Hrm....I wonder if my wife would mind if I just let some small wildlife in the door and let him "hunt" it at his leisure?
> -----Original Message----- > From: Robyn [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 12:11 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: cat - outside or inside? > Importance: High > > My cat was outdoor/indoor. He was absolutely miserable inside and let > us know every chance he could by whining. Incessantly. And Loudly. I > adopted him when he was about a year and he had been an outdoor cat, so > keeping him in seemed unfortunate for him. > > The good things about indoor/outdoor: > * No need for a litter box (or, he barely used it, unless we were away > on vacation) > > * Happy cat! He was a different animal when outside. > > Bad things: > * Outdoor cats are more prone to illness, and have a shorter lifespan > in general. > > * He tried to eat the neighbor's (caged) parakeet that was sitting out > on the porch. He also would peek into the window where the parakeet > lived when inside. This happened multiple times and there wasn't any > way we could stop it besides keeping him in (which we did until we moved > somewhere new) > > * He got eaten by a coyote (in our suburban relatively densely settled > neighborhood). He wasn't even 5. :-( > > I won't ever have another outdoor/indoor cat. > > But it depends on what you want for your cat - if he's miserable inside, > like mine was, then it may make sense to let him out. BTW, You have to > ask specifically for Feline Leukemia shot at the vet. This is not a > standard vaccine. I would not let him out before you get this. Do keep > neighbors in mind - many cats dig up flowerbeds, or are generally a > nuisance to others and there's no way you can control them besides > keeping them in. For a spell, I tethered our cat to a post in the > ground on a leash. It was not his favorite thing and it seemed > dangerous to me, since he could have easily wrapped himself up on it. > > My 2 cents... > > Ray Champagne wrote: > > So, we have a cat - got him about a year ago (born Oct 7, 2005). > > > > He loves to hunt bugs in the house, like any cat, but we are thinking that > > he'd be so much happier outside hunting real animals. My question is after > > a year of being an inside cat, is there a worry that he won't come back once > > we let him out? We live in a somewhat urban area, with a busy road out > > front. Yet, there are plenty of cats that roam the neighborhood, and they > > all seem to do fine. He loves to try to escape at any chance he has, and we > > are not home all that much, so he'd be entertained while we are away. > > > > I've always had cats that were on their own, so I'm of the thought that they > > are born hunters and should be allowed to do what they want, but my wife > > thinks he'll just run away and never come back. Thoughts? > > > > BTW, he is spayed and up-to-date with all his shots. Of course, we'd put a > > collar and tags on him. > > > > Ray > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:214983 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
