Oct 22 2007
Outdoors or Indoors For Your Cat?
Do you keep your cat indoors? I know that this is a controversial topic, especially in the USA. I just found out why cats are kept inside here and it all seems to spring from a very successful campaign waged by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) in 1997.
ABC said that“free-roaming cats are exposed to injury, disease, parasites and collisions with cars, and can get lost, stolen or poisoned. Cats can also transmit diseases and parasites such as rabies, cat-scratch fever and toxoplasmosis to other cats, wildlife or people. “
But you know I can’t help thinking that taking advice about cats from a bird fancier may be a little unsafe.
As well as killing birds cats keep down the population of small animals that also damage bird life, like rats and mice which take bird’s eggs. Ok I am not saying that this equals out because I have not seen any research on it so far.
But I do know that you can get cat collars that warn a bird when the cat pounces. These collars emit a sound and flash a light so the bird is warned and can take off in time. We are using this type of collar which I bought from my vet, and it seems to work.
Liberator collars consist of a battery , a small microchip printed circuit and an audio-visual alarm triggered by the cat launching itself at a bird.
The collars are fitted with a timer to cut short audio output on such occasions as when a cat is scratching around its collar, triggering the alarm.
You can get them here:
I can’t find a supplier in the USA probably because so few cats are allowed out that demand is low.
I know that there are places where a cat might be in danger from roads. I still think the cat would prefer to live a shorter but happier life.Being in prison only able to watch the world from a window in not kind to cats.
Maybe just don’t have a cat if it is unsafe where you live. Maybe get a dog, a rabbit, a pet mouse or some other type of pet. Don’t mean to offend you but I think we should not deny a cat the freedom to live a happy and natural life. Would you want to be kept in prison?
Tags: Cat Behavior, cat behavior, cat health, indoor cats, outdoor cats
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[…] Cats & Cat Health wrote an interesting post today on Outdoors or Indoors For Your Cat?Here’s a quick excerptOutdoors or Indoors For Your Cat? Published by Tabby under About Cats Do you keep your cat … , a rabbit, a pet mouse or some other type of pet. Don’t mean to offend you but I think we should not deny … by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) in 1997. ABC said that“free-roaming cats are exposed to injury, disease […]
Yes I know this but still think it is worth the risk! In my country (New Zealand) noone cats keeps cats indoors and when I tell folk that in the USA they are kept inside people are shocked.
I never hear of cats getting sick or being harmed by people but I do accept they have more chance of traffic accidents. We don’t think this justifies keeping them prisoner.
I am never offended by honest debate!