"blair thompson" wrote in message
...
I recently lost my guy to the coyotes. I live adjacent to a
forested area where they are active, so I am thinking my next best
friend should be confined to quarters
I have been reading the many compelling arguments in favour of
keeping a cat inside---the safety angle, longevity cf to the
free-rangers, etc. I know there is much one can do to make indoor
living tolerable to a cat, such as cat tree, cat grass munchies, toys,
etc.
But I am still wondering what the consensus here might be to
just how pleasurable life really is for an indoor cat, Or am I just
anthropomorphizing human traits onto a cat, and they really don't need
as much stimuli in a day as we do, especially when they sleep 15-plus
hours out of every 24? 
What about the second-cat-to-keep-the
-first-one-company option?
Thanks for your input.
Blair Thompson
North Vancouver, B.C.
I think that keeping a cat inside is OK if the cat has always been an indoor
only cat and doesn't know any different. I would also suggest getting two
cats rather than one as they will then keep each other company when your not
there.
I do find that if you read this newsgroup regularly, you will find a higher
incidence of things like, cats on Prozac (??), inappropriate illimination
issues, stress related behavior, e.g. fur biting, among indoor only cats. I
would like to stress that this is my perception and it may just be because
there are a high proportion of Americans who post here and they are more
likely to keep their cats indoor only.
Having said that, there are also the obvious risks for an indoor / outdoor
cat too so neither situation is perfect. I would say that if you have
already had one cat killed by coyotes it's probably not such a good idea to
let any future cats outside, or at the very least, not between dusk and
dawn, which I have been led to believe is when coyotes are most active.
Could build some kind of outside enclosure for you cat? That could be an
option.
Jeannie
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