My downstairs neighbor has a cat. Tomcat, black, quite big for a housecat. All indoors, though.
That's something that makes me curious. How many cat keepers let their furry little friends go out. I've seen websites saying that it's just a bad idea. There are downsides to it, like predation of birds and the risk that they'll just take off and not come back. So can you lower the risk of those things to an acceptable level?
I mean, I'd say I'm more of a dog person, but I like cats and would like to think most cat owners are doing right by them.
2 comments:
It's not surprising the neighbor's cat is big since tomcats are often pretty large creatures mostly so they can catch girlcats who prefer not to be caught easily.
My guess is lots of people keep their cats indoors for the reasons you mentioned. We often see pictures of lost ones on lampposts around here, but my impression is that their cats have moved elsewhere for better food or something and the signs are to let whoever has adopted said pet know that there's a primary owner. However, if a lost dog is announced that way the whole neighborhood will go out searching.
As far as doing right by one's indoor cat there's quite a number of people who take cat entertainment centres very seriously. If you don't believe this is a big thing just do a search for cat playrooms. sheesh..
The evolutionary reasons you cite are probably in play. Since I'm used to seeing smaller cats then the most logical inference is that most of them are girls, not just boys who have been fixed. Maybe people think of cats as feminine so that's how they adopt. I hope that doesn't mean huge numbers of Toms left at the shelter or worse.
Cats are agile enough to get around and over fences you wouldn't expect them to, so if they're curious about better food or anything else they can go out looking. But yeah, it's good to at least have whoever takes in the cat touch base with the original owner if it's at all possible. As for dogs, I'm glad the whole neighborhood gets involved. Better to see them as a lost dog than as a stray dog, considering what usually happens to the latter.
Kitties are restless and the owners don't want them to get bored. That's cool, but all things being equal cats can make their own fun, and you just have to prevent them from breaking anything. Same thing's true of children, really.
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