess how those feral cats came to be? Some yutz that didn't want to take responsibility for their pet didn't want to keep the offspring so they decide they will take them out on some gravel road near some farm and dump them. Most get eaten immediately by coyotes or birds of prey, or run over. A few survive to reproduce and create more like them. This is why I am so passionately vocal about spaying and neutering, too. And for every family that thinks it would be cute to let their cat have kittens, for however many kittens they give away or sell, there are that many kittens still sitting in the shelter. Grrr...

Lorr47 -> RE: Cats - indoor/outdoor? (11/19/2009 8:39:40 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Icarys quote: had to kill a few feral tomcats You had to kill them? Farm life is different than city life. Have you met up with a trully feral cat?

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