Leaving a cat alone for 24 hours, first time

On Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:45:39 -0800, "William Graham"
wrote:

no objection. But I can't, so I maintain an open home for them in a location
that is as safe as one can expect. (I live in the suburbs on the edge of
town, on a one way street.) That's the best I can do, and most of the
animals I have owned during my 72 years have lived long healthy
lives.....Much longer and healthier than the ones they would have lived had
they never known me, and had to just depend on God.

Our 11 year old kitty was part of a litter of feral cats caught in the
wild and taken to a local vet from where we got her. I have no doubt
that she has already lived longer as an indoor kitty than she would
have had mom and kits not been caught way back when.

She is currently enjoying a second childhood as we have recently
gotten a 5 year old 'rescue' Corgi (who is a monster for his breed at
90 or so lbs) after our 14 year old Corgi went to doggie heaven last
May. The cat always comes round when the dog is being fed as my wife
feeds the dog a mix of dry and wet dog feed and lets the cat lick the
spoon when done.

There's no question which of the 7 lb. kitty or 90 lb. dog rules the
roost....she occasionally will dash out the front door when we bring
in the newspaper but almost always runs out the front door, round the
side of our house through our chain link fence, up the stairs to the
deck and mews at the side door. On a couple of occasions I've called
to the missus who has opened the side door and our kitty runs back
into the house having hardly stopped running the whole time - elapsed
time outdoors maybe 45 seconds!

"The Horny Goat" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:45:39 -0800, "William Graham"
wrote:

no objection. But I can't, so I maintain an open home for them in a
location
that is as safe as one can expect. (I live in the suburbs on the edge of
town, on a one way street.) That's the best I can do, and most of the
animals I have owned during my 72 years have lived long healthy
lives.....Much longer and healthier than the ones they would have lived
had
they never known me, and had to just depend on God.

Our 11 year old kitty was part of a litter of feral cats caught in the
wild and taken to a local vet from where we got her. I have no doubt
that she has already lived longer as an indoor kitty than she would
have had mom and kits not been caught way back when.

She is currently enjoying a second childhood as we have recently
gotten a 5 year old 'rescue' Corgi (who is a monster for his breed at
90 or so lbs) after our 14 year old Corgi went to doggie heaven last
May. The cat always comes round when the dog is being fed as my wife
feeds the dog a mix of dry and wet dog feed and lets the cat lick the
spoon when done.

There's no question which of the 7 lb. kitty or 90 lb. dog rules the
roost....she occasionally will dash out the front door when we bring
in the newspaper but almost always runs out the front door, round the
side of our house through our chain link fence, up the stairs to the
deck and mews at the side door. On a couple of occasions I've called
to the missus who has opened the side door and our kitty runs back
into the house having hardly stopped running the whole time - elapsed
time outdoors maybe 45 seconds!

Yes. My "outdoor" cats seldom leave the premises. One likes to wait at the
mailboxes to greet all the neighbors when they come to pick up their mail,
but the mailboxes are right across the street from us. My biggest problem is
their tendency in the Summertime, to lie on the street, or in the driveway
where some truck turning around might run them down. Since we are near the
end of a dead end street, vehicles use our driveway to do a U turn when they
come down our street either by mistake, or to deliver something to one of
us. I purchased a couple of orange traffic cones which I leave in our
driveway, but I still worry about it.

The below-mentioned trip, in which I had to leave my cat alone for 24
hours for the very first time, has now come and gone. Thanks to all the
helpful advice and suggestions I received here, it went off well.

I fed her just before leaving, left her enough wet and dry foods, fresh
water, fresh litter, some lights on, shades open, lots of bags and
boxes anjd crumpled newpapers scattered around the floor, radio on but
tv off. Some of these pointers I got right here.

I was gone almost 24 hours. When I returned, she seemed a little
anxious but not particularly so and, despite my fears, didn't even seem
angry.

So, thanks again.


RPSinha wrote:

: As I have mentioned previously, I am caring for a cat who is about 1
: year old. During the warmer days she was outdoors all day, but came
: inside to sleep. Then she met her first Midwestern winter and didn't
: know what hit her. But she has adjusted, sort of, goes out many times
: each day and returns in 1/2 hr to 2 hrs depending on the weather and
: her mood.
:
: Now we are facing a sudden development I need your expert advice with.
:
: We must leave her alone for something like 24-30 hours. I realize that
: this is no big deal for many cats but this one is simply not used to
: being locked in for so long. The maximum she has been locked in alone
: is like 5-6 hours, so this will be a big jump.
:
: We'll of course feed her just before leaving, leave some of her
: favorite canned food for a little later and kibble for after that,
: fresh water and fresh litter (I know this will be a torture for her,
: she like to "go" outside unless the weather is truly dreadful).
:
: Any other advice you can give from experience? Should we leave the
: windows shades open or closed? I can't decide if looking outside will
: be fun for her or torture?! What about lights: lot of lights on or just
: a few?
:
: TIA!
:
: (The temperature on that day is predicted to have a *high* of 34, so
: probably too cold for what *she* would want as we leave: to be left
: outdoors! She often has those moments but always comes running back a
: little later.)

Glad everything went well and you all made it through the ordeal ok.



The below-mentioned trip, in which I had to leave my cat alone for 24
hours for the very first time, has now come and gone. Thanks to all the
helpful advice and suggestions I received here, it went off well.

I fed her just before leaving, left her enough wet and dry foods, fresh
water, fresh litter, some lights on, shades open, lots of bags and
boxes anjd crumpled newpapers scattered around the floor, radio on but
tv off. Some of these pointers I got right here.

I was gone almost 24 hours. When I returned, she seemed a little
anxious but not particularly so and, despite my fears, didn't even seem
angry.

So, thanks again.


RPSinha wrote:

: As I have mentioned previously, I am caring for a cat who is about 1
: year old. During the warmer days she was outdoors all day, but came
: inside to sleep. Then she met her first Midwestern winter and didn't
: know what hit her. But she has adjusted, sort of, goes out many times
: each day and returns in 1/2 hr to 2 hrs depending on the weather and
: her mood.
:
: Now we are facing a sudden development I need your expert advice with.
:
: We must leave her alone for something like 24-30 hours. I realize that
: this is no big deal for many cats but this one is simply not used to
: being locked in for so long. The maximum she has been locked in alone
: is like 5-6 hours, so this will be a big jump.
:
: We'll of course feed her just before leaving, leave some of her
: favorite canned food for a little later and kibble for after that,
: fresh water and fresh litter (I know this will be a torture for her,
: she like to "go" outside unless the weather is truly dreadful).
:
: Any other advice you can give from experience? Should we leave the
: windows shades open or closed? I can't decide if looking outside will
: be fun for her or torture?! What about lights: lot of lights on or just
: a few?
:
: TIA!
:
: (The temperature on that day is predicted to have a *high* of 34, so
: probably too cold for what *she* would want as we leave: to be left
: outdoors! She often has those moments but always comes running back a
: little later.)

"Cat Protector" wrote in message
...

snip

Sad story with a happy ending- did the abuser get charged?

So, I think the question is this. If you let your own cat run free would
you feel ok if someone picked up your cat, threw them in the trash and
then didn't tell you about it?

I would feel that they shold be charged with cruelty to animals.

How also would you feel if your cat was found dead after it sufficated
because more trash was piled on top of them as they meowed and cried for
help but nobody did anything to stop it.

Probably similar to how I would feel if it died in any sort of accident, at
home or not. The thought of the cat stuck in a burning house is just as
devastating to me.

The mother cat and her kittens were lucky but this could;ve been the
scenario that played out if another resident hadn't heard there cries and
crawled into the dumpster to get them out. This also happened in a bad
part of town but still scenarios like this can happen even in the best of
neighborhoods as animal abuse knows no bounds.

Animal abuse is wrong and I do not support it.

You can argue how it's ok to let them out all you want but that means you
also give permission to someone to possibly abuse or kill them.

Animal abuse is illegal in my state, what state do you live in?

If I decided to allow my cat to leave my apartment I would not be giving
anyone persmission to do anything to him. Why would you think such a thing?

Sure, it opens up the possibility that someone COULD do something to him.
Re-read the last three sentences of the post you responded to and respond to
those if you have not realized your error.

Would you feel ok if that happens?

What do you think?

"Cat Protector" wrote in message
...
"Ivor Jones" wrote in message
...

Cats that are indoor only will live much longer than those that spend
their times outdoors.

What are the actual statistics that you are referencing?

Was the analysis performed by a neutral party?

What's the margin of error on these statistics?

What steps were taken to ensure there was no sample bias?

How did the statistics differ when you compare the area that Ivor lives in
with your own area?

If you can't answer these questions your statistics are not very useful in
this discussion.

My brother and sister-in-law live in a rural type area but they still
ended up saving a cat that was wounded because his previous human allowed
his cat not only to roam but also because he didn't want to pay the vet
bill.

What does not paying a vet bill have to do with this discussion?

The cat was wounded from roaming alone? What is this condition called?
Spontaneous roaming injury syndrome? Usually attacks or accidents are
involved.

Regardless of where you live, in every country in this world there are
people that if they had the chance could cause harm to your cat.

Should we "simply" not own cats in order to ensure that those people never
find the cat? Regardless of what you do, it is always possible that a cat
will be abused. This is unfortunate but place blame accordingly.

Animal abuse has no boundaries and if you run the risk of allowing your
cat to roam outside then you knowingly put them in danger that they don't
need to be in.

Do you suggest that people strip their homes of utilities to prevent the
cats from being in danger that they don't need to be in? I'll say what I
said before- everyone is always in danger. It's an unfortunate but true
part of life.

How many cats died during Katrina and the various major earthquakes that hit
California? How many of these cats would have lived longer lives if they
had never been constrained to the indoors in the first place? Of course you
can't answer that question and obviously SOME of them would have died from
being outdoors but the point is that no matter what we do, unfortunate
events happen.

Two of my parent's friends actually had a cat that they let roam free.
Little did they realize that one day they found their cat had been
beheaded and her body thrown into their yard. After that they definately
had a tighter grip on their cats and kept them as indoor only. All it took
was one incident for them to learn that you need to keep your cats
indoors.

Why didn't they move to an area safer for cats? They should have researched
thousands of areas to find a place similar to where Ivor lives, in my
opinion. How can they live with themselves knowing that such a notorious
animal abuser is near by? Animal abusers CAN break into homes, do they know
this? Do these people care about their cats at all? They sound downright
evil and you call them your friends? /sarcasm

See Cat, all of us can blame the good guys. You might respond to my
statements above by saying "well, the chances of someone breaking into their
home and abusing their cats are very slim." If you did, I would agree with
you and I would point out to you that you sound EXACTLY like Ivor.

If only all of us could live in areas that are as cat friendly as Ivor's!
He's not using statistics, he's giving you raw data. Why don't you
acknowledge it? Forty years of outdoor cats living from 16-18 years old with
no deaths as a result of outdoor living. That is awesome! My first cat
almost died before his first birthday because of an INDOOR accident.

Dave

"William Graham" wrote in message
...

"David" wrote in message
. ..

"Cat Protector" wrote in message
...

A person can get in a fight with a bear camping, but (some of us) still
go camping. A person can get hit by a car but we still go outside.

As much as we want to provide for and keep our cats safe the simple fact
of the matter is that they are vulnerable living beings, just like us.

My two cents.

David

Yes. One of the things I don't have to worry about is any of my cats being
trapped in the house in a fire. They all know how to skeedaddle out
through the cat doors in a hurry when they want to, or have to.

Cool, that would give you the necessary time to save any babies that happen
to be sitting around .

On Dec 27 2007, 10:06 pm, RPSinha wrote:
As I have mentioned previously, I am caring for a cat who is about 1
year old. During the warmer days she was outdoors all day, but came
inside to sleep. Then she met her first Midwestern winter and didn't
know what hit her. But she has adjusted, sort of, goes out many times
each day and returns in 1/2 hr to 2 hrs depending on the weather and
her mood.

Now we are facing a sudden development I need your expert advice with.

We must leave her alone for something like 24-30 hours. I realize that
this is no big deal for many cats but this one is simply not used to
being locked in for so long. The maximum she has been locked in alone
is like 5-6 hours, so this will be a big jump.

We'll of course feed her just before leaving, leave some of her
favorite canned food for a little later and kibble for after that,
fresh water and fresh litter (I know this will be a torture for her,
she like to "go" outside unless the weather is truly dreadful).

Any other advice you can give from experience? Should we leave the
windows shades open or closed? I can't decide if looking outside will
be fun for her or torture?! What about lights: lot of lights on or just
a few?

TIA!

(The temperature on that day is predicted to have a *high* of 34, so
probably too cold for what *she* would want as we leave: to be left
outdoors! She often has those moments but always comes running back a
little later.)

I think they will love it. The big problem is when they are alone
without a companion. They might love having run of the house. Any
ideas you get When you get some great ideas that work, put them on
www.petadministration.com. I think our users would enjoy it as well.

"David" wrote in message
. ..

"Cat Protector" wrote in message
...

snip

Sad story with a happy ending- did the abuser get charged?

So, I think the question is this. If you let your own cat run free would
you feel ok if someone picked up your cat, threw them in the trash and
then didn't tell you about it?

I would feel that they shold be charged with cruelty to animals.

How also would you feel if your cat was found dead after it sufficated
because more trash was piled on top of them as they meowed and cried for
help but nobody did anything to stop it.

Probably similar to how I would feel if it died in any sort of accident,
at home or not. The thought of the cat stuck in a burning house is just
as devastating to me.

The mother cat and her kittens were lucky but this could;ve been the
scenario that played out if another resident hadn't heard there cries and
crawled into the dumpster to get them out. This also happened in a bad
part of town but still scenarios like this can happen even in the best of
neighborhoods as animal abuse knows no bounds.

Animal abuse is wrong and I do not support it.

You can argue how it's ok to let them out all you want but that means you
also give permission to someone to possibly abuse or kill them.

Animal abuse is illegal in my state, what state do you live in?

If I decided to allow my cat to leave my apartment I would not be giving
anyone persmission to do anything to him. Why would you think such a
thing?

Sure, it opens up the possibility that someone COULD do something to him.
Re-read the last three sentences of the post you responded to and respond
to those if you have not realized your error.

Would you feel ok if that happens?

What do you think?


It's a dangerous world. Everyone who is born into it eventually dies. You
can spend your whole life crouched in a padded cell surrounded by a bubble
to keep out germs and you might live, on the average, a few years more than
the average person does. But would you call that living? If not, then why
would you choose that kind of life for your cat?
What? - You say that living in a nice apartment in the city is not the same
thing as a padded cell. - Perhaps not, but exactly where do you draw the
line? There are some people who spend their whole lives risking death. They
climb mountains, fly jet planes, deep sea dive over a hundred feet below the
surface, and etc, and etc. And then there are others who do live in a
virtual padded cell. I believe everyone has the right to make the decision
for themselves as to what kind of life style they want to live, and how they
want to die. That is why I am against seat belt and helmet laws, but that's
another story. Right now, I am arguing for my cats. They too, have the
right, in my opinion, to stay inside, on my couch, (or wherever) or, to go
outside and risk their lives in the big world. Try to remember that you only
live once, and for a damn short time at that, but death is forever. The
universe has been here for billions of years before me and my cats were
born, and it will be here for an awful long time after we are all dead. Our
forefathers died for their (and our) freedom. We might as well enjoy it now
that they paid such a high price for it. And, I think that I will let my
cats enjoy a little of it too.

"David" wrote in message
. ..

"William Graham" wrote in message
...

"David" wrote in message
. ..

"Cat Protector" wrote in message
...

A person can get in a fight with a bear camping, but (some of us) still
go camping. A person can get hit by a car but we still go outside.

As much as we want to provide for and keep our cats safe the simple fact
of the matter is that they are vulnerable living beings, just like us.

My two cents.

David

Yes. One of the things I don't have to worry about is any of my cats
being trapped in the house in a fire. They all know how to skeedaddle out
through the cat doors in a hurry when they want to, or have to.

Cool, that would give you the necessary time to save any babies that
happen to be sitting around .

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this. I don't generally leave my
babies in the house when I am gone, unless there is some responsible person
there with them. But I can't take my four cats with me wherever I go, so I
leave them with two cat doors, leading to the front yard and the back yard.
I can only hope they will be smart enough to leave through them if they need
to.