To all cat owners...

[Kiely]

On the flipside, its very Fritzl like.

[Dabamf]

Originally Posted by Etoille

a cat does not need to go outside to enjoy life. and by dabamfs argument if i have kids and my 13 year old teenager wants to joyride with 18 year olds i should let him/her. or my 16 year old needs a super sweet sixteen with a 50k lexus. otherwise my kids will be dull. lol

Great strawman. It's about risk vs reward. I've had maybe 7 cats in my lifetime, all of which went outside, all of which had very vivid personalities, and all of which lived a long life. One I think got into a fight with another cat once but came out of it okay. Other peoples' cats I see that are indoor cats seem boring with no personality and they have no energy in them. This is obviously just my observation and may not hold true universally. But the bottom line is the risk of letting a cat outside is not too great for the reward to the cat and probably to the owner also.

As for fleas, I too had a similar nightmare-ish encounter with them. About 7 years ago my cat brought in fleas and it took us an entire summer to get rid of them. At least 3 months. We put some gel on the cats and it kept the fleas off them, but they were still in our carpets. We fumigated a total of 4 times, but that stuff doesn't kill the eggs, which soon hatch with a billion more fleas. I had bites all up my legs every day from sitting at the computer and having them crawl up on me. I started wearing giant wool socks with jeans tucked into them so they couldn't get to me, and eventually after about 3 or more months they died out.

That was a god damn nightmare...but still worth it for our cats to go outside.

[gavinrad]

Originally Posted by Dabamf

Great strawman. It's about risk vs reward. I've had maybe 7 cats in my lifetime, all of which went outside, all of which had very vivid personalities, and all of which lived a long life. One I think got into a fight with another cat once but came out of it okay. Other peoples' cats I see that are indoor cats seem boring with no personality and they have no energy in them. This is obviously just my observation and may not hold true universally. But the bottom line is the risk of letting a cat outside is not too great for the reward to the cat and probably to the owner also.

As for fleas, I too had a similar nightmare-ish encounter with them. About 7 years ago my cat brought in fleas and it took us an entire summer to get rid of them. At least 3 months. We put some gel on the cats and it kept the fleas off them, but they were still in our carpets. We fumigated a total of 4 times, but that stuff doesn't kill the eggs, which soon hatch with a billion more fleas. I had bites all up my legs every day from sitting at the computer and having them crawl up on me. I started wearing giant wool socks with jeans tucked into them so they couldn't get to me, and eventually after about 3 or more months they died out.

That was a god damn nightmare...but still worth it for our cats to go outside.

No, you are just an ignorant fuck. Cats do not need to go outside. A housecat that lacks personality sure as hell isn't going to magically gain one from being let outside from time to time, but it sure as hell can catch plenty of shit.

People like you shouldn't be allowed to own pets.

[Dabamf]

Originally Posted by gavinrad

No, you are just an ignorant fuck. Cats do not need to go outside. A housecat that lacks personality sure as hell isn't going to magically gain one from being let outside from time to time, but it sure as hell can catch plenty of shit.

People like you shouldn't be allowed to own pets.

Wait are we arguing the iraq war? You are a little worked up for an argument about letting cats outside.

[Arbitrary]

If you haven't ever woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of blood curdling screams only to find your pet soaked in blood and purring like a motorboat with the headless corpse of a rabbit at the window then you've really never owned a cat.

She was damned proud of herself. That rabbit was huge.

[earthfell]

i demand more kitty pictures

[Koivu]

Originally Posted by Arbitrary

If you haven't ever woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of blood curdling screams only to find your pet soaked in blood and purring like a motorboat with the headless corpse of a rabbit at the window then you've really never owned a cat.

She was damned proud of herself. That rabbit was huge.

Mine habitually leaves dead mice/birds on the hallway carpet for reasons unknown. Doesn't eat them, just plays with the bodies. Never knew he was a serial killer before we moved out to the country. >_>

[Dabamf]

Its gotta be some sort of instinct to provide for the pack or something, because both of mine regularly slaughter small animals and drop them on the doorstep and then just stand there proud as can be.

My one cat is retarded, he was standing at the back door with a chipmunk in its mouth wanting to get in, and I just stared at him, so he meowed, allowing the chipmunk to jump out of his mouth and ran away.

[GorestabbCoE]

Originally Posted by Dabamf

Its gotta be some sort of instinct to provide for the pack or something, because both of mine regularly slaughter small animals and drop them on the doorstep and then just stand there proud as can be.

My one cat is retarded, he was standing at the back door with a chipmunk in its mouth wanting to get in, and I just stared at him, so he meowed, allowing the chipmunk to jump out of his mouth and ran away.

Haha, my cat does this all the time. But he eats the mice in front of you, the sound of bones crunching really isn't pleasant.

It was even worse when we had two cats (they were two brothers, one died) as they used to hunt as a pair and bring back all sorts.

Was actually quite cool watching them in the back garden, one used to just stare at "The Target" and the other would creep round behind it.

Also, I never thought I'd find advice regarding pets on the FOH forums. Some nice infos here

[Arbitrary]

The bunny killer cat used to bring all kinds of creatures into the house alive. We'd find half dehydrated frogs, covered with dust, gimping about. I'd scoop them up, wash them off, and send them back outside. Poor things.

Chipmunks too, she'd catch them and just let them go.

As I understand things it is the cat trying to teach you what to do. From their perspective you are a terrible hunter so the offerings and catch/release behavior is the same sort of thing they would do for a kitten.

Look, I brought you something half alive! Kill it!

.............thanks. Good kitty.

[Awanka]

Originally Posted by Dabamf

As for fleas, I too had a similar nightmare-ish encounter with them. About 7 years ago my cat brought in fleas and it took us an entire summer to get rid of them. At least 3 months. We put some gel on the cats and it kept the fleas off them, but they were still in our carpets. We fumigated a total of 4 times, but that stuff doesn't kill the eggs, which soon hatch with a billion more fleas. I had bites all up my legs every day from sitting at the computer and having them crawl up on me. I started wearing giant wool socks with jeans tucked into them so they couldn't get to me, and eventually after about 3 or more months they died out.

That was a god damn nightmare...but still worth it for our cats to go outside.

No...

Fleas are the #1 reason not to allow pets outside. They're harder to get rid of than a zerg infestation, and are not worth the "vivacious" personality of an outdoor cat, not even cats as animated and magnetic as yours. Grats on your Tony Robbins of cats.