I went onto Facebook and found

On Sunday, September 7, 2014 2:24:35 PM UTC-4, Christina Websell wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message

m...





Christina Websell wrote:

Once again when a cat was found dead here from a heart attack someone

came on from the USA and brought up the inside/outside debate again.

It wouldn't have made any difference, FGS.



I rarely enter into the inside/outside debate. It's safe here in the Uk

and not in America and we must agree to disagree.



I don't know of any cat shelter here who would agree to home a cat into

a indoor home.

so that's the difference between our countries and I suggest we leave it

at that.

Please.



Depends upon WHERE in the USA! (In the American Southwest, they are

likely to fall prey to coyotes or other predators.) Also, the barbaric

practice of declawing is legal here, which it is not in the UK - another

reason for "indoor" cats, even though some people let THEM out, too.

(Don't suppose anyone asks the cat whether it would prefer to be

"indoor-outdoor" or not.)



I think my cat prefers to be out/in but I don't want to argue about it. I

can't imagine why a cat would want to be kept inside all the time but that's

your culture. It's not ours.

and I don't like that we are always defending ourselves about letting them

roam. That's what they should do.

My wife and I have two indoor neutered calicos and they seem very content.

One word should suffice here in South Georgia for the hordes of outdoor cats: FLEAS

On 9/8/2014 5:36 AM, Jack Campin wrote:

A gated community infested with alligators sounds like something
out of a J.G. Ballard novel (he specialized in middle-class utopias
turning into nightmares; recommended if you haven't tried his stuff
before).


LOL! Well, I wouldn't say we're "infested" but they are native to the
area. I'm on an island off the southernmost coast of South Carolina.
The island is surrounded by salt marshes and sal****er creeks which
alligators seem to thrive in. There's no shortage of food; blue crab
and shrimp - prawns, for the US deprived thrive in these waters.
(Shrimping is a big industry in this area.)

I'll have to check into Mr. Ballard's works, thanks!

Jill

Christina Websell wrote:

I think my cat prefers to be out/in but I don't want to argue about it. I
can't imagine why a cat would want to be kept inside all the time but that's
your culture. It's not ours.
and I don't like that we are always defending ourselves about letting them
roam. That's what they should do.

Oh, I agree! The retirement residence, where I live now, requires that
pets be kept in or leashed. (How many cats do you know who will walk on
a leash?) However, it was not so long ago that you had to give up your
pets if you moved into such a facility. Thank heaven for all the
studies proving that pets are good for people!

Christina Websell wrote:

She was excused from the out then. but I guess she might have loved it.
and every time I hear about declawing and that the USA is the only place in
the world that allows it still.. I wonder why you are not all up in arms
about it and why your vets are not struck off for doing it.
My vet would not even think about if I asked him to declaw Boyfie. I'd be
off his list of clients immediately.


I'm afraid too many people here regard pets as objects, rather than
living beings. (If you don't believe that, talk to my friend who lives
in a resort area of Northern Minnesota, and every fall is presented with
the task of finding homes for all the cats abandoned by the "summer
people" when they return to the cities in the fall.) I long ago
realized that you can either have nice furniture or cats with their
claws intact - in my case the furniture was the casualty.

The Other Guy wrote:
On Sun, 7 Sep 2014 19:45:21 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

It's up to you all to tell your vets that declawing is not acceptable in any
country in the world except the USA.

The United States PRIDES itself on it's freedom.

Sometimes, often in fact, it's freedom to do stupid things,
but it IS still freedom.

Since 9/11/01 and the "Patriot Act" we're not nearly so "free" as you
seem to think!

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...



Christina Websell wrote:

She was excused from the out then. but I guess she might have loved it.
and every time I hear about declawing and that the USA is the only place
in the world that allows it still.. I wonder why you are not all up in
arms about it and why your vets are not struck off for doing it.
My vet would not even think about if I asked him to declaw Boyfie. I'd
be off his list of clients immediately.


I'm afraid too many people here regard pets as objects, rather than
living beings. (If you don't believe that, talk to my friend who lives
in a resort area of Northern Minnesota, and every fall is presented with
the task of finding homes for all the cats abandoned by the "summer
people" when they return to the cities in the fall.) I long ago
realized that you can either have nice furniture or cats with their
claws intact - in my case the furniture was the casualty.


~~~~~~~~
You are correct. In fact, pets are considered "property" under US law, so
their "value" is limited in cases of abuse. Fortunately, some of those laws
are changing at least to the extent of holding people criminally liable in
cases of abuse.

I live in a university town and did volunteer work some years ago for the
Humane Society and the animal shelter. It is common to find that cats and
dogs have been abandoned when students (sometimes families) leave for the
summer, or even for spring break. We do have some wonderful rescue groups
here that have done outstanding work in finding homes for a great many
animals, and the rescue groups are also active in TNR (trap/neuter/return)
for feral cats with a number of feeding stations around town. I adopted
Duffy from an animal shelter in a town about 30 miles from here, and I
adopted Selina and Nikki from a local rescue group. Incidentally, I have
beautiful cats and also nice furniture because my cats are good about using
scratching posts. They have damaged one chair, but that's about it--but my
furry threesome would win out over any furniture if I had to make a choice.

Here is something I have been able to do for our local rescue group, and
some of you might be interested in doing the same thing: I buy my groceries
from Kroger, and I buy a great many items (including Wellness cat food) from
amazon. Both of them have a program where they donate a small amount to the
charity of your choice. I chose the rescue group for both purposes. The
amazon program is called Amazon/Smile. I know the president of the local
alley cats allies (rescue group), and she says they receive a payment every
quarter. It's a very small proportion of the money we spend, but it adds up
if a number of people sign up for the program. I realize that Kroger is not
available in all areas, but the Amazon/Smile program is available
everywhere.

MaryL

I don't know of any cat shelter here who would agree to home a cat
into a indoor home.

In Edinburgh they greatly prefer that cats should be allowed out, but
they can't very well refuse all the time since such a large proportion
of the city's population lives in upper-floor flats.


(Don't suppose anyone asks the cat whether it would prefer to be
"indoor-outdoor" or not.)

Ours got the choice when we moved here (cottage with a garden in
a fairly quiet area) from a top-floor city flat. The results
were quite variable. They all took to going out immediately,
but as they got older things changed. Ishmael kept going out
all night even when he was old, weak and terminally ill with
cancer; Muriel gradually lost interest in the outdoors, despite
being in very good physical shape. Our Chloe is now about the
same age and it takes a lot of persuading to get her outside at
all. I have to open the back door and show her where the patches
of sunshine are before she takes any interest.

It might be that male cats have a thing about having their own
bit of territory somewhere. Ishmael had a clump of bushes across
the back lane which he used to live in for most of each summer,
growling at any strange cat who came near it. Ollie has another
clump of bushes at the other end of the row - we're in a small
terrace of six cottages, so it's about 100 yards away, and he
commutes to work down there for half the day.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 http://www.campin.me.uk Twitter: JackCampin

"Judith Latham" wrote in message
...
...




..

All my cats have come from the RSPCA rescue centre in Birmingham UK.
Although my first cat, Sweep (RB) moved in from a neighbours house, they
had got her from there, Sophie (RB) and Sootie we got ourselves from
there. They have all been lovely although very different characters.

Were they declawed? No. Of course not.
I'm enraged about it atm.

"Matt Ferrari" wrote in message
...

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...
Once again when a cat was found dead here from a heart attack someone
came on from the USA and brought up the inside/outside debate again.
It wouldn't have made any difference, FGS.

I rarely enter into the inside/outside debate. It's safe here in the Uk
and not in America and we must agree to disagree. I don't know of any
cat shelter here who would agree to home a cat into a indoor home.
so that's the difference between our countries and I suggest we leave it
at that.
Please.



Goofy is indoor outdoor but has restrictions on the amount of time. Most
of the time hes not allowed out after 10 pm
He loves being able to go outside. hes had a couple of bad gashes from
fights over 14 years but he does pretty well and seems
to know not to go on the street by my house.

Boyfie likes going out but like you he's not allowed at night because I
worry about foxes (he probably doesn't)

If he's out in the day he usually spends a hour or two in the multiple big
back gardens we have and then comes back in. He rarely goes out on the
front where the road is. And certainly not now, the gas men are there! For
7 weeks at least.
Was not happy with a jackhammer at 7.30 a.m. but it has to be done.

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...


"Judith Latham" wrote in message
...
...




..

All my cats have come from the RSPCA rescue centre in Birmingham UK.
Although my first cat, Sweep (RB) moved in from a neighbours house, they
had got her from there, Sophie (RB) and Sootie we got ourselves from
there. They have all been lovely although very different characters.

Were they declawed? No. Of course not.
I'm enraged about it atm.

~~~~~~~
Declawing is an abomination, but I hope you do realize that even in the US
the vast majority of cats are not declawed. That does not make it "right."
Far from it, but some of your messages sound like you think all of our cats
are declawed. The rescue group I use, for example, has an absolute
prohibition against it and will not adopt to anyone who intends to have this
done. I do agree with you that the major problem is with vets (profit
motive, I would say), but there are also many people who make it clear that
they will have a cat euthanized if a vet will not amputate.

MaryL