Ideal home for a cat

"Wayne Mitchell" wrote in message
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"Christina Websell" wrote:

"Marina" wrote in message
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Some cats just don't want to be outside.


Because they have not experienced it yet and are too scared to do it.

In this case Marina was talking about one who did have experience of
being outside and decided she didn't like it. My Heidi is another --
though I don't know how long she was a stray before being picked up and
taken to the shelter.
--

Wayne M.


Same here. Persia was declawed by someone but she was let outside anyway.
After she came to live with me she snuck out after about a month. But she
realized the OUT is much worse than being in. It poured down rain. She
apparently spent the night huddled under a bush. When she finally came home
she was muddy and had leaves stuck to her fur. No cat was happier than to
be brushed and cuddled in the nice warmth of the indoors. "Enough of that
OUT stuff", she said. She's never tried to get out again. She doesn't even
like her kitty-walk enclosure anymore.

Jill

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
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"jmcquown" wrote in message
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"Christina Websell" wrote in message
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"jmcquown" wrote in message
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"Christina Websell" wrote in
message ...
Is it in an apartment or if they can get outside to hunt a bit?
Discuss.


Oh, we really don't want to get into the indoor-outdoor thing again, do
we? But okay, I'll play.

It depends on the situation. Persia was front-declawed before she came
to live with me. I was horrified someone let her wander around outside
with no real way to defend herself. It took a little time but she
adapted perfectly to being an indoor cat in an apartment. Even if
she'd had claws, she doesn't really seem to have the disposition of a
hunter. I know she is afraid of mice (unless they are the toy kind that
rattle).

Jill

It's not my intention to get into an indoor/outdoor argument. If it
could be possible for your cat to be out with little traffic and no
alligators or predators would you do it?

Still probably not. The reason would be fleas and ticks most likely.

Jill

What?? You can easily protect your cat from these via your vet.

Yes, there are alligators around but they aren't the only predators out
there. Sure, the vet can treat her for fleas/ticks, but why would I want to
put chemicals on her if I don't have to? She's not exposed to them if she
stays indoors. And the vet can't do a thing about people who let dogs run
loose. Or about racoons which can turn vicious (and carry rabies) if they
think there may be contention over food. Persia is front declawed (not my
doing) so she can't even climb a tree if she needed to get away from
something.

Overall, she's better off indoors and she knows it. She escaped one day
about a month after coming to live with me. She thought the outside would
be better. Apparently she was wrong. 24 hours later, after spending a
night in the rain huddled under a bush, she came back crying. She made up
her mind. Apparently a nice warm bed beats sleeping under a a cold wet
bush.

Jill

Some cats just don't want to be outside.

Because they have not experienced it yet and are too scared to do it.


Not necessarily. Fin had been a 'tossed' cat - one who was thrown out after he stopped being a cute kitten. From the moment I took him in, he never wanted to go out again. He ran away whenever the door was opened. He fought mightily when I tried to leash-train him. As the vet said, 'He's been out there. He knows what's out there and he wants nothing to do with it.'
He was a good boy.

Oddly enough, Rita also doesn't want to go out, although I don't know her history before I took her home from the shelter. She loves to sit and watch out the windows, but she refuses to go out if the door is open.

Jane
- owned and operated by the Princess Rita

On 2012-07-09 6:00 PM, Christina Websell wrote:
"Marina" wrote in message
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On 7.7.2012 16:55, Wayne Mitchell wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote:

Is it in an apartment or if they can get outside to hunt a bit?

They each have their own opinions.

They most certainly do. My niece had to stop taking Kira to the island in
the summers, because Kira stopped going out and she was clearly scared to
be on the island. She stays in town now when my niece goes to the island
(with her two other cats). My nephew looks after her while my niece is
away, and he has opened the door at home for her. She gingerly took a few
steps outside, streeetched her neck so that she could take a bite of
grass, and then she scurried inside again quickly.

Some cats just don't want to be outside.


Because they have not experienced it yet and are too scared to do it.


Not always. I'd say almost never. The cats I've had which have been most
reluctant to go out have all been the ones that had been out, then, lost
or abandoned, and had no desire at all to repeat the experience.


--
Cheryl

"Joy" wrote in message
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Wayne M.

Yes, it definitely depends on the cat.

I can understand why some people think cats should never be allowed
outside. I don't think all of those people understand the opposite point
of view. They might gain an understanding by reading Maya Angelou's "I
know why the caged bird sings".

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Maya_Angelou/13474

I've read it numerous times, and it still makes me cry.

Joy
Me too.

I will let Boyfie go out every day and night if he wants to, no cougars
here. He knows to shoot up a tree when he sees a fox or whether he might
decide to fight it.
He fought one once. Bad idea. He came off best but some cat s here have
died doing it/

there is no one ieeal home for a cat.

first and foremost plenty of love, food and enough money for basic vet care
are the minium requirements... after that it depends on the temperment of
the cat and what they are raised to, Lee
"Christina Websell" wrote in message
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Is it in an apartment or if they can get outside to hunt a bit?
Discuss.