Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cats - indoor outdoor or both in cohousing

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hi Karen — I appreciate your and everyone’s contribution to helping save birds. 
And, more importantly, to find a way through this knotty problem of indoor vs. 
outdoor cats. This is an issue in almost every community I have ever visited. 

I believe these devices may work very well.  But birds aren’t the only 
“wildlife” even in the city.  The collar people used in your community worked 
well for birds but not for baby rabbits. 

I live in the same community as Sharon.  In my past, I’ve owned cats.  So I’m 
not against cats.   In my ignorance, my cats were indoor/outdoor cats.  I 
regret that decision to this day. 

When we moved into Takoma Village there were salamander-like creatures, bees, 
birds, etc. all around the flower boxes I maintain outside my house. (I’m on 
the 3rd floor.)    Once the cats moved in on the 3rd floor no more of any 
moving creatures.  Once the cats moved out ... once again there are bumble 
bees, other bees, birds that nest in those very same flower boxes I maintain … 
and … Ahem! … a squirrel that eats my spring bulbs. Well...nature has its dark 
side…

This year, we have a bunny rabbit that appears on the street level green from 
time to time.  We have one grandfathered cat still on the premises.  My hope is 
that she is too old to care about the bunny. Altho,  the bunny will probably 
eat the landscaping.  Like I said … dark side …

Thank you to everyone who has weighed in on this challenge.

:-)

Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Member, Board of Directors
Mid Atlantic Cohousing
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church, VA
202.546.4654

The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they 
know and then stop.
Mark Twain




> On Apr 28, 2020, at 10:57 PM, KAREN A CARLSON via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l 
> [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> I moved in with an old cat who tried to push screens out of windows and 
> jumped off a second balcony rather than be forced to live entirely indoors 
> (We had the policy of no outdoor cats except we grandfathered in the original 
> outdoor cats.)  I bought a special collar for my old guy (different from the 
> one linked to but the same idea) and as far as I know it worked....except for 
> baby rabbits.
> Karen Carlson
> Arboretum Cohousing
> Madison, WI
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l-bounces+kcarlson2=wisc.edu [at] cohousing.org> 
> on behalf of Linda Hobbet <coho [at] lindahobbet.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 7:49 PM
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Cats - indoor outdoor or both in cohousing
> 
> At Village Hearth, we are about to move in, our policy is that
> indoor/outdoor cats belonging to original residents can be grandfathered
> in, but after that, only indoor cats.
> 
> There are collars that are quite effective in protecting birds from
> cats, https://www.birdsbesafe.com/. Belled collars are not very useful
> because cats learn to walk without ringing the bell. The collars protect
> birds but not reptiles and small mammals.
> 
> Linda Hobbet
> 
> On 4/28/2020 8:11 PM, Muriel Kranowski wrote:
>> Re the concern that such a policy might make sales more difficult, one of
>> our original founding couples dropped out of the project because we didn't
>> have a no-outdoor-cats policy at that time. The man was a passionate birder
>> and was not willing to live where his neighbors' cats could be outside
>> killing birds at any time.
> 
> --
> coho [at] lindahobbet.com
> 706-202-7178 (mobile)
> www.VillageHearthCohousing.com<http://www.VillageHearthCohousing.com>
> Durham, NC
> 
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