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.

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.

A family with an outdoor cat just moved in next door. I'm thrilled. The kids like her and our mole may be gone

Anonymous wrote:Cats are animals. Keeping them indoors 24 hrs a day is cruel. Unfortunately they can't read property boundaries and do climb fences. But not everybody is like you. We love our neighbor's cat to pieces and it makes my kid's day when the neighbor cat comes to visit us (and she's always rewarded with some petting.)

So are dogs/pet rats/ chincillas/ ferrets and the like, you idiot. Yet you'd have your underwear in a twist if any of these were walking around freely. Dumb argument.

I just think it's dangerous for the cat. What if it gets lost? Run over by a car? Attacked by a rabid animal?

People who let their cats roam free out of some misguided love for their cats shouldn't be allowed to adopt cats in the first place. That's why most responsible shelters and cat rescues make people sign contracts that their adopted cats will be inside-only.

Setting aside the huge and documented impacts to native wildlife species (and the disruptions to the native food chain that those impacts cause), cats outside are also at much greater risk of getting hit by cars, getting attacked by foxes, coyotes, dogs, and even birds of prey such as eagles and hawks, contracting diseases such as FIV or feline leukemia from other cats (both pets and feral) and, if God forbid they aren't neutered, contributing to the feral cat population. Roaming cats are also exposed to poisons (anti-freeze, rodenticides, etc.), traps, and deliberate human cruelty. Life for outdoor-only cats is nasty, brutish, and short, and the lifespan for indoor-outdoor cats is significantly reduced over indoor-only.

The American Veterinary Medical Association has a policy statement against allowing owned cats outside, and every respected animal welfare organization in this country agrees. To my mind, if you believe your cats are better off being allowed to roam outside because it's "natural" for them to roam outside and be exposed to predation, disease, and accidental death, you're no better than the anti-vaxxers who believe it's "unnatural" for kids not to get childhood diseases.

Rationalize all you want about letting your cat outside -- if you do, you are an irresponsible pet owner and you are not putting your cat's interests first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The problem, 11:14, is that you are justifying to yourself that by letting your cat roam free that you're actually doing me a public service. Not cool.

Keep telling yourself that, but don't say a word when you start finding yellow patches of dead grass on your lawn because I've made it my dog's preferred spot to relieve himself. After all, you clearly think that private property is public when it comes to domesticated animals, so if you're okay with your animal doing its thing in my yard, you certainly won't mind a few random piles of dog poop in your's.

PP here. I don't have a cat. I don't have any pets. I'd love for more people in my neighborhood to let their cats roam and kill rodents and pest birds like starlings, though.

I do, however, have lots of problems with dog owners like you. Dog shit in my yard isn't linked to any societal or epidemiological benefit. From your posts you sound as stupid as you do entitled, though, since you seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that all animals and pets are to be treated in the same way.

I don't have a cat either and I agree. Cats help keep rodent populations down.

My cats rule my home and never go outside. I love my cats more than I love humans.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The problem, 11:14, is that you are justifying to yourself that by letting your cat roam free that you're actually doing me a public service. Not cool.

Keep telling yourself that, but don't say a word when you start finding yellow patches of dead grass on your lawn because I've made it my dog's preferred spot to relieve himself. After all, you clearly think that private property is public when it comes to domesticated animals, so if you're okay with your animal doing its thing in my yard, you certainly won't mind a few random piles of dog poop in your's.

PP here. I don't have a cat. I don't have any pets. I'd love for more people in my neighborhood to let their cats roam and kill rodents and pest birds like starlings, though.

I do, however, have lots of problems with dog owners like you. Dog shit in my yard isn't linked to any societal or epidemiological benefit. From your posts you sound as stupid as you do entitled, though, since you seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that all animals and pets are to be treated in the same way.

Why is that a problem? My animal is my pet and my responsibility. No, I wouldn't leave its feces everywhere (that's disgusting, which is why I'm making the point), and also wouldn't assume that anyone else would want him roaming all over their yard. Just because it's a cat instead of a dog doesn't mean I want it wandering around my patio when I'm eating dinner, using my front porch as its spot to take a nap, or using my garden as its litter box. if I wanted a cat, I'd get one. Why call me stupid? Please instead explain why they should be treated differently?

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The problem, 11:14, is that you are justifying to yourself that by letting your cat roam free that you're actually doing me a public service. Not cool.

Keep telling yourself that, but don't say a word when you start finding yellow patches of dead grass on your lawn because I've made it my dog's preferred spot to relieve himself. After all, you clearly think that private property is public when it comes to domesticated animals, so if you're okay with your animal doing its thing in my yard, you certainly won't mind a few random piles of dog poop in your's.

PP here. I don't have a cat. I don't have any pets. I'd love for more people in my neighborhood to let their cats roam and kill rodents and pest birds like starlings, though.

I do, however, have lots of problems with dog owners like you. Dog shit in my yard isn't linked to any societal or epidemiological benefit. From your posts you sound as stupid as you do entitled, though, since you seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that all animals and pets are to be treated in the same way.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The problem, 11:14, is that you are justifying to yourself that by letting your cat roam free that you're actually doing me a public service. Not cool.

Keep telling yourself that, but don't say a word when you start finding yellow patches of dead grass on your lawn because I've made it my dog's preferred spot to relieve himself. After all, you clearly think that private property is public when it comes to domesticated animals, so if you're okay with your animal doing its thing in my yard, you certainly won't mind a few random piles of dog poop in your's.

Don't be surprised if people question even having a lawn in the climate around here. Some might not feel too bad.

OP here. The problem, 11:14, is that you are justifying to yourself that by letting your cat roam free that you're actually doing me a public service. Not cool.

Keep telling yourself that, but don't say a word when you start finding yellow patches of dead grass on your lawn because I've made it my dog's preferred spot to relieve himself. After all, you clearly think that private property is public when it comes to domesticated animals, so if you're okay with your animal doing its thing in my yard, you certainly won't mind a few random piles of dog poop in your's.

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.

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."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cats are animals. Keeping them indoors 24 hrs a day is cruel. Unfortunately they can't read property boundaries and do climb fences. But not everybody is like you. We love our neighbor's cat to pieces and it makes my kid's day when the neighbor cat comes to visit us (and she's always rewarded with some petting.)

This is not a fact. It is your opinion.

There are major consequences to letting cats roam. They kill native bird populations and the cats themselves are vulnerable to coyotes, foxes, cars/traffic, disease.

It is cruel to allow pet cats to roam.

My fat outdoor cat has killed zero birds, yet I've seen black rat snakes strangle and kill plenty of baby birds in their nests! Where's the outcry?? People should keep their black rat snakes indoors or on leashes!

Oh shut up. You don't know that your cat hasn't killed any birds and its abusive to over feed the poor thing to boot.

An rat snakes are indigenous to this area and a natural predator. Domesticated cats are not.

Many of the birds (eg, starlings - blech) around here aren't native either, and they have a negative impact on the native bird population. Outdoor cats and dogs were not unusual not so long ago. Neighbor who moved 5 years ago had the last free range dog in the neighborhood. He'd lived in his house for 50+ years before Fairfax became overrun by subdivisions.