Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Outdoor Cats

[Becky Weaver (becky_weaver]

For people who haven't moved into their new community yet, who have outdoor
cats, I'd like to share something I learned transitioning my free-range cat
to an indoor one. He adjusted better to one big change than several little
ones. My cat was originally a stray that we couldn't keep *out* of our house
(it had cat-sized holes in the foundation and floors). I moved, and after a
while became convinced that keeping him indoors was better for many reasons,
so I tried keeping him inside. He was most displeased, and I started letting
him out again to get some peace. Eventually I moved to another apartment,
and it was no trouble to keep him inside after that. Since I'd never let him
out that particular front door, it didn't occur to him that he COULD go out
that door, and he never missed it. Maybe he's just not a very bright cat ...
but since he had to adjust to the move anyway, becoming an indoor cat at the
same time caused him little, if any, additional distress.

Some benefits to indoor cat-ownership I haven't seen mentioned here are flea
control, less exposure to diseases like feline leukemia virus and heartworm,
less cat poo in YOUR garden (cat owners are gardeners too), no days spent
wondering whether your cat is on an adventure or dead on the side of the
road, and no decapitated voles on the floor first thing in the morning.

Becky Weaver
512-478-7321
becky_weaver [at] io.com

--------------------------------

Nature's laws affirm instead of prohibit. If you violate her laws, you are
your own prosecutor, attorney, judge, jury, and hangman.

- Luther Burbank

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