The Cat Who Walked By Himself
Thinking about my first husband, David Bowie, yesterday, started me thinking of his albums, etc, which led me to Cat People, which then, of course, led to cats themselves. I grew up with cats, though because Ted has HORRID, life threatening allergies to them, we can’t have any now. That’s OK, our dog is pretty groovy herself, and no allergies in the canine department. Thinking about cats, I started thinking about one of my pet peeves, which is people who let their cats run around outside. Here are my issues with outdoor cats:
- I don’t want cat poop in my back yard. If I did, I’d get a cat.
- I don’t want to watch someone else’s cat kill birds in my back yard. If I did, again, I’d get a cat.
- We had a sweet little cat when I was young, Evenrude…she went out one day and never came home. We never knew whether it was a dog that got her, or a car, but surely she would have been safer inside the house.
Now, I know that there are those of you that believe that it is cruel to keep cats indoors…that they were made to roam, and can be miserable if confined. I don’t know what to say to that, except that I keep my dog inside, who would much rather roam, and I clean up after her poop, too. She’s OK.
So, you can all tell right about now that my self-righteous meter is up at around 11, right? Well, I’m bringing it down to a more tolerant 5, because I had a thought the other day…Mice. Rats. Vermin. I clearly cannot have a cat in my home, correct? But, if there are folks out there with outside cats, that decreases the number of mice and rats that have the chance to take up residence in my home. Rats and the fleas that live on them contribute to some pretty yucky diseases, and besides, vermin in your house are just kind of gross. Not sure why a hamster is sweet and a wild rat isn’t, but that’s the way it is.
So, if you want to risk your cat’s life by letting him or her out to roam by his wild lone (Link to Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Story, The Cat Who Walked By Himself), feel free. But, um, spay or neuter, OK? There are plenty of kittens that need homes already.
13 Comments
Ml
Nothing wrong with keeping your cat indoors. They’re cleaner, safer and I honestly think, that unless they have their nutty buddies in place (or not spayed for that matter), they really don’t care to roam.
Beenzzz
I agree with ML. I think as long as they are fixed, they have no desire to go outside. My kitties have always been indoor only cats and they seem quite happy with it. We had a stray cat that used to leave us presents in the back yard. One time I went out there and found two dead mice and a dead bird on the lawn. YUCK! But, at least she was getting rid of the vermin.
Py Korry
And don’t forget what Bob Barker says: “Remember to spay and neuter your cats and dogs!” 😉
Cherry
My boys had thier bits knocked off as soon as they dropped, and guess what? They still want to go outside, desparately (but probably because they’ve been out there before). When they were little, and I lived in a less dense neighborhood, they would go outside supervised, but still asked to come in to use the litter box. Their mom taught them to do that, as her litter box was actually outside.
I have much more to say on this matter as I grew up with the indoor/outdoor kitty, but I also grew up in a home with a dirt road, and our cats rarely went far from our property.
Gina
I am kind of the same way. We had a neighbor’s cat that pooped in my planter, which pissed me off. But then, the cat (presumably) got eaten by some of the coyotes that are prevalent around here, and then I was kind of sad.
Black Belt Mama
I don’t think cats should be outside at all. They may take care of pests outside but they’re also contracting the diseases that those pests carry and in my area, where rabies is a big problem with other animals its a huge risk to let your animals outside. I have a neighbor who lets her cat outside all the time and everytime we try to go in our house she’s at the door, trying to get in. Any “pet” should be on a leash and under control. Nothing irritates me more.
hellomelissa
i had indoor cats for years, but let them out now that we’re in the country. so far, so good– no terrible deaths from wild animals or cars. to tell you the truth, they stay in far more than they stay out, and i like it that way. the good part? no litter box.
Maya's Granny
The Hooligans live indoors. When they were kittens I didn’t dare to let them out because either eagles or bears would have had them for lunch, and by the time they were full grown and could hide and/or defend themselves, they were used to being indoors. Merry went out once and didn’t like the snow and Pippin has never been out. And I find I like it that way. It was no fun never knowing what had happened to Evenrude, but knowing that it had been something bad and I hadn’t protected her from it.
la luna
I too am like PY and cannot have a cat. I never thought I would have a cat. But one day, Egis showed up in the back yard and decided to stay. Someone left him when they moved out or he was lost. I have tried many many times to give Egis away, but he is an old cat, neutered and a little bit of a talker. No one wants him and we do not want to take him to the pound, because there is a high chance on him being put to zzzzzzzz. We are still trying to find a home for him but no luck. May be writing about this is your blog will help.
He is very good about running off rats as our neighbors have OD on bird feeders and have a terrible problems with rats and squirrels. ( Squirrels hold their own are not any problems) I saw a documentary about a study of cats in a village in England. They had owners of cats collect all the birds and rats that the cats had got a hold of. The study was conducted for a year. To make a long documentary short, without the cats there would be a massive over popluation of both birds, mice & rats speices. Essentially the balance of nature.
I respect your comments and feelings and was not trying to write anything that may be upsetting.
J
La Luna, I don’t take offense. That’s kind of the point I was trying to get at…I personally would not let my cat outside (unless I were in your situation, where an outdoor cat had adopted me, and I had such bad allergies), but thank goodness there ARE cats outside, to keep down those rat, mouse, and bird populations.
I don’t know if this is true, but I once read that one of the contributors to the spread of black plague in the UK was a fear of witchcraft…because people feared witches, they feared the cats, which are said to be ‘familiars’ of witches. So they killed the cats, and the population of rats went way up, and thus the fleas and diseases. So amen to cats outside for that reason. Still, though, I would worry too much about my cat getting eaten by a dog or hit by a car, and of course, no one likes to find someone else’s cat poop in their yard.
Lotus
J, sorry, this totally off topic, but I did so want to comment on your new blog header – it’s so eye-catching, I love it!
ally bean
I don’t know that I have anything to add to the cat conversation, but I do want to join Lotus and say that your new header is way cool. Very nice.
samibear
Okay. I read your blog regularly, big word. What happened to Maya’s granny’s blog?
My cat,, recent anniversary post, hasn’t been outside since he was adopted. He’s declawed and neutered.
I saw an interesting piece on Animal Kingdom the other night about Rats being trained to locate land mines. The trainers were very attached to their charges. They treated them like pets. To each, his own.