A shocking number of my old schoolmates who have recently surfaced on facebook have babies. Some of them even have babies old enough to be classified as children. Some of them even have more than one.
So. To deal with the situation as best I know how, I'm getting a cat. A lovely, neurotic cat with a tiny head.
There's just one problem. The British seem to be much more concerned about a cat's freedom to roam than the Canadians. Everyone I talk to brings it up: it is, to them, nothing but cruel to have an "indoor" cat. Meanwhile, I was always led to believe that indoor cats will live longer and be less traumatized than their outdoor counterparts. But maybe this was just some humanist-fascist balm applied to make us feel better about not wanting to invest in a cat-flap and flea-powder.
Quick, blog-readers, I need some opinions.
8 comments:
oh dear, tiny head. i hated letting lamp outside. we had to. he had the farm in him. wildish. but it was the worst most stressfull thing ever every time he went out. with the cars, and the bar crowd nearby. no fun at all. and can you imagine if we'd let chatter go outside? mayhem! panic! an increase in the licking off of one's fur! no good.
hero couldn't have out-run any predator (a.k.a. evil school children throwing rocks at our fish, and turning on our poor cat) and mercury would have gotten lost and never returned.
i stand by our canadian way. cats stay inside. unless bred in a barn.
Also think of your neighbours. Do they want a cat digging through their gardens and chasing their squirrels? I think not.
Oh, and my opinion is totally unbiased despite the fact that I MIGHT have grown up as a Canadian kid with an indoor cat... hehe
Wow, how many house cats did you grow up with?
I'm not exactly qualified to opine on this matter as I have never had a cat; however, I am not one to pass up an opportunity to offer my opinion.
I don't see anything particularly cruel about keeping a cat indoors, but I do think outdoor cat's are wwwaaaayyy cooler. Check out Norwegian Forest Cats. Self reliant and capable of hunting rodents; I like how these cat's swing. They are almost canine.
By the way, I take back the Harry Potter comment. Those glasses are a very effective disguise.
Great. Now I want a Norwegian Forest Cat. (NFC) In the end the problem was solved by the RSPCA here, they won't actually LET you have a cat unless you can prove you'll let it come and go freely (ie: with a cat-flap.) Since I live about two storeys too high for that to work, I was almost out of luck.
But not quite! They do let you keep cats indoors if they are FIV positive (like HIV only for felines, hence, F). There was an adorable little green-eyed FIV who nobody wanted because of prejudice against the disease (if kept indoors they're actually as healthy and life-spanned as normal cats). But I want him! Tomorrow I get him.
A cat with a disease? Emma, you are an adventurous soul.
Oh yeah, I just got the name too. Ha!
We don't like roaming cats because they poop in flower gardens. Well... at least they don't eat every green thing living like the rabbit.
sorry, it's not a disease, it's an illness. Or however you could make that more politically correct.
Okay, so to settle this, I think the answer has something to do with snow (sorry about the late take up on the comments front) anyway, so in the snow a dog or cat will lose their ability to smell their way home. So perhaps that's why. In other news - you have a cat and I can't wait to meet him! xx
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