cats

[mark@madbbs.com]

This is an age old argument - outside vs strictly inside cats.  There are some people who are absolutely ballistic about it (I ran into some on a pet chat room.)  I ran a large SPCA for years and I can tell you there is more than one way to skin (or keep) a cat.

 

I love cats, and my vet husband does also.  We live in a rural area on a very quiet road and back from that.  Our cats rarely leave our property (30 acres) and go in and out.  We have 5 that come in and about 10 that do not, either because they don't want to, or are semi feral.  They are all fixed - some on the kitchen table like Lif''s cats - all are vaccinated for FVRCP, Rabies and FeLv.   Most are over 8 years old with the oldest being closer to 13.  We fully expect then to live to 15+.  The stats about outside cats only living two years refers to urban areas and semi feral cats who do not receive medical care and regular food.  Actually the average age of demise in that situation is 18 months.

 

I certainly agree that if you live in a populated area or near a semi busy road, you need to keep your cats in, they certainly will live much longer, but generalizations are not fair.

 

L Hayes