Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: need feedback re community pet policies

[Glen Ecklund (glen.ecklund]

I think indoor cats do better if they have never been outdoors.

*Glen Ecklund*
711 S. Orchard St., #303
Madison, WI 53715


On Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 1:08 PM Joanie Connors <jvcphd [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm surprised you have not run into bird lovers in these discussions about
> cats outside, since cats kill so many birds.
> As a cat lover who loves birds, I've chosen to restrict my cats to life
> indoors. So far they do not seem to be suffering.
> Joanie
> No community yet
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 10:45 AM Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Four dogs for the whole community? How does that work in practice? If the
> > community is at capacity, and someone needs to sell their house, do you
> > tell them they can't sell their unit to dog owners? What happens if
> > someone's dog has puppies? What happens if someone gets married and their
> > new spouse has a dog?
> >
> > Sorry, I know you didn't create the policy, I'm just having trouble
> getting
> > my mind around your existing policy.
> >
> > Liz Magill already shared the key points of Mosaic Commons's policy, but
> I
> > want to add one bit, which is that the limit on outdoor cats is "soft",
> > meaning someone could ask the Trustees for an exception. No one has yet
> > done so -- the number of outdoor cats has gotten fewer over the years,
> not
> > more -- but speaking as a former Trustee, I found the policy troubling.
> > What if we did hit capacity and someone did ask? On what basis would we
> > make the exception? The policy provided no guidance. Is it an automatic
> yes
> > unless there's some egregious reason to say no? What if we say yes to one
> > household, and then no to another...will that appear to be favoritism?
> This
> > is really a larger issue with policy exceptions in a cohousing context,
> but
> > our pet policy is one of the few policies that explicitly calls out
> > exceptions being possible.
> >
> > Diana
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 10:22 AM Bonnie Fergusson via Cohousing-L <
> > cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> >
> > >      Pets are a frequently controversial topic in Cohousing
> communities.
> > > Our policy here which is working so far is that there is no limit on
> pets
> > > but none are allowed in the Common House (due to allergies) and all
> > > dogs must be on a leash or under good voice command in the presence of
> > > their owners (depends on how well trained the animal is—we have one
> > elderly
> > > choweenie who is totally socialized, and unthreatening who is pretty
> much
> > > always off leash; the rest of the dogs are always leashed when outside
> on
> > > our premises. The cats are not allowed in the garden because their poop
> > was
> > > a problem for the Garden Committee folks, although there are feral cats
> > who
> > > gain access so I don’t know how useful that rule is.  Cats are only
> > allowed
> > > outside in the presence of their owners who keep an eye on them.  In
> > theory
> > > no pooping or peeing is allowed in the garden area and of course owners
> > are
> > > required to clean up any accidents.     Good luck in working out rules
> > that
> > > work for your community.Bonnie FergussonSwans Market CohousingOakland,
> CA
> > >
> > >
> > > Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, 5:04 AM, lisa pletka <lisampletka [at] 
> > > gmail.com
> >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >  Hello, co-housers
> > > I am a fairly new member at Santa Rosa Creek Commons, a limited equity
> > > intentional community in Santa Rosa, CA. Our community is now 42 years
> > old,
> > > and there has been some contention around pets and how many are allowed
> > on
> > > our campus. (Our long-standing policy permits only 4 dogs and 8 cats
> on a
> > > campus housing 35-40 people.) I am serving on an ad hoc committee to
> > > re-evaluate our pet policy.
> > >
> > > I would really appreciate hearing from other co-housing communities
> about
> > > the pet policies that work for you. Specifically, do you set a limit
> for
> > > the number of animals allowed per household or in the community as a
> > whole?
> > > Plus any other restrictions you think are important.
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance for your feedback -- Lisa Pletka
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > > http://L.cohousing.org/info
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > > http://L.cohousing.org/info
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > http://L.cohousing.org/info
> >
> >
> >
> >
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://L.cohousing.org/info
>
>
>
>