Wow, sounds like a nightmare, and I thought East London was dangerous
LOL! As I say, my cat only goes in my back garden, but my friends 5
cats are out most of the time, have had all their shots, never run into
stray dogs (don't think they let dogs out on their own round here), and
would go crazy if they were in all the time. They don't go far away,
but nobody seems to mind them visiting their gardens, no-one ever
complains. They have flea collars, and never get mites or ticks here.
There is no way they could keep them inside, and wouldn't want to
restrict them like that, and they come to no harm.

I do agree about the cars, cats (and dogs) do get killed by them, and
then there's always stories (urban myths possibly?) about people
stealing cats for labs or fur. I never understood about all the US
wildlife before, and now that side of it definately makes sense, I
guess if they're happy being indoors that's fine. I was surprised that
when I gave Otis his freedom (and a rather old age) he never went for
it and is happy to sunbathe in the back garden without attempting to
climb the fences.

Well I don't think we should have pets and keep them in prison if they
don't want to stay in. Mine goes out in the summer and its safe, if it
wasn't safe I guess I wouldn't have got a cat, I'd have got a goldfish.

Well said that man.

foxes. I don't think an urban British fox would attack a cat,
perhaps a bunny or chicken in a cage but not a cat, there's more than
enough food for them without even attempting a cat. Plus surely a cat
would win hands down against a British fox? I think the fox would leg
it rather than attack, whereas the cat might have a go just cos it's a
cat and that's what cats do.

To be honest, in England anyway, I'd be much more worried about what a
cat was going to get up to with the local wildlife/birds rather than
anything getting to the cat. I found somebodies pet hamster or
something not sure it was such a mess in my garden, and it wasn't Otis
that did it which was weird.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Well said that man.


Not crossposted...

Your posts don't make sense if you don't include a snippit at least of what
you are responding to. You don't have to include the entire post - just the
bit(s) relevant to your reply.

Cheers, helen s

wrote in message
oups.com...
Well I don't think we should have pets and keep them in prison if they
don't want to stay in. Mine goes out in the summer and its safe, if it
wasn't safe I guess I wouldn't have got a cat, I'd have got a goldfish.


The problem over here is if you went by that rule a huge percentage of the
population would not have cats and there would be a worse homeless problem
than now. I live in a fairly large city and still late at night you can see
predators in town, especially towards the edges. We have a big rural
population and so you would nix out all those people. I mean, it's just not
the same thing. Now I persoanlly grew up with indoor outdoor cats and I sure
wish mine could be, but I don't own a house. We don't have the kind of
enclosed gardens you guys have either. Certainly apartment dwellers have no
garden or yard, so then you would whack out a whole other part of the
population from having cats. Does that seem practical?

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 22:56:40 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

There is definitely a cultural difference between the USA and the UK then.
It would not be seen as acceptable in the UK for a dog never to run off lead
even if only at the weekend on a visit outside town.
A shelter here would not allow a dog adoption if it had to stay on a lead
all its life. They would rightly say you do not have the facilities.

In many places it's *illegal* to let your pet (dog or cat) run off the
leash (the entire idea is to eliminate "packs")! If caught, the animal
goes to the municipal shelter, and you can bet it's not a no-kill one.

Leash laws do vary though - in our town animals are supposed to be on
the leash at all times when off their owners' property. A nearby town
recently passed a leash law that said they could be off the leash in
the local park if they were there with an owner (or other human
responsible for them). In both towns, dogs have to wear a collar with
their registration/vaccination tags on it when outside.




Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha

============
http://www.jhedge.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
Well I don't think we should have pets and keep them in prison


Indoor life for a cats only seems like 'prison' to you because perhaps you
don't know very much about cats and you also lack the imagination and
creativity
to create a stimulating and interesting indoor environment for your cat.
Its much easier and takes less effort to mindlessly swing open the door.
Some people have a cat door because even opening the door takes too much
thought and effort.

The time has past when we can debate about where cats should live. The cats
are here, now, and we are responsible for them. I think you shouldn't have
a cat if you can't provide a safe environment for her.

"Ivor Jones" wrote in message
...

For my part, if I were unable to allow a cat outdoors through risk of
predators or any other reason, I simply wouldn't have a cat.

That's not practical or even realistic in the USA because that mentality
would result in millions upon millions of homeless cats and a 10 times
increase in shelter killings.