Re: OT Cat Advice Needed

When I was a kid, the cats got food & affection. The males lived until they wandered onto the hiway, about 18 months. The females usually lived 3-5 years. Now my cats get neutered, shots, other basic care. They are in/out cats at their preference. One smart female cat lived to be at least 19. Current cat is about 4. We've lost kittens to the neighbor's Tom or other predators and one to a nasty infection or cancer at age 2. Most have been cautious about the street, especially if there are cars coming. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kitty" <kmrsy@comcast.net> 
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 8:22 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] OT Cat Advice Needed
I'm not really sure why a cat needs to come when called. Mine each do seem to respond to their own names, but are more likely to come to the sound of a cat food can being opened. Mine come and go as they please but when they are outside they generally stay in my yard or not far from it. If a car rounds the corner down the street they head for the back yard. They are all street smart; arrived that way. As time goes by, they seem to prefer being indoors more than out, but that could just be because they know they have the choice.
As to the data about the average life-span of a cat outside is only 2 years, it is skewed. That takes into account huge numbers of feral cats and a lot of cats with no benefit of preventative medicine, no options, bad diets, and on & on.. All my cats have been indoor / outdoor cats with decent food and the best medical care. I believe they have benefited from having the best of both worlds. Spot lived to 20, Orangecat and Mick died at 15 and 11 respectively from cancers that they could easily have gotten had they been indoor only.
If you don't want Diesel to go out, you're just going to have to be faster and more agile than a cat. Or devise a system that thwarts his escape. 

Kitty
neIN, Zone 5
----- Original Message ----- From: "Daryl" <pulis@mindspring.com> 
To: "gardenchat" <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 11:09 AM
Subject: [CHAT] OT Cat Advice Needed
Diesel really loves being outside, and spends hours either on the screened porch or perched in an open window. I thought he'd be a happy inside cat, but 
I guess he spent too long outside before we brought him in.
Anyway, a year later, and he still wants out. A couple of times he's dodged out with the dogs. Once, he cruised out while I was slaving over the drawing 
board and didn't realize that the dogs had opened the door a bit. Another
time, he apparently pounced at a bird or chipmunk, and pulled the screen right 
off the porch pillar.
Anyway. He's let me pick him up and bring him in each time. I've been careful not to pick him up the first time he approaches me in the garden, so that he doesn't associate me with a quick trip inside, and when we're inside I've been trying to teach him to come when called (yeah, laugh at me- I've only had dogs 
before), but I'm sure there will come a time when I can't pick him up and
he'll out-stubborn me.
So. For those of you with indoor-outdoor cat experience - do they just wander in when they get tired of being outside? Do they come when you call? Have you 
been able to teach them to avoid roads? We've got a fenced yard, but a 4'
chain link fence is no match for an athletic cat, I"m sure.

d

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