[SFBAVEG] Whether to keep cats indoor all the time

[Guest guest]

Hi Erhung and fellow list members,

 

 

 

Let me start by saying that I truly do not intend to sound argumentative or

judgmental on the cats indoors issue. However, I would consider myself

irresponsible if I did not share my experience on how I came to be a strong

advocate for indoor only cats. And in keeping with my AR beliefs and actions, I

consider it my personal crusade to inform people on the very real dangers of

choosing to let a domestic animal roam unattended outdoors.

 

 

 

Mine is also from an AR perspective and initially I struggled with the

indoor/outdoor issue. PETA, and all major humane organizations agree that cats

should reside solely indoors. The supporting materials are convincing and I’d

like to suggest that anyone with questions and the best interest of domestic

animals in mind take an afternoon and read up on the info. It’s readily

available. If, like me, you saw the volume of action alerts that PETA sends out

every-single-day asking the public for information on abused, tortured, burned,

beaten, stolen, etc. domestic animals, I guarantee 100% that you would rethink

indoor/outdoor.

 

 

 

Take it from Ingrid herself:

http://www.peta.org/liv/animaltimes/ATfall00/cats.html

 

 

 

Personally, as the caretaker of four domestic cats, I define my role simply: I

educate myself on the issues and do what is best for them.

 

 

 

Indoor cats live longer on average, are less susceptible to disease, have a full

and meaningful life, and (selfishly) I know they are safe all the time and they

are waiting for me at the end of my day. All of this sounds good, I want this

for the cats.

 

 

 

Indoor/outdoor cats versus vehicles everywhere (throw in cell phones, breakfast

in the car, newspaper, screaming kids, etc.), getting picked up and molested,

abused, tortured or sold to a lab, being attacked and/or bitten by another

animal domestic or otherwise, Class B dealers and bunchers, weather, pollution,

individuals turning cats in to ACC, 47 million dead rabbits in the US alone from

cats, an estimated one billion small mammals killed in the US each year by

free-roaming cats, I could go on. None of these sound good. Hmm, sorry pet,

it’s best for you to avoid these risks.

 

 

 

Those of you with children have had to make hard choices for them because they

don’t yet have the capacity to know what is best. I liken domestic animals

under our care to a perpetual child. At some point, having had more life

experience, we have to make decisions for them and say, I’m sorry little Mikey

but you can’t eat that piece of barbed wire or you can’t pet the rattlesnake or

you shouldn’t stay up until 5am watching TV if you have to be at school at 8am.

So in turn, I’m saying to my cats, “I’m sorry Honey, Fluffer, Jackson and Baby

Blue; No you can’t go outside, because it is best for you to stay safe indoors.

I will make every effort to enrich your life in other creative ways but you will

never feel grass under your feet until Mommie can buy her own house and make a

super cool enclosure for you all.”

 

 

 

Indoor cats are NOT by definition overweight or unhealthy, that is a myth that I

would love to single-handedly end right here and now! Yes, it is more work to

have an indoor only cat, you have to take time to play with them and find ways

to keep them stimulated and exercised, etc. but it is good for both of you. And

don’t try telling the cats I live with that their lives aren’t meaningful!

 

 

 

As an active volunteer member of the SF feral cat team, indoor/outdoor

supporters should know this. When a cat gets trapped that does not have a

collar on, if they are not feral and I do not recognize them, I consider them

stray or abandoned and bring them to Animal Care and Control (ACC). I do ask

any passersby if they know who’s cat I have in the trap. I cannot say if this

is the personal policy of all cat rescuers.

 

 

 

I'd like to segue by reiterating, car beats cat every time.

 

 

 

 

 

If you are still reading and interested in a few personal examples of why I

advocate indoor only, read on:

 

 

 

Before I moved to SF, ‘my’ cat Honey was indoor/outdoor. One day I saw a fox in

our yard and it all became clear to me. I dearly love Honey and want what is

best for him in his domesticated state. He was good and pissed at me for the

first month or so. Sure, he now loves to sit in the screened window and smell

other cats and what not but he is not at risk. I firmly believe that he is now

happy indoors and that makes me happy.

 

 

 

Back in the early 80’s, in Wisc., I saw one of our cats, Maynard (Baby) being

chased down the street by an angry neighbor who was swinging a rake at him, not

one of those green plastic rakes but more like a digging rake with long metal

teeth and lots of them! He accused our cat of biting him after he tried to pick

him up and pitch him out of his yard. Doh. Several months later, Baby didn't

come home. We never figured out what actually happened to him. But we all

knew.

 

 

 

Rascal at three months, son of Patches (before we knew the cost in lives of not

spaying and neutering) was hit by a car and killed only three feet into the

street right outside of my house in suburban Wisconsin. My Mother witnessed

this.

 

 

 

The second addition to my SF cat family is Fluffer, a former feral cat who lived

outside in my neighborhood for 2 ½ years before I socialized him. He has now

been in the house for over 3 years and couldn’t be happier and healthier. He

seemingly has no interest in the outdoors anymore.

 

 

 

Several times a week, late at night, I hear cats fighting, presumably over

territory. And I know they are all fixed because I have trapped every single

one of them at one time or another, but they still fight. Last fall, again in

my neighborhood, I trapped a tame, abandoned FIV+. Who knows how many

indoor/outdoor cats he may have infected with FIV.

 

 

 

At this very moment, I am looking at Bailey, a rescued 4 year-old FIV+ cat,

asleep on my desk. He is all black so I had to foster him longer than usual and

make sure he wasn’t even available for adoption until after Halloween. This,

sadly is not a myth. Bailey is very sweet and affectionate but his previous

people, assuming he had people, did not bother to get him fixed and let him roam

unattended outdoors. By the time he crossed my path, lucky for him that he did,

he had already been infected with FIV. Now it is my task to find a home for

this loving guy amidst all the challenges he faces. I hope it doesn’t take more

than six months but it likely will. It’s hard enough to rehome a healthy cat.

And I don’t know how may cats he may have infected with FIV.

 

 

 

Anyone who has indoor/outdoor cats, Please reconsider and read the materials

available.

 

 

Erhhung Yuan <erhhung wrote:I understand all the benefits for

keeping cats indoors, especially at night,

but I can't quite agree that doing so all the time is the right way to go. I

welcome other's opinions, but from my AR perspective, cats, like all

animals, should have the right to freely choose how they like to spend their

time. I have two cats, one of which is essentially in-door all the time

because he simply doesn't like or is afraid to go out (I don't know about

his life prior to his adoption from the SF SPCA, but it's his choice to not

go out). He has thus become overweight (around 25 lbs) and is on a low-cal

diet. My other cat, on the other hand, is quite active, with a healthy

weight, and loves to play outside. Again, perhaps he grew up knowing the

outdoors before I adopted him. I think just like humans we should take the

necessary precautions, such as getting periodic vaccinations, so our risk in

playing outdoors is minimized. It's just as true that while there's no such

thing as a " healthy tan " , it would be ridiculous to keep oneself indoors all

the time just because of the fear for such a risk. I'm an avid backpacker

and I'd find it cruel to be forcing my animal companions to have to sit next

to a window and stare out of it all day, instead of sitting on the grass or

exploring the bushes, even if they often come home dirty. Most cats are

domesticated, but I don't think that means they would be happy being

" captive " all the time. I'd rather they take some risks and knowing that

they have led a meaningful life.

 

Erhhung

 

 

Kelle K [kkacmarcik]

Wednesday, November 12, 2003 11:06 AM

erhhung; ' '

Re: [sFBAVEG] Advice needed for racoon in my house

 

 

 

Kasie's reply was right on in terms of keeping cats indoors! All major

humane organizations in the US recommend keeping cats indoors. But I also

had to write in response to the rabies reference. The entire US averages

one to two cases of human rabies per year. Raccoons are the most common

carrier in No. Cal but the risk to you is still very, very low. Your cats

on the other hand, be sure they are vaccinated for rabies and keep them

indoors at all times. They are just as likely to get into some brawl

outside with who knows what other animals or vehicles. Car beats cat every

time.

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

One of the limitations of a mailing list as that all the messages on all the

topics have but one distribution channel, so everyone gets everything. With

that in mind, I would like to kindly suggest that we not get stuck on this

topic of indoor vs indoor/outdoor cats (as we did on the previous

cat-related topic, and I'm not going to mention it in case it should get

started again!)

 

I would encourage anyone who wants to continue the discussion to take it

off-list, or to take it up in the forum. If there is sufficient interest,

perhaps we should have a new forum just for cats!

http://www.generationv.org/forum

 

Thanks,

Tammy

 

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