THE CURSE OF LOOSE CATS

I wrote last month about loose dogsand the trouble they cause people, especially the blind. One friend suggested that cats are also a nuisance when their owners let them roam the neighbourhood. This got me thinking about why it's a bad, and even cruel, idea to let cats wander outdoors.

People seem to have the notion that cats need to roam outside. While they generally enjoy themselves, felines cause a variety of folks problems.

One nuisance is when cats defecate in flower beds and gardens. Not only is this disgusting to come across when gardening but it's unsanitary. Cats also uproot tender plants by their digging.

Another problem wandering cats cause is the killing of songbirds. Most of these creatures are beneficial due to their diet of insects and seeds. Their songs are also a delight to hear. Unfortunately for bird lovers, cats kill and sometimes bring home their catches.

Cats which aren't spayed and neutered cause animal shelters to become overcrowded, just as dogs do. Feckless owners put off operations on their felines until it's too late. Some owners don't bother to have their pets done at all. Cats, like other domestic pets, are better off being spayed and neutered.

Then there's the problem of cat fights. I heard a radio program about cats and the guest said they're healthier indoors. Cats can pick up diseases outdoors and become badly hurt by fighting with each other. Even the noise of these fights is irritating to neighbours trying to sleep.

In the hamlet where I live, the cat population attracted coyotes which ate them. Their owners didn't seem to get the message and have procured even more felines. This makes no sense to me. If they loved their cats, they ought to care for them. It does become difficult to keep cats indoors when they run between your legs out the door but I've learned how to slide through the quarter-opened entrance, preventing cats from escaping.

I've also had personal experience with the loss of a beloved pussy. Cocoa, pictured above, was killed by a dog when she escaped in the autumn of 1980. I don't know if somebody let her out or if she slipped through some one's feet. I felt angry when I heard how Cocoa's life was cut short but there was nothing I could do about it.

Though I've made many mistakes with animals, I attempted to learn from my errors and never let them happen again. When A Man Loves a Rabbit shows how I learned from my fur-clad friends and the blunders I made.

I also wrote about my spiritual blunders and how the heavenly Father providentially corrected my thinking in How I Was Razed. Please check it out at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers.