by Suzyn Barron, President of Warwick Valley Humane Society
Did you know, the inside v. outside pet cat issue persists? It seems that if a person has never had a cat not return home, it’s difficult for that person to understand that it does happen to many others. It happened to me with the very first cat that became a family member. It was so cute how she would meow outside the bathroom window to be let in at night, until that one night when there was no meow, thus no Lily. The very next morning I plastered posters of her in my neighborhood (there was no FB neighbor site at that time).
Three days passed with no word. I couldn’t bear the loss of my Lily. Fortunately, she was finally heard crying in the woods by a neighbor who saw her poster. She was over 40 feet up in a tree on a cold, windy, rainy November evening. I had to leave her there until a tree service could come out in the morning and rescue her. It was the longest night of my life and probably hers too. She survived and I did, too. But it was the last time she was ever permitted outside. Her outside days were over and my other cats too. I couldn’t put myself through that hell ever again as well as put any of my cats in that kind of danger.
Our shelter policy is simple. If the cat or kitten has never been outside, he/she is not missing anything and therefore, is a forever inside pet. However, the shelter took in a cat named “BK”, who was both an indoor and outdoor cat in his prior home. He was miserable inside. We used a dog kennel to house him so he could go out in an enclosed run. He was adopted and escaped outside more often than not. Now he lives far off of a main road on acres of farmland and is loving life. The moral of this story is that sometimes there are cats who are very used to being outdoors and need to be to remain happy and content. Their happiness outweighs the potential risks. As a shelter we recognize that for that individual feline.
One person is on a waitlist to adopt an indoor/outdoor cat that will get along peacefully with the resident cat. We do not have a cat that fits that description at the moment. Another person blasted us for not adopting a kitten to him to be allowed outdoors and said he would go elsewhere.
Lost cat calls come in every day. The Facebook page lists one lost cat after another. One person called to find out what to do with his deceased cat that he found on the road. He shrugged it off like “oh well”, it happens. Why are cats so inconsequential and replaceable? They are not. Not at our shelter.
“No one can truly understand the bond we form with the cats we love until they experience the loss of one.” – Unknown
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