Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 15:25:44 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Laura M. Appelbaum" Subject: Indoor Cats MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit With all due respect, Mr. Boyle, as a fellow cat owner and lover, as well as a birder, I'm really kind of shocked at your lack of education on the subject. Forget the birds for a moment; the average lifespan of an outdoor cat is only 5 years due to how often outdoor cats are struck by cars, attacked by dogs or other cats or wild animals, diseases they catch out doors, etc. Not to mention that angry property owners who find what appear to be stray cats on their property often harm them, or may take them to the local animal shelter where, if not claimed within a week, the cat will probably be euthanized. I can't imagine anyone who cares about their cat wanting any of this to happen. On the other hands, indoor cats now live an *average* of 15 years (my own beloved indoor cat is in her eleventh entirely healthy year and shows no sign of slowing down). The domestic housecat is exactly that; domesticated. Their place is in the home. If you feel for some reason that your cat absolutely must have access to the outdoors, you can do as we did and train your cat to go out only when she's in a harness or on a leash, or buy or construct a simple structure that keeps her safe from predators and birds safe from her, even as she can enjoy the outdoors and the proximity to birds. Laura Appelbaum Cloverly, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================