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Comment by Jorita on March 23, 2013 at 2:53pm

I love my cat Diago she is a female found her in a farm shed, snow white with blue eyes. My son gave the name.

Comment by Unseen on March 23, 2013 at 12:26pm

One hears many cat lovers saying it's wrong to let cats out because the outdoor cat lives a shorter life generally, dying under the wheels of a car or being killed by a dog or other predator, or picking up a disease from one of their prey items.

On the other hand, cats weren't born to live in a house or apartment. They get bored. I will only let Squeaky out supervised, so I do spend a fair amount of time giving her attention or playing with her. 

They other argument I hear is the adverse impact of cats on natives species (house cats are basically a North African desert cat), so they are an introduced species everywhere else. There is a lot of debate over how adverse cats are on native species, especially birds: 

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/23/new-zealand-economist-abolish-p...

But I've seen other studies that claim to show that (as one might expect, because they can fly) birds are only a small part of an outdoor cat's take. Mostly they kill rabbits and small rodents as well as snakes, lizards, and amphibians.

Comment by Teri G on March 23, 2013 at 12:06pm

Here in South Africa it's generally seen as quite cruel to keep cats inside. I've always let my cats come and go as they please and when we lived next to a green belt they would go hunting and occasionally bring home a giant rat, mouse or mole. We have recently moved into a smaller complex and the cats we chose to bring with us have adjusted fairly well. We did have a cat that used to wonder a lot, he was Tei's twin brother, and he would only come home about once a week. Then he stopped coming home at all.

I have heard of cats that are allergic to grass or outdoor life being kept inside for their own sake. It's difficult to keep a cat indoors, especially when they're not used to it.

Comment by Unseen on March 23, 2013 at 11:09am

How do you guys feel about outdoor cats? I live on the 6th floor of an apartment building and I may let squeaky go out in a leash short enough to prevent her hanging herself, but since I put seed out to attract birds, there's a pretty good chance that if a bird landed on the railing, Squeaky might leap for it. She can definitely jump that high.

When my daughter was young we had a tricolor named Ginger who we let out. We lived on a wooded area so she was able to lead the double life of an indoor pet and an outdoor hunter. She did catch the occasional shrew or mouse-like creature, but her specialty was moles. She had her front claws and was quite able climb trees in case of a dog attack, and we lived in a cul de sac, so cars weren't a great worry (she never strayed far from home: didn't have to to find things for a cat to do). The biggest threat was actually a big tomcat. When I say big, I mean with big bobcat-like front paws. For all I know, that tom was a hybrid. They got into a fight once and luckily my daughter intervened before Ginger got killed, but she (my daughter) got clawed and bitten. 

When I adopted Squeaky from the city's animal shelter, one of the conditions was to keep her as an indoor cat. The other was to get her spayed, which I did.

There was another cat in the shelter that looked so much like Squeaky that I had a hard time choosing between them. I wanted a black cat. I wish I could have adopted both of them but my rent goes up with each pet, so I didn't. 

Comment by Teri G on March 23, 2013 at 10:48am

Both of your cats are adorable! Needless to say I'm a huge cat lover!

Comment by Teri G on March 23, 2013 at 10:47am

@Unseen
I have 3 cats now, but the ginger one (Tei) pretty much lives next door so he's not around much. I've had 10 cats over the past 5 years. One had a litter of 7 kittens, one died and we gave a lot away. The picture of these 2 cats are the ones we kept from the litter.

Comment by Unseen on March 23, 2013 at 10:34am

@Teri G  Those are just two of your cats? Are you one of those cat ladies who hoards cats? ;)

Comment by Unseen on March 23, 2013 at 10:33am

@Teri G

Cute kitties! Ditto @Angela Evangelia

Comment by Unseen on March 23, 2013 at 9:53am

Squeaky, about a month after I got her, at 4 months. A kitten. At 8 months now, she looks more like a cat than a kitten, but she's still pretty cute. She has a new behavior, BTW. I put birdseed out on my balcony to bring in some birds for her entertainment, pigeons and sparrows mainly. She was sitting in my lap, saw a few birds come in, and became fixated on them. The her lower jaw vibrated rapidly and made a very quiet chattering sound. Took me aback: I'd never seen/heard a cat do that before. Sometimes she'll notice bird, fixate on it and make a soft "woof" like a dog.

Comment by Teri G on March 23, 2013 at 4:23am

Two of my cats (Tei-ginger one and Maxy-black and grey one), both playing under my now broken couch.

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