AND Dillon got a delivery today that had his new collar in it. Much more butch than his previous pink one. And much safer, this one actually pulls open on the break away latch so he won't hang himself if he get's it stuck on something. Since he's a purely inside cat and we have tons of things in here he can get stuck on, that was a must. Plus I don't have to worry about losing the collar if that happens. Also, the bell is a much better tattle tale on him for when he's stalking my parakeet.
I normally don't do the whole 'ohh shop here because I shop here' but I wanted to pass on the website I got the collar at. I got two of those collars, a food mat, litter mat, a short haired cat brush, and three Kong toys for him and it cost lest than 40, shipping and all. They didn't even charge me shipping for a second box because one of the items shipped from somewhere else. So, it's www.petstore.com I found them on Amazon, so you can shop with them there, but I saved about 10 dollars shopping on their regular site instead.
well not really :-p I got it more for the actual pirate thing than any emo 'I show I hate the world with cute skulls with bows on their head' type thing. Although one of Dillon's owners is an old school goth from back before they called it goth, we're too old to be part of any pop culture crap :D
Concerning the whole declawing thing. I used to be a big supporter of the declawing thing back when I was living in a student house and two of the people had a cat that scratched everything/liked to walk across you and dig its claws into you. So at that point I was very "if I ever get a cat, I'll declaw it". Then earlier this year I was thinking "hmm, I'd really like a cat" and did some research on it and became very anti-declawing and pro actually taking care of your cat/trimming its nails.
When I was looking at breeder sites (because they seemed a good source of information) I noticed that many seemed to want you to keep your cat as an indoor cat rather than an indoor/outdoor cat. Any opinions on that from those that have cats? I think their reasoning was that it was safer indoors and they'd live longer or something. I mean obviously there are less risks inside, but is it really a big deal? The only cats I've known have always been indoor/outdoor cats.
But, regardless, I can't get a cat at the moment because I'm probably going to the local university next year and therefore potentially moving back into my parent's house and my dad's allergic to cats. But maybe when I move back out of their house.
Well, this is just my opinion, but you gotta look at your cat and your environment.
First, your cat. Are they fixed (if female) cause if you let a female cat outside for any length of time, chances are she'll mix in the wrong company of alley cats and they'll knock her up. Then you wish, "why oh why did I let her outside!" before being 'blessed' with 6+ more cats and the start of your own cat-tribe.
If it's a male cat, no one worries much about them. They'll go where they please, come back when they please and make strange noises outside the house of someone with a fertile female.
Kittens love the outdoors but they are also curious and so can get stuck in trees, hide in your car's engine to warm themselves, etc..etc..
So, look at your environment. Beff lives in the inner city in a skyscraper so there are the usual worries, suicides, gangs, etc..
I have two indoor female cats and I will not let them outside until they are both fixed. Our last kitten loved the outdoors but my wife put a harness on him with an extended leash so it could run around and climb trees but not too high. They get scared and then cry cause they do not know how to get down. That's my fear in the apartment complex I live at. Outside my door is a parking lot and some palm trees so if a cat bolts out the door they could get run over, into a car's engine or up the impossibly high palm tree. So when we walk our dogs daily, we have to do the 'kitty check' to make sure they are waiting to pounce. It also helps that the blinds are closed all the time so they don't sit in the window and "see" a world of wonders to be explored outside.
We just signed a contract on a new home with an acre of land and, if our financing comes through, then I can see us relaxing our "cats being outside' stance.
For me, I have an indoor only cat policy. I spent way too much time growing up crying because one of my cats had either been hit by a car or killed by a neighbor dog. And we had a fenced yard. Then there's the fleas, ear mites, worms and all other sundry illnesses your cat gets exposed to that there are no vaccines for. And a lot of cats are allergic to those flea drops that go on the back of their necks so you can't always rely on that. It's awful the spasms they go into when you put that stuff on one like that, but you won't know until you use it if your cat has that reaction. Feline leukemia and feline HIV are both passable just by contact with another cat and have no cure, they work differently in cats than humans, and they are both miserable diseases to watch your cat suffer through.
So for me, no, I won't have my cats going outdoors any more. Three of my last cats that I had before coming to South Carolina- Biscuit, Dan and Ozzy Moon - were all killed by a car. ((I was devastated when Dan disappeared, no one told me for months he'd been hit a few streets over. I'd raised him from a kitten and even nursed him through a twisted back courtesy of a neighbor dog.)) In my redneck family it doesn't matter how awful it was for me, they were my cats so I had to be the one to go scrape them off the road, so no, never again if I can help it. I was never allowed to bring my cats inside so I went through this way too much, considering people would bring their cats to our house and abandon them. They even left them in our mailbox in 90 degree Florida weather. So I've had a lot of cats.
Om, all three of those cats named above were tomcats. All three of them were hit by cars and all of them were out running up and down the road because they were not neutered. Having a male cat is not a free pass when it comes to letting them out of doors. They disappear quicker than female cats, they end up dog food faster than female cats, and they are subject to more diseases and just plain wounds from fighting feral cats. Neuter your male cats. It's the bloody same as teaching your sons about birth control :-p
A third reason I won't have outdoor cats any more is cat thieves. Laugh if you want, but it's true. From the age of 13 to 26, when I moved here, I had maybe over a dozen cats disappear with out a trace. Most of which were cats I hand raised and were subsequently very attached to. I spent a lot of time hunting for my kitties and never found them. I didn't discover what happened to them until someone told me that the mentally disabled woman who lived a few streets over would help herself to my cats any time she could. Her family even built her a separate little house to put all her cats in. Most of those damned cats were my cats I'd hunted for. They were especially the unique or pretty ones that caught her eye. Both of my bobtailed cats, my white seal point and every kitten I'd hand raised ended up at that woman's house crammed into a little building with over 30 cats that her family routinely 'cleaned' out by hauling them off to the pound. So no, my kitties weren't taken care of by this person, she was mentally retarded and couldn't take care of herself. But any cat I had that caught her eye, went home with her and if I'd learned that before I moved, I would have raised some hell, trust me. But that woman wasn't the only case of people stealing my cats. If you have a pretty or unusual looking cat, people will stop and take them if you keep them out doors. They tell themselves they are feral or strays and that's it's ok, or that they are giving them a better home without even asking. I mean, it's the same with dogs too. People snatch purebreds every day if the animal is friendly enough. If Beff had a yard, I doubt he'd let his kitty out, ocicats are rare and beautiful cats. Someone would snatch him in a heartbeat...
Any way, my vote is no on having an outdoor/ indoor cat. Keep them indoors. It's a lot less stress and wear and tear on your cat, with very few surprise vet bills. Get a kitty garden that grows wheat grass, avoid Purina indoor cat formula and you should be good.
The decision to allow your cat to explore the world outside your walls is one that should be based on a number of variables not the least of which is environment. But equally important are things such as; gender, breed, neutered/spayed and so on...
Damalis does a top knotch job of detailing the perils associated with many. And again, just because your cat is male, and outdoor is not a pass on getting him neutered. Intact males are highly curious animals driven by hormonal instincts. You could have the brightest, most loyal male cat but once he gets a whiff of a female in heat everything, all those generations of so called domestication, fly right out the window. He will go to the ends of the earth to get his rocks off, much like young human males. They are prone to get in to fights with other males also. Among other concerns, the fact that your cat could wander off to get a lay and never find his way home again should be enough to discourage it - and get your male neutered. Not to mention that even if you think your cat is going to be fine there is the fact that, an intact male will breed leaving some other hapless individual with a litter of kittens to attend to. Think; baby momma's. It's a very asshole thing to do.
Example: I have a friend who has a prize winning show Sphinx (a hairless) female who he keeps indoors at all times. He lives in a condo. To his shock and surprise one day he discovered, much to his dismay, that his beautiful trophy cat, was being molested by a male tomcat who had taken the initiative to climb up three stories, somehow, scaling the building like Spider-Man, and bugger the hell out of his cat. A Sphinx, being hairless, hasn't the fur to guard against claws (in fact, Sphinx breeders often go to great lengths to ensure that males have their claws properly padded to avoid disfiguring wounds) and his girl got scraped up pretty bad.
And that brings me to another valid point when making a choice regarding the indoor/outdoor debate - breed.
Some breeds have dominant qualities which make them a very poor choice for the outdoor life while others are just as poor as indoor cats. Some of the more feral breeds, if allowed outdoors, become a menace to their territory. Ocicats for instance, which have no wild blood but have very wild tendencies due to their genetic make up, will hunt and kill just about anything they can get their claws and/or teeth in to. God forbid you have an exotic Savannah Cat (especially the F1-F3 breeds) as he or she will probably kill everything in the area, fight with everything that opposes its dominance of an area, and in all likelihood shake off its domestication and revert to a wild, feral monster.
Aside from breed, you have to really think about the cat and its demeanor. If you adopt, say, a four year old male who has lived an outdoor life and you try to turn him in to an indoor cat without giving him plenty to do inside you're going to be very disappointed when he shreds everything you own, yowls to be let out, and goes around marking his territory outside the litter box.
Personally, I suggest thinking about all these myriad details in depth before you even commit to sharing your life with a cat. I think it's a mistake to set off down that road only to find out you've made a wrong turn as you either have to live with your choices or, worse still, your cat does.
Diseases, among those mentioned by Damalis, are a huge fear for anyone who lives in an area where your cat is going to mix with other cats. It can be less of a concern for those who live in remote, rural areas but even then there are other things to worry about (see; coyotes, wolves, badgers etc) where you have to remember; there is a foodchain and cats, despite all their attributes, are not always alpha predators. Also, even in that case, you have to concern yourself with what your cat might eat... a feral cat may have the adaptations to eat mice, rats and birds without contracting various parasites but I promise you that your fancy breed (see; Siamese) won't and will probably get very sick and die as a result of its first kill.
Some cats are more hardy then others.
Always remember that regardless of the fact that we, as pet owners, ascribe all sorts of human qualities to our cats (and dogs for that matter) they are and will always be animals and there-for subject to the rules of nature.
I support keeping your kitties indoors at all times save for in those occasions where a pet owner makes an educated decision to do otherwise.
