I've followed this debate in many threads across several groups, and there is
one point I have not seen raised.

30 years ago I was coming home from my night job at 4 AM and while walking in
the street (NYC) a dozen blocks from my home, I came across a really friendly
orange tabby. He kept coming up to me and I would walk away, and he would come
back. He was most friendly, obviously people oriented, and in my opinion he
was a housecat who for some reason had been displaced from his house. I took
him home and named him ECO, or ECHO, Eco, short for economics, because I wasn't
sure I could afford to keep him; and, ECHO, because he kept coming back.

Once at my home, Eco seemed restless and he often tried to go out the window to
the fireescape. Once, he jumped across an open window to the windowsill across
an open airshaft. He was stuck there on the ledge and I had to go to the
building next door to bring him in. A couple of weeks later, on Thanksgiving,
1974, my younger brother brought me a kitten, which I named Turkey (after all
it was Thanksgiving). Turkey and Eco lived together for one week before Eco
managed to squeeze through a small opening in the fire escape window, and he
disappeared.

Why am I telling you this? Well, I think Echo was someone's cat from a half
mile away, and I, out of good nature, took him to my home. What was Eco's
original owner thinking when he never returned as he usually did? Why did I
take him if that is what I thought? Well, it is because I didn't know. Maybe
Eco was lost, and needed someone to care for him, he certainly latched on to
me. What happened to him? He certainly wasn't familiar with the new
neighborhood he found himself in.

One of the main reasons I would never let my cat (MY PET, MY COMPANION) out, is
because one day he may not return And, it might not be because he or she was a
victim of a tragedy; perhaps someone like me took him for his own. I'd never
know. I would be left with photos on handbills taped to lamppoles with a LOST
CAT headline.

I think pet owners should understand the difference between wild, feral
animals, and domesticated ones. Our pets need our protection more than they
need to be allowed to roam around at will.

Just my two cents. If you want to see my most recent additions, follow this
link to Mickey & Daisy.

http://hometown.aol.com/borninthebronx/index.html