Outdoor cats

[tahnan]

Hey, you. You, owner of an outdoor cat.

I hate you.

I spent fifteen minutes tonight coaxing and trapping a cat outside, a cat with a tag with a number on its collar. And there had been posters around the neighborhood with that very number saying "lost cat! lost cat!"

It turns out, we learned from the downstairs neighbors of the cat's owner, that this wasn't the lost cat. This was just a cat they allow outdoors. Actually, the "lost" cat is also a cat they allow outdoors.

So you know what? Screw you. Either keep your cat inside or don't f—ing ask me to help when you lose it.

Comments

[jenaflynn.livejournal.com]

As an indoor cat owner, I apologize on behalf of the inconsiderate outdoor cat owner. And you're a very kind person o capture that cat for them.

[jadelennox]

*points to icon*
*hates with you*

[mildmannered.livejournal.com]

I let Diego out, with his collar, because I know that if he gets into serious trouble he can ask for help. I.e., if he loses his bearings and can't find his way home, or gets hurt or sick, he'll show his distress and someone will call me.

The only time I worried about him was when he was out *without* his collar. Then people are likely to simply adopt him. He's so adorable.

[sensational.livejournal.com]

Amen. I think that letting your cat roam free in a city (unlike, say, a barn in the country) is akin to letting a toddler do the same. If you bring your damned cat into a city, you have to keep it indoors. And really, I'd argue the same thing for country cats unless your farm/house/whatever is far, far from any road.

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

I respectfully disagree. Cats aren't children; they're adult animals with all the developed instincts and defenses that implies. I think it really depends on the cat. When I was growing up, we had some cats who were perfectly happy to stay inside. And we had others who - even before they'd ever been outside - were *miserable* as indoor kitties. They yowled at doors and windows constantly. They clearly felt imprisoned, and it seemed kinder to us to open them up to the dangers of the outside world than to keep them unhappily stuck inside. Letting your cat outside doesn't necessarily mean you don't care about it.

That said, a "lost cat" sign needs to be a little more explicit if the people want help retrieving an outdoor kitty, because yeah, that's annoying.

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

(With the caveat that we were living in the 'burbs. There were cars driving around, and other cats they could get into fights with, and the occasional fox. But we didn't live on a major road, and there was plenty of grass and trees for them to enjoy. I'd have a harder time defending an outdoor cat in, say, Manhattan.)

[incontango.livejournal.com]

The outdoor cat that belongs to my roommate Christine is now an indoor cat. Its better for the world but worse for me.

[sensational.livejournal.com]

I think that people who have outdoor cats and I just have to agree to disagree, and I think that the main difference is that I know my cats are not smart enough to live on a suburban or city street and some people think that their cats are smart enough. My cats have no innate defense against a car and will have lapses in judgment that will put them in situations where they will get run over. My cats are fixed, and so they do not naturally want to get into fights and any cat who is not fixed will have an edge on them in a fight. My cats are not smart enough to overcome panic and they will do stupid things that will get them killed. So my cats stay in a controlled environment where no big mechanical things or vicious wild animals will come along to hurt them.

I also think that my cats do not yearn to be free, and I think that cats are dumb enough that they won't long to be outside after they are not allowed outside for a while. They forget; they are stupid. If they yowl at windows, you put them somewhere where there are no windows until they forget that there's an outside. They are adult cats, sure, but they are not adult humans, and cities and suburbs are made for humans.

[spenceraloysius.livejournal.com]

I agree about the stupid signs. You should hit that cat owner with something hard. Our next door neighbor lets her cat out because she adopted it as a stray and it sprays her house if she doesn't let it out (eventhough the cat is fixed and a girl). While I agree it is dangerous, I guess that if I had a choice between cat pee all over my house and letting the cat out, I'd let the cat out.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

OK, see, I hate you.

What am I supposed to do when I encounter Diego, outside and with a collar on? Hope that he's allowed outside and ignore him? Grab him and call the number on his collar to say "I found your cat", to your annoyance and his?

Tell you what: add something to his collar that says "I am allowed outside", and I'll forgive you. But in the meantime, bah.

[mildmannered.livejournal.com]

well, you can't just go around grabbing cats. If Diego came up to you and was all like, "MEOW MEOW MEOW," and looked upset about something, then you'd call me and say, "Your kitty is all upset about something" and I'd come straighten it out.

But if he was just hanging out in the neighborhood, he'd be like "What's up Lance." And you'd be like "What's up Diego," and you'd both go about your business.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

But there are in-between cases. Tracker came up to me and Temvald while we were going house-to-house putting out campaign literature, and we stopped and petted her because she seemed to want affection, and then she followed us as we went, stopping when we did and coming up for more affection.

That's not a cry for help, but it's hardly "What up yo". So what are we supposed to do? And regardless, how are we supposed to know that she's [i]supposed[/i] to be outside, no matter how casual she's acting?

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Where do you live? I look for outdoor cats to chill with on my way to work, and there are precious few around here.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

MAYbe. But: not just "not Manhattan"; not Arlington, either.

But mostly, what Sensational said.

[(Anonymous)]

There was a cat outside my house this morning, very friendly, no collar. I'd never seen it before in my neighborhood. It was stalking the birds at my bird feeder. So I have a different reason for hatin' on outdoor cat owners, but I share your frustration. I'm sorry you had to go through this.

If it's still around on my property tomorrow, it's going to a shelter (the no-kill shelter, I promise).

Humane Society and Cats

[nplloquacious.livejournal.com]

FWIW, outdoor cats live an average of less than three years. Indoor cats average 12-15 years; underscore "average 12-15 years."

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/humane_society_magazines_and_newsletters/all_animals/volume_4_issue_1_spring_2002/a_safe_cat_is_a_happy_cat_and_your_cat_is_only_safe_indoors.html

or

http://snipurl.com/12cct

From the Humane Society of the United States website:
http://www.hsus.org/

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

I live in a city, and our block is a continuous row of buildings on all 4 sides, so my cats used to be allowed in the back yard only, but not out the front door, for their own safety. And except for the one robin, they only ever killed vermin animals. Then some people in the condo complex with the giant yard let 2 cats out there to live permanently. The 2 cats I had at first both got feline herpes of the eye. Then I had a cat die of FIP a few months after adoption, and I don't know whether he had it coming from the shelter or whether he caught it on the block. I don't let the 2 I have now out at all, because they may carry FIP (one tested +, the other isn't tested) and I don't want them spreading it. If a cat is exposed it either (a) is fine and maybe carries it or (b) dies a horrible unavoidable death.

The non-elderly cat has a collar with my address and phone number. I would hope that if somehow he got into someone's home, or if someone saw him outside and wasn't sure, they would call me.

You did a good thing.