"Professor" wrote in message news:uEhbi.7711

I have never let my retire show cats outside, they have no idea what
they're
missing, and haver no desire to go out. Ticks can give your cat illnesses
that can kill, but obviously you don't care.

Well, it all depends on one's philosophy of life (and death) doesn't it? - I
have noticed that liberals think life is the most important thing there is,
and are willing to give up their, (and MY!) freedom for it any old time.
But to me, death is always waiting there in the wings, and it really
doesn't matter whether you live five minutes or 500 years....To the infinite
period of time that is (apparently) part of this universe, it doesn't
matter....What matters to me is the enjoyment one gets while one is here,
and not the extent of that brief period of time.
Perhaps your cats are happy, and I am quite willing to buy that. But
mine wouldn't be, because they were all "outside" cats to begin with. I
didn't go out and get any of them. They all just wandered in because they
liked the smell of my property, and the cut of my jib. They will stay for a
while, and then wander off, never to be seen (by me) again. - I have learned
to accept that, even though I will never be really comfortable with it. I
didn't design this universe.....I just learned to live in (and with) it.
Bill Graham, Salem, Oregon