Missing Abyssinian Cat

It always seems to help if you're able to get the work out to the neighbors in the buildings down that block so they're on the look out in the back yards. Maybe write up some fliers and put them on the doors or even buzz the bottom floor apartments and ask to call from out back. They usually don't go far but may just get disoriented.

Subject: Re: cat came back!! Wed at 2PM

blossom wrote: smelling like a cellar and mighty hungry.

Thanks for all the support.

yay! poor kitty!

yay he is back!! they always know when to come home for a meal .

apollonia666 wrote: I'm so glad your cat is home!

But it makes me so sad every time I see a post on here about a cat that has been allowed outside and ends up missing, and it seems pretty rare that they ever make it home. I realize a lot of people feel differently, but I really believe NYC is just no place for cats to go outside. People, PLEASE consider keeping your kitties indoors! Argh.

my friends cat got ran over by a car cause one of her house guest didnt realise he left the door open and cat got out. always lock the doors and never let them out.

laura wrote: [quote=armchair_warrior][quote=apollonia666]I realize a lot of people feel differently, but I really believe NYC is just no place for cats to go outside. People, PLEASE consider keeping your kitties indoors! Argh.

my friends cat got ran over by a car cause one of her house guest didnt realise he left the door open and cat got out. always lock the doors and never let them out.

That's my worst nightmare ... I literally have recurring horrible dreams that someone has left a door open and my cats have gotten out.

Cats must be kept INSIDE in NYC ... and windows must be securely screened ...
There's not only that, but there's the other (stray and feral) cats to consider... not only have there been confirmations that many are carrying diseases, but the cats get so... beat... up... These cats out there are VERY territorial and VERY aggressive. Some of the cats that I've helped trap were bloody messes! Parts of ears bitten off, seeping wounds from recent fights... just yesterday, my wife and I watched a cat get chased up a tree by another cat. The chaser followed, which made the chasee decide to jump for it. It was able go grab on to, well, I'm thinking that they were cable lines, scoot across to a nearby branch and get the hell outta dodge, but still... these little bastards are vicious.

Rose wrote: All these things are true. And yet you may find yourself living with someone whose most ardent and noisily expressed wish is to go into the backyard.

It can be hard to say no to a cat who wants something very, very badly. My last cat spent the first ten years of his life looking longingly out apartment windows, and when we moved to a house with a backyard, there was no keeping him in. He was a much happier cat after that. And he lived to be 17. We would all be safer if we never left the house, but sometimes it's nice to go outside.

If you have a backyard and can actually keep your cat IN it and keep other cats OUT, I guess that's fine (although personally I couldn't do it unless my cat was on a leash ... one bound over a fence after a bird/squirrel/cat and bye-bye). It's great that your cat lived to be 17, but that doesn't change the fact that indoor vs. outdoor is the most significant factor in the life expectancy of cats, and makes a HUGE difference.

Yes we would all be safer if we never left the house, but we human adults know how to take care of ourselves in the city. For the most part we're not in danger of getting run over, or mauled by dogs, or falling from a height. We know not to drink antifreeze or eat rat poison. No one is going to kidnap us and sell us to a laboratory to be experimented on, or torment us (I once yelled at a boy who was chasing a cat in the street for kicks, forcing the cat to bolt across the street in front of cars). And we don't have to clean the city filth off our feet with our own tongues.

Sure it's hard to say no to a cat, or a kid, who wants something, sometimes very badly. But as caretakers we have to sometimes. And sometimes there are ways to allow your cat to enjoy the outdoors safely.

My last Park Slope apartment was a garden apartment, and neighbors' cats who were allowed to roam were a real nuisance. (I never let my own cats in the yard, even on a leash, because I didn't want to create a precedent/desire and risk them trying to get out.) Not only did they spray in my yard (and shit, but the spraying was worse), but they would come up to my windows and freak out my cats and try to fight them through the windows (sometimes in the very early a.m., if I'd forgotten to close the shutters, and I'd be awakened by bloodcurdling yowls) ... then my cats would be so upset they'd start fighting amongst themselves. I was always cursing the people who didn't keep their cats indoors.

apollonia666 wrote: I understand where you're coming from, Rose, but I'm just SO sick of seeing missing cat notices from people who let their cats go out. A living, healthy indoor cat, no matter how much it's bitching, is happier than a dead cat.

I see so many Lost Cat notices posted in the neighborhood and every one breaks my heart.

I know many people who let their cats out are trying to give them a more complete or natural life but it just doesn't work that way in the city.

No story though? Where was the poor thing? Did the kitty come back on it's own or was it found...

pensodyssey wrote: Unlike a battle of wits, in which cats frequently triumph.

Indeed!

WhyFi wrote:
Uh huh... and the day that I lose a battle of wills with my cat is the day that I start paying someone to look after me.

I'm currently losing a battle of wills with my cat on the issue of whether cats are allowed on the kitchen counter.

My family had lots of cats when I was growing up. In the beginning, my mother tried to keep them inside. The cats spent all their waking hours lurking by the door, scheming and planning their escape. My mother, burdened with two little kids and suburban malaise, was no match for them. They were magnanimous in victory and brought her many tributes of freshly-killed rodents over the years.

That's terrible about the kid chasing the cat. Just read peta's action alerts page if you want a glimpse into some of the dangers to cats, aside from other cats, cars, rat poison etc. Some people are monsters.

She's safer inside. I think she knows it too. no trauma is ever allowed to happen to my cat.