Well, of course I agree with you about the declawing thing. It's something people do because it's convinent to THEM, not the cat. I hate docking of dogs' ears and tails, too. When I got my Doberman her ears and tail were already cut, and while it made her look good, I kept thinking I'd never had been able to have that done myself.
My only concern is that your kitty is a partly outdoor cat. I lost my one and only precious cat because he was allowed outdoors and got badly injured. Please be careful.
It's great to know you're concerned. When I was growing up having an indoor/outdoor cat was a normal thing. An ad for kids at bedtime used to say "put out the cat, snap on the locks", now it says "bring in the cat".
Ideally I think all cats (ESPECIALLY in Australia) should have cat runs. But these are often expensive and impractical in the teeny subdivided blocks you get these days (my parents place is on a full block, right now I live in a 3 bedroom, 2 storey unit in a secure complex and the yards are pretty much non-existent, not to mention the fact that the freeway is directly behind our back wall).
I do think cats should be able to experience the outside world, unfortunately the world these days is generally unsafe for them and in Australia they are a HUGE problem because they prey on native wildlife (Phantom is very guilty of this crime).
I don't think we ever intended for Phantom to be an indoor cat but we did try her with a litter tray for a while. But she's the kind of cat that excavates 5 deep holes before she's happy then uses the last hole (it looks like we've had rabbits in the garden after she's done her buisness). A litter tray just didn't work, we ended up with litter all over the laundry and her pooping in the corner under the T.V.
Luckily Phantom is very territorial (weird behaviour for an early neutered female, she even shakes her tail as if to spray on some things, thank God she doesn't actually spray!) The furthest I have seen her roam from our property is over nextdoor's fence to roll in a dirt patch (I think this area of thier frontyard is part of her turf, the backyard however contains a dog), and across the road in front of the house (when I see her doing this I quickly catch her and bring her back into our yard). Of course I have no idea what she does when I'm not looking but I doubt she roams far.
I always worry when she doesn't turn up for a while (half a day is plenty to make me worry) that she's been hit by a car or something. But she is still well, so hopefully she's just careful and would rather laze around in her own yard then venture onto roads too often.
I have seen some AWESOME ones people have constructed that have large cage areas with lawn, then high and low "tunnels" that run all over the garden. The cat pretty much has free range of the yard, can experience the smells and sights, but isn't a threat to wildlife and isn't threatened by cars or malicious people.
Aye, right with you there, totally love the idea of cat runs, particularly here in Australia. I forgot that you were even in Australia (you ARE in Australia, right? This IS cosmos? Or have I gone and confused someone else and just wound up with two friends instead of one??).
I'd personally love something like a cat-run for my birdies, but with an eventually open top.. and a small area for them to hop in and out of the house as they please.
*reads the links*
Oh god, that's horrific. I had no idea. I'm just glad I wasn't FOR declawing before either.. I'm totally against man does 'owning' animals, but even moreso against any mutilation. It took all the guts I had to trim my birds feathers, and I was insanely careful about it and read up heaps - and thank the gods, I did it perfectly. Their wings grow back regularly and quickly and they're pooping from the top of the curtains again in no time *laughs*
They actually go up higher less because now they understand that it's one of the VERY FEW no-nos here. Well, they still go up to the curtain rails, they just don't crap on the curtain itself. Now if only I could get them to poop only on newspaper..
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thanks for pointing that out.
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My opinion...
My only concern is that your kitty is a partly outdoor cat. I lost my one and only precious cat because he was allowed outdoors and got badly injured. Please be careful.
Re: My opinion...
It's great to know you're concerned. When I was growing up having an indoor/outdoor cat was a normal thing. An ad for kids at bedtime used to say "put out the cat, snap on the locks", now it says "bring in the cat".
Ideally I think all cats (ESPECIALLY in Australia) should have cat runs. But these are often expensive and impractical in the teeny subdivided blocks you get these days (my parents place is on a full block, right now I live in a 3 bedroom, 2 storey unit in a secure complex and the yards are pretty much non-existent, not to mention the fact that the freeway is directly behind our back wall).
I do think cats should be able to experience the outside world, unfortunately the world these days is generally unsafe for them and in Australia they are a HUGE problem because they prey on native wildlife (Phantom is very guilty of this crime).
I don't think we ever intended for Phantom to be an indoor cat but we did try her with a litter tray for a while. But she's the kind of cat that excavates 5 deep holes before she's happy then uses the last hole (it looks like we've had rabbits in the garden after she's done her buisness). A litter tray just didn't work, we ended up with litter all over the laundry and her pooping in the corner under the T.V.
Luckily Phantom is very territorial (weird behaviour for an early neutered female, she even shakes her tail as if to spray on some things, thank God she doesn't actually spray!) The furthest I have seen her roam from our property is over nextdoor's fence to roll in a dirt patch (I think this area of thier frontyard is part of her turf, the backyard however contains a dog), and across the road in front of the house (when I see her doing this I quickly catch her and bring her back into our yard). Of course I have no idea what she does when I'm not looking but I doubt she roams far.
I always worry when she doesn't turn up for a while (half a day is plenty to make me worry) that she's been hit by a car or something. But she is still well, so hopefully she's just careful and would rather laze around in her own yard then venture onto roads too often.
Wow, that was long!
Re: My opinion...
Re: My opinion...
I have seen some AWESOME ones people have constructed that have large cage areas with lawn, then high and low "tunnels" that run all over the garden. The cat pretty much has free range of the yard, can experience the smells and sights, but isn't a threat to wildlife and isn't threatened by cars or malicious people.
Re: My opinion...
I'd personally love something like a cat-run for my birdies, but with an eventually open top.. and a small area for them to hop in and out of the house as they please.
*reads the links*
Oh god, that's horrific. I had no idea. I'm just glad I wasn't FOR declawing before either.. I'm totally against man does 'owning' animals, but even moreso against any mutilation. It took all the guts I had to trim my birds feathers, and I was insanely careful about it and read up heaps - and thank the gods, I did it perfectly. Their wings grow back regularly and quickly and they're pooping from the top of the curtains again in no time *laughs*
They actually go up higher less because now they understand that it's one of the VERY FEW no-nos here. Well, they still go up to the curtain rails, they just don't crap on the curtain itself. Now if only I could get them to poop only on newspaper..
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