Persephonies recommend indoor cats:
We have kept cats for many years and before
that, with our parents. Both of us have experienced the pain of
losing a beloved pet to the road. Craig used to live next to a
busy main road, but the house was set on an acre plot and had
fields on three sides; Liz lived on a quiet avenue. Our cats were
allowed outdoors and were happy. But one day, they didn’t
return. The road is unforgiving and a cat hit by a car rarely
survives long enough to drag itself to the side of the road,
trying to get home.
We decided that if we were going to keep
cats, that we had a duty to them to keep them safe. Letting a cat
wander freely, does not keep it safe. Having fields around your
house will not keep it safe. There is still a road to or past your
property. As one of the Suffolk Cats Protection Leagues can
testify, a remote farmhouse at the end of a mile long private road
lost their cat when a lost driver turned his car around and ran
over it while it sunbathed.
Since deciding to keep our cats indoors, we
have not lost one to an accident or to fighting. With plenty of
toys, scratching posts, the odd radiator bed or soft cushion, our
cats are happy, healthy and most of all safe. They still play,
sunbathe on the windowsill, lie in front of the fire and sleep on
our bed.
Yes they need a litter tray or two, but
advances with modern litter and regular cleaning don’t mean that
you should have an odour in your house. There are even litter
trays that will automatic clean deposits away into a container,
ready for easy and odourless disposal.
We have had emails and phone calls from
distraught owners that have lost the cat that they saved for,
watched grow up, proudly collected, then a few months later
buried. It is so sad. It makes us sad to hear of the passing of
another one of the cats that we have raised since birth so
carefully.
Of course, it is your decision. We wish for
our all cats to go to kind and loving homes, all we ask is that
you consider having an indoor cat.
Chesterfield Cats Protection
League have more information on indoor cats: click
here
Persephonies
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