Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cats are all one size and they rarely attack people or chase cars.

This is a Maine Coon, they are not called Gentle Giants without a reason.

first, the dog is less than 10lbs so the poop is smaller than all the rabbit poop that's in everyone's yard. Not really a big nuisance.
Second, for the person who was bitten, this is a tiny dog. The chances of even breaking skin if the dog bites is really rare. I doubt the dog would bring any harm to anyone.

I will call animal control if I see your dog loose OP. What you're doing is against the law.

Anonymous wrote:If you love your pet and are a responsible pet owner, you will keep it safe. Anytime a pet leaves the house, its risk of getting hurt or killed goes through the roof.
It's all fun and games until something actually happens. It only takes once for Fido to not come home. And whose fault was it for letting it out. I'm never taking that risk.

Agreed. That goes for ALL house pets, including cats. Seen plenty of roadkill cats. A friend of mine recently lost her cat (at least, we assume so; he went out one day like usual, and never came back). Someone I know was out on a hike, and heard a cat screaming, from up in the trees. An owl had it. She had nightmares for a really long time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Outdoor cats aren’t legal many places, including DC. If you see sn outdoor cat in DC, it’s either a stray or someone is illegally letting their cat out without a leash.

We treat our cat lijj my e a small dog in this respect. We let him go out in our backyard under supervision, but otherwise he stays in with us. I’d definitely worry about him wandering the neighborhood on his own. I once saw a possum in our backyard that was probably 30 pounds. It’s really not safe to let your cats roam free in the city.

Illegal in Montgomery County too.

How about you provide a citation for that which doesn't start with the sentence: " An owner must not: (1) Allow an animal other than an altered cat to be at large."

Someone(s) keeps posting the link https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/montgomerycounty/latest/montgomeryco_md/0-0-0-3195 in the various threads, and it doesn't say what they think it says.

An owner must not:
...
(3) Allow an animal to enter private property without the property owner's permission. The property owner may capture the trespassing animal humanely and promptly notify animal control or other appropriate law enforcement authorities, or humanely transport the animal to an animal shelter.

Right. Laws and regulations tend to be precise.

An altered cat roaming at large is not illegal. If you videotape one roaming in the street, you can't criticize it based on legal grounds. Once it enters private property, there is a problem. But that's not just because it was at large, which is otherwise permitted.

Sure, you can argue that cats roaming at large will necessarily also go on private property. That's not a given, but it's an argument, and you would make and enforce the change by changing the law.

Alas, the law doesn't merely conform to your idea of what is reasonable. You have to do the work. Have at it, love.

If you love your pet and are a responsible pet owner, you will keep it safe. Anytime a pet leaves the house, its risk of getting hurt or killed goes through the roof.
It's all fun and games until something actually happens. It only takes once for Fido to not come home. And whose fault was it for letting it out. I'm never taking that risk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a little dog (about 8lbs) and we'll sometimes let him out. He'll roam the neighborhood, sniff around have a little fun, then comes home, barks and we let him in. How is that so different than people having "outdoor" cats where they are outside all day unleashed or supervised?

If it's because dogs bite....well cats scratch. And ours is so little, he's smaller than a regular cat.

Do you think your neighbors appreciate your dog pooping everywhere?

Cats never pee or poop?

Cats who poop outdoors bury their poop.

How considerate.

Anonymous wrote:OP must live in a rural area with no traffic and danger of her dog getting run over. Plus coyotes and fox and other predators are nocturnal and hunt at night. I would say her little FeFe is safe for the most part. OP unless there was an aggressive dog or a cranky old person in your neighborhood I wouldn’t worry about it either.

Someone needs to remind the many foxes in my neighborhood that they are nocturnal. I have only seen coyote a handful of times but also during the day.

OP must live in a rural area with no traffic and danger of her dog getting run over. Plus coyotes and fox and other predators are nocturnal and hunt at night. I would say her little FeFe is safe for the most part. OP unless there was an aggressive dog or a cranky old person in your neighborhood I wouldn’t worry about it either.

Because cats are smart enough to ALWAYS come back home. Only reason they wouldn’t is if they got killed by another animal/car or if they found a home where they served Fancy Feast in a crystal bowl. My German Shepherd escaped through an opening in our fence she was able to squeeze out of and was missing for three weeks. I put up fliers, ads with rewards and asked people if they’ve seen her by driving around for days. Some guy finally called and said there was a shepherd under an abandoned house next-door. I immediately drove out there, 4 miles away btw, called her name and she came running from under the house and jumped in my car. Hugged the guy and gave him $100. One of the happiest days of my life! She was thin and her toenails were down to the quick from wondering the streets for three weeks. She had on tags with our info but not many people would approach a shepherd. So basically dogs can lose their sense of direction and get lost and cats don’t.

Anonymous wrote:I personally don't think cats should be allowed to roam free either.

We bought a new house and the neighbors very overweight cat insisted on hanging out in our yard. The neighbor told us when we moved in "Fluffy loved the family that lived there. He was sad to see them move". when I pull up in the driveway and Fluffy is sitting on the chairs on my front porch, he raised his head from his nap, looked around, and then ... went back to sleep (like *I* was bothering him). DH knows how much I abhor cats (traumatic event from childhood) and turn the chairs on their side to keep him from cuddling up on them during the day. Because once he was there, nothing was scaring him away.

I had to threaten my kids not to play with or dare feed him, because other neighbors said he was cute but scratches (he even scratched his owners).

Anyway, not sure what happened to the cat, but he eventually stopped coming around.

Omg that’s horrible, what a nuisance. You should’ve called animal control and had that out of control dangerous animal thrown in a cage and taken away!

Cats are not a menace to society plan and simple. They don’t travel in packs and attack and possibly kill someone. They mind their own business and actually good for the environment by killing rats and mice. But the best part is they are very courteous and cover their own s***! There is no comparison so accept the facts. The worse they do is leave paw prints on the hoods of cars. Gasp!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a little dog (about 8lbs) and we'll sometimes let him out. He'll roam the neighborhood, sniff around have a little fun, then comes home, barks and we let him in. How is that so different than people having "outdoor" cats where they are outside all day unleashed or supervised?

If it's because dogs bite....well cats scratch. And ours is so little, he's smaller than a regular cat.

Do you think your neighbors appreciate your dog pooping everywhere?

Cats never pee or poop?

Cats who poop outdoors bury their poop.

I personally don't think cats should be allowed to roam free either.

We bought a new house and the neighbors very overweight cat insisted on hanging out in our yard. The neighbor told us when we moved in "Fluffy loved the family that lived there. He was sad to see them move". when I pull up in the driveway and Fluffy is sitting on the chairs on my front porch, he raised his head from his nap, looked around, and then ... went back to sleep (like *I* was bothering him). DH knows how much I abhor cats (traumatic event from childhood) and turn the chairs on their side to keep him from cuddling up on them during the day. Because once he was there, nothing was scaring him away.

I had to threaten my kids not to play with or dare feed him, because other neighbors said he was cute but scratches (he even scratched his owners).

Anyway, not sure what happened to the cat, but he eventually stopped coming around.