I think my cat found a new family :(

[LilacDragon]

I am not understanding this whole outdoor cat thing.

My cat lives in my house. I don't have to worry about exposure to illness, poisoning, attacks by a dog, him being hit by a car, and I know that he is warm and fed.

There isn't much that bothers me more then finding kitty paw prints on my car, cat crap in my garden, dead cats on the side of the road, and having to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting a cat crossing the street.

I think it is pretty ironic that a lot of the time, some of the people who yell loudest about dogs that are kept outside and dogs running lose are people who have outdoor cats.

[Laura's Babies]

I think some cats are born to go to a certian person and sometimes it take a crazy journey for them to end up where they actually belong. Samantha always knew she was suppose to own me, she laid claim on me and my house 2 years before we could convienced her human that she belongs here. Her previous human said she wouldn't stay in the house, cried to get out all the time...(She would let her out and Samantha would run streight to my front door and cry to come in.) Here she has no interest in going outside.

When I lived in Florida, there was a cat that hung out at a friends house. Sometimes for days and then you wouldn't see him for days. I think Blackie had several or more homes and just spread himself around as the mood struck him.

[Logan]

I am not understanding this whole outdoor cat thing.

My cat lives in my house. I don't have to worry about exposure to illness, poisoning, attacks by a dog, him being hit by a car, and I know that he is warm and fed.

There isn't much that bothers me more then finding kitty paw prints on my car, cat crap in my garden, dead cats on the side of the road, and having to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting a cat crossing the street.

I think it is pretty ironic that a lot of the time, some of the people who yell loudest about dogs that are kept outside and dogs running lose are people who have outdoor cats.

I think that ideally, we would all like to have our cats safely indoors at all times. But everyone's situation is different. I can only discuss my own situation, obviously, and some of our members at Pet Talk, who have "known" my Butter since the day he came to me, probably understand why it is that I let him go outside when he wants to. Butter had obviously lived on his own for a long time (he was estimated to be 3-4 years old when I took him in) and that was in January 2001. To try and keep him inside, with his personality, would have been impossible, and he and I would have been very unhappy. I know it is a risk, but it is one that I have chosen to take for the sake of his happiness and my own sanity. Luckily, as he has gotten older, he pretty much sticks close to our house when he is outside, and we live on a very quiet culdesac, so I guess he is just about as safe as he is going to be. And thankfully, he really has begun to prefer the inside to the outside anyway. Most of his outside time is spent lying on one of the cars in the sunshine, or on the deck with the dogs.

I will never be able to adopt a cat through a rescue group because of my willingness to let my cat outdoors, but one day, when I'm ready to add a second cat to my household, I'm sure that I will be able to find one who needs us. Whether I will keep it inside all the time, I don't know, but I certainly would try.

Just wanted to try and give you an explanation and ask you to please don't make judgements when you don't really know the situation.