WHY ALL CATS SHOULD BE INDOOR CATS ONLY
When the stray cat first appeared on the porch, he had long silky fur. The homeowner started feeding him and earning his trust. But as the months passed, he got bitten by other cats. He developed enormous abscesses that refused to heal. His coat grew dull.
Finally, the cat’s caretaker gained his confidence enough to lure him into a carrier with food and whisk him off to a vet. Sadly, the big, once-handsome cat tested positive for FIV, the feline equivalent of AIDS. Already, the disease had ravaged his teeth and gums. Most of his teeth had fallen out. His gums were flaming red. Eating must have been agony. The disease also damaged his heart. An infection had also spread from his gums, causing irreparable harm.
It was all over. The injection was painless—but not for his human friend.
The Not-So-Great Outdoors
Feline AIDS is a highly contagious, incurable disease for which there is no vaccine. It can only be prevented by keeping cats indoors. It is one of several deadly diseases that cats who roam outdoors can catch. Unattended cats also face dangers posed by dogs, wildlife, and the scariest predator of all, humans.
Thieves, or “bunchers", cruise neighborhoods for friendly dogs and cats who can easily be picked up and sold to dealers, who in turn sell them to laboratories. Cats are often poisoned, shot, set on fire, or trapped and drowned by intolerant neighbors or bored juveniles. They are hit by cars, accidentally poisoned by spilled antifreeze, or maimed by fan blades when they crawl into warm engines on winter days.
“But he wants to go outside.” “We live on a very quiet street.” “It’s cruel to keep her in.” These are things said by people who would never dream of opening the door and sending toddlers to wander down the street on their own.
The way we learn not to let the cat out unaccompanied is usually the hard way. In Pompano, Florida, lost dogs and cats were found in a large storage warehouse used by dogfight “trainers.” In South Dakota, a fur trader was caught selling cat skins. In Washington, D.C., a cat let out for her daily stroll returned covered in burns from hot cooking grease. In California, a woman searching for her cats found that both had been shot with arrows.
These are only a FEW reasons to not let your cat outside. Don't go through the heartache of finding your cat that had been hit by a car, attacked by a dog and have to be euthanized because you cannot afford the vet bill that happens to the best of us in emergency situations, don't put your cat in that position to be injured or worse loose their life. If you must let your cat outside, build an enclosed playground for him/her, show your cats just how much you love them by not only providing food, vaccinations and shelter, but protection for the dangers of being outside unprotected.
This is the viewpoint from Patriica Smith who is a cat owner
The main reason I hear over and over again for letting cats outside, is they don't like litter boxes, cats are happier outside, meant to hunt, or they aren't happy.
If you're not wanting to clean up a littler box, either get a self cleaning one, or better yet, do not get a cat or any other pet you are not willing to clean up after, that includes dogs, do you not clean up their "poop"? Cats are not happier outside if given the same chance to be happy and much healthier inside. There are those people who can build outdoor habitats, you can create indoor spaces for cats, shelves for cats to climb, window sills and the list goes on. Give your cat toys and things to keep them busy, play with them and they will be just as content and safer. There are videos and places like Animal Planet where you can have hours of birds chirping, fish swimming, cat videos, etc, Animals like to view other animals too. My cats will spend an hour or more watching birds, chipmunks, etc, etc. There are all kinds of FREE animal videos on Youtube, no need to say you can not afford to buy one. Lastly, cats may be "meant' to hunt, but after years of domestication, many would not ever know how to catch a mouse or bird if it was put right in front of them. I have eight cats currently and had nine until my oldest who was 19 died in June. She was a born hunter and up till the last four or five months of her life, continues to catch birds and brought live mice into the house to teach her "kittens" how to hunt. ( She considered all the other cats her kittens"). Many a cat has starved to death because some stupid person dumped their cat outside thinking it could survive on mice it caught. My cats would starve if I left them outside to catch their dinner, it is not only stupid but very painful to see a cat starve.
Then of course there are the feral cats, stray cats, cats that stupid people do not bother to vaccinate who can pass many diseases to other cats. Dogs that will kill or maim your cat, chase a scared cat into the path of a car or truck, children who can pick up a friendly cat and take it home, people who will steal your cat to keep themselves or look for a reward. People who like to hurt animals and those who will sacrifice cats, all sorts of other things that can happen to your cats. Do I need to go on?
I feed the strays in my neighborhood and the worst thing I see over and over again, is the disregard for life for a cat that has been hit by a car and left to rot in the street or gutter. Sometimes they are strays and othertimes I know pets as they have a collar. I always call animal control and I would love to see how many people would let a dog lie in the street, not many, but a cat, that is a different story. If dogs did not have to be wearing a license, there would be more stray dogs and more dead dogs as well.
I could go on an on with why to keep your cat inside, and paying the vet bill for a cat that has been injured is one that will perhaps make you people wake up. It is very easy to have to pay over $500.00 for a cat with a broken leg, you add internal injuries, medication, fluids, hospitalization, x rays and other tests, it adds up fast. I spent close to a thousand dollars to try and save the life of my Karl Kat who had kidney disease and a severe anemia, probably bone marrow cancer and he only lasted 6 weeks from the time I got the results of his blood tests. I would do it all over again if there was any chance to save his life, and he was not even injured. To euthanize your cat if hurt, is going to cost you in the range of $60-$75 where I live, and that is without any other items added to it. If you have money to throw away and don't care for your animals, or what happens to it, you would be better off going to the petting zoo , it is cheaper and kinder to the animals. My cats are my children and I would not treat them without the same care, love and dignity I have given my own children.
The main reason I hear over and over again for letting cats outside, is they don't like litter boxes, cats are happier outside, meant to hunt, or they aren't happy.
If you're not wanting to clean up a littler box, either get a self cleaning one, or better yet, do not get a cat or any other pet you are not willing to clean up after, that includes dogs, do you not clean up their "poop"? Cats are not happier outside if given the same chance to be happy and much healthier inside. There are those people who can build outdoor habitats, you can create indoor spaces for cats, shelves for cats to climb, window sills and the list goes on. Give your cat toys and things to keep them busy, play with them and they will be just as content and safer. There are videos and places like Animal Planet where you can have hours of birds chirping, fish swimming, cat videos, etc, Animals like to view other animals too. My cats will spend an hour or more watching birds, chipmunks, etc, etc. There are all kinds of FREE animal videos on Youtube, no need to say you can not afford to buy one. Lastly, cats may be "meant' to hunt, but after years of domestication, many would not ever know how to catch a mouse or bird if it was put right in front of them. I have eight cats currently and had nine until my oldest who was 19 died in June. She was a born hunter and up till the last four or five months of her life, continues to catch birds and brought live mice into the house to teach her "kittens" how to hunt. ( She considered all the other cats her kittens"). Many a cat has starved to death because some stupid person dumped their cat outside thinking it could survive on mice it caught. My cats would starve if I left them outside to catch their dinner, it is not only stupid but very painful to see a cat starve.
Then of course there are the feral cats, stray cats, cats that stupid people do not bother to vaccinate who can pass many diseases to other cats. Dogs that will kill or maim your cat, chase a scared cat into the path of a car or truck, children who can pick up a friendly cat and take it home, people who will steal your cat to keep themselves or look for a reward. People who like to hurt animals and those who will sacrifice cats, all sorts of other things that can happen to your cats. Do I need to go on?
I feed the strays in my neighborhood and the worst thing I see over and over again, is the disregard for life for a cat that has been hit by a car and left to rot in the street or gutter. Sometimes they are strays and othertimes I know pets as they have a collar. I always call animal control and I would love to see how many people would let a dog lie in the street, not many, but a cat, that is a different story. If dogs did not have to be wearing a license, there would be more stray dogs and more dead dogs as well.
I could go on an on with why to keep your cat inside, and paying the vet bill for a cat that has been injured is one that will perhaps make you people wake up. It is very easy to have to pay over $500.00 for a cat with a broken leg, you add internal injuries, medication, fluids, hospitalization, x rays and other tests, it adds up fast. I spent close to a thousand dollars to try and save the life of my Karl Kat who had kidney disease and a severe anemia, probably bone marrow cancer and he only lasted 6 weeks from the time I got the results of his blood tests. I would do it all over again if there was any chance to save his life, and he was not even injured. To euthanize your cat if hurt, is going to cost you in the range of $60-$75 where I live, and that is without any other items added to it. If you have money to throw away and don't care for your animals, or what happens to it, you would be better off going to the petting zoo , it is cheaper and kinder to the animals. My cats are my children and I would not treat them without the same care, love and dignity I have given my own children.