Posted on 11/22/2013 5:45:02 PM PST by Perdogg
4 to 5 years my behind. I have 4 that are over 10 and they hunt every day. It keeps me happy, them happy and the varmints not so happy.
Preventing a cat from going out is like keeping a bird in a cage.
I agree with you...Would NEVER let them run loose...we have a roof-covered screen-in porch and a kitty stroller for big adventures...When I yell out..”who wants to go bye bye”...they come running and jump right in - our two little guys just LOVE their buggy rides -have been doing it for 8 years so all the neighbors are used to it.
I would never let my cats outside. Ever.
I’ve always had indoor-outdoor cats. They live inside for the most part, enjoy a stroll in the yard.
In my experience, if I keep them in for several months or a year when I first get them, then let them out, they don’t want to stay out very long. But they do appreciate t he opportunity to prowl around, chase butterflies, bring home the occasional mouse.
I would think that your neighborhood conditions would dictate how much you let your cat out, if at all. I have had leash-trained cats too. Not too much of a hassle if you start young and use a harness rather than a collar.
My current cat, Andy, goes out, has a favorite place to play. When it’s time to come home, I go to the door, shake the package of Party Mix, shout “Party Mix,” and he races home. No kidding. Of course, he always GETS party mix when promised. Stuff’s addictive.
“Coyotes feast on outdoor cats around here.
It has to be a horrible death for the moggie.”
Not accurate, as the coyote simply kills teh cat.
Cats, on the other hand, like to tease and play with their prey before finally killing it. In terms of “horible death”, Kitty Dearest is instinctively an expert at delayed death.
One word.
No.
It’s a mistake to let cats go outside. I’ve got two indoor cats. Everything favors them indoors.
” Ive had two out door cats, they had lots of friends in the neighborhood, birds to chase etc. good quality of life.”
Here we have thye reason for the long running battle between the Bird Watchers and the Cat Persons.
Popcorn, anyone?
We have a serious coyote problem where I live in Colorado. It’s much safer to keep cats indoors and accompany small dogs when they go outside.
Several neighbors have lost cats to coyotes.
Just lost one of mmine a couple months ago. Next one will stay inside.
Mostly gophers, rats and rabbits. He stopped catching birds a while back. That has me a bit upset because he just sits on the patio and watches these two vile pigeons that live next door as they eat his food. I keep telling him to kill them but I think he considers them his pets.
I’ve tried to kill them with my bb gun, but they are pretty quick to fly away whenever I start to pump the thing.
He’s a twenty pound (give or take) solid odd-eyed Hemingway with six claws on each paw and a blue eye and a green eye.
We have a serious coyote problem where I live in Colorado. It’s much safer to keep cats indoors and accompany small dogs when they go outside.
Several neighbors have lost cats to coyotes.
I should have said squirrels and mice.
We lost our beloved Holly who was hit by a car.
She was the most amazing, best cat I’ll ever have and we only had her for 3 years.
Hubby and I almost had 2 nervous breakdowns when she died, and no I’m not kidding and we’d both suffered some big losses in our lives.
But I will say this, that cat never would have been happy staying inside, she lived to go out.
We’ll never know how many close calls she had.
But what I do know is I could cry right now thinking about her.
Now we have 2 sweet but stupid cats. Our house was lifted after hurricane Sandy so we let them go out on the new, second story deck. One has run off a couple of times, and come back; the other one is afraid of her own shadow so she’d never risk taking off. They are basically indoor cats, we don’t let them out without supervision.
That’s my suburban story; when I lived in the big city the cats always stayed inside.
RIP wonderful Holly, not a day goes by that we don’t miss you sooooooo much.
I keep my current cat indoors. She sometimes gets out, but then quickly returns inside because she gets cold.
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