Why is your outdoor cat acceptable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's been a HUGE surge in Lyme disease concurrent with the push to reduce the outdoor cat population.

Lyme disease's primary reservoir is white-footed mice and other small rodents (chipmunks, etc) NOT deer (deer are the end-stage blood meal, and can't pass on Lyme disease, only small rodents have the bacteria at high enough concentrations in their blood to infect ticks and then those ticks infect humans).

Cats control small rodents much better than poison and traps. It's not a coincidence that we're seeing this dramatic surge in illness now that cats are mostly kept indoors. I'd rather see a few dead mice on my lawn than worry about my kids having permanent neurological symptoms from missing an infected tick during our daily tick checks.

Citation?

Both in popular press and peer-reviewed journals:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3812887
http://entomologytoday.org/2014/03/24/white-footed-mice-not-harmed-by-ticks-or-lyme-disease/

“Our findings underscore the importance of mice as reservoirs for tick-borne pathogens,” said co-author Shannon LaDeau. “From a human health perspective, the indifference that white-footed mice have to blacklegged ticks is bad news. It signals a positive feedback loop that favors the proliferation of parasites.”

http://www.mobot.org/plantscience/resbot/repr/add/domesticcat_driscoll2007.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/nyregion/21cats.html
http://www.livescience.com/18294-cats-world-died.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=RSEzBbNRXzAC&pg=RA1-PA107&lpg=RA1-PA107

"A study in New Zealand in 1979 found that, when cats were nearly eradicated from a small island, the local rat population quickly quadrupled."

Rationalize all you want. These links do nothing to prove that owned, roaming cats will effectively keep Lyme disease and other illnesses for which rodents are vectors in check. It is, however, proven beyond doubt that free-roaming cats -- a non-native, invasive species -- kill literally millions and millions of birds in this country every year. Including insectivorous birds that would otherwise help keep mosquito populations in check.

Lyme disease is a problem way bigger than allowing cats outside can solve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always assume people with outdoor cats don't love their cats like I do, but I'm a crazy cat lady, so I guess it isn't fair to compare.

My girl NEVER goes outside alone because I don't want her to be hit by a car or attacked by a dog. I pay a teenage girl to walk her on her harness and leash a few times a week, though, because my cat enjoys the sun and wind, and playing in snow (this seems to be less outrageous in Europe where we live, but I would not hesitate to have my cat walked in the US either). What I don't understand is why people seem to think that the choice is either a. keep the cat indoors all the time, never to feel the sunshine or wind, or b. let the cat roam freely, exposed to cars, dogs, poisons, and other dangers. My cat doesn't trot along behind her walker on a leash, but she DOES trot along happily as the person follows her, and she comes running when she sees me pick up her harness and carrier to give to the walker. Why can't people just take their cat outside on a leash, like they do with dogs?

By the way, a cat on a long leash is happy to walk around a yard or park while you follow it for twenty minutes or so, and then lounge on the grass while you read a book. They aren't exactly active for long periods of time. It's super easy.

My cat hates, hates, hates the harness and leash. She loves being outside, preferably in a bush or up a tree. We moved to an apartment without a balcony even and she's been so sad. I take out the harness and she hides under the bed.

We live in an apartment too because it is what we got for our overseas placement. I had to get my cat used to leash walking, and in the beginning, I would put the harness and leash on her even though it was unfamiliar and she didn't like it then, and then stuff her in her carrier (because it would freak her out to go in the elevator or maybe encounter a dog on the way to the park or green area). As soon as she was put down outside, her ears are pricked forward and she was so happy, and would immediately start nibbling grass or trotting a little bit to explore. And now she gets happy when she sees the harness. Think about it: people have to put time into training dogs to do stuff. You wouldn't expect a dog to just like an unfamiliar request or routine, and cats are the same in a lot of ways (except people don't work with them to teach them anything).

I would advise you to seize your cat and put on her harness anyway, and put her in the carrier, because when she is outside, she'll be happier, and having been outside for a bit, she won't be sad indoors. She'll learn to be OK with the harness. It isn't healthy for her to be indoors all the time, especially since she used to be outside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always assume people with outdoor cats don't love their cats like I do, but I'm a crazy cat lady, so I guess it isn't fair to compare.

My girl NEVER goes outside alone because I don't want her to be hit by a car or attacked by a dog. I pay a teenage girl to walk her on her harness and leash a few times a week, though, because my cat enjoys the sun and wind, and playing in snow (this seems to be less outrageous in Europe where we live, but I would not hesitate to have my cat walked in the US either). What I don't understand is why people seem to think that the choice is either a. keep the cat indoors all the time, never to feel the sunshine or wind, or b. let the cat roam freely, exposed to cars, dogs, poisons, and other dangers. My cat doesn't trot along behind her walker on a leash, but she DOES trot along happily as the person follows her, and she comes running when she sees me pick up her harness and carrier to give to the walker. Why can't people just take their cat outside on a leash, like they do with dogs?

By the way, a cat on a long leash is happy to walk around a yard or park while you follow it for twenty minutes or so, and then lounge on the grass while you read a book. They aren't exactly active for long periods of time. It's super easy.

Why were dogs originally domesticated? To help out during hunts and to protect family, livestock, etc. They're naturally good at it, and they do that now. Why were horses originally domesticated? To carry and pull, they're naturally good at it, and they do it now. Why were cats originally domesticated? To kill vermin. Now they are housepets...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you called animal control? A momma cat had kittens in my kids' small play area. I was concerned they might inadvertent ally encounter her and she might attack being territorial. They said policy was to let the feral cats be and that the cats would move on soon. They did and no problems. This was Fairfax 2 years ago.

I remember this.