Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!dinorah!mary
From: mary@dinorah.wustl.edu (Mary E. Leibach)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: wandering domestic cats
Message-ID: <1041@dinorah.wustl.edu>
Date: 28 Nov 89 18:04:47 GMT
References: <823@wrgate.WR.TEK.COM>
Followup-To: rec.birds
Organization: Washington University (St. Louis)
Lines: 42
In-reply-to: denise@dadla.WR.TEK.COM's message of 27 Nov 89 20:05:14 GMT

denise@dadla.WR.TEK.COM (Denise Caire) writes:

>Again, how can I keep my cat outside but in my yard?  It is easy to
>complain but not real constructive.  Give me reasonable suggestions.


Here is one, reasonable and cheap.  A friend of mine has a cat.  She
has an outdoor run in her yard.  It consists of a cord up high
stretched from the house to a tree on the other side of the yard, with
a leash extending down.  With this contraption, the cat can freely
roam her pet human's property, but not outside it.  She gets to play
outside, but does not bother the neighbors.  This is a really happy
and loved cat.  She does not have to worry about getting run over by
cars, or get a disease from ferals, or get in a fight, or be abused or
shot by nasty humans, or cause a population explosion.  Birds and
other animals can get outside her territory and be safe from her.  If
you wanted to make one, it shouldn't take much more than $5 for some
clothes line and some leash hooks.  Or you could buy one for X-mas for
your cat.  

Personally, I don't really see how implementations of keeping cats in
their own yards is really a bird topic anymore.  I don't know how to
do a Followup thingee in the header, but I would encourage further
discussion in this vein to go over to rec.pets where some people with
cat experience can help you better.  This group is good for
identifying birds, deciding on the best binocs for bird watching, and
by gratious extension, discussions on pet birds, but not for cats.

Pretty please with catnip on it?  :-)

	-Mary

Blake's Birds are really not experts on cats, Blakey being the only
member to actually meet one.  However, we are convinced that not only
the welfare of the birds and other critters a cat may kill should be
considered, but also the welfare of the cat involved.  My
ex-step-father had cats he let run loose (not exactly approved by us).
He had a large graveyard of his cats that had died from car accidents,
being abused by humans, badly injured in fights, etc.  It is the
considered opinion of Blake's Birds that allowing a cat to roam freely
IS NOT FAIR TO THE CAT!!!  Putting a cat to sleep that has been badly
mangled isn't exactly our idea of fun!!!


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