That's how much the opossum oweighed! Caught him Monday night.
Meanwhile, my son had a small emergency: A young outdoor cat suffered a "glove" wound, seemingly at the hands (so to speak) of two pre-dead rotweillers.
A "glove" wound is where the skin/fur is sheared from the animal's tail - like removing a glove.
Anyway, son gets an appointment with vet to have the tail repaired (actually removed) and I used this as a teaching moment. He, I, the injured cat, and the osurly opossum go to the vet's.
Only one of the six employees of the clinic had ever been this oclose to a opossum.
Lots of ooh'ing and ahh'ing. The opossum ohissed at the technicians - they ogiggled! The opossum opened wide his omouth - the employees remarked on the many sharp oteeth! The three veterinarians on duty were more sanguine - "I've known opossums," one said, "nasty ocreatures."
My son and his discouraged cat go home. The opossum and I go back to our garage where I give the opossum a bowl of dry cat food. An hour later, the food is gone, so Mr. Opossum and I take a little trip to a large field not far away.
Last seen, the opossum was owaddling off into the night looking for more cat food to ofilch.
... should be brought inside if you really like him. One man's "pet" quickly becomes some else's "pest". I say the same about dogs that are allowed to run wild too ... in case you think I am just a cat hater.
The cats that live outside at my place are much like songbirds that live outside. I put out a little food because I enjoy watching them lounge around and do cat-things. They are not lap-cats nor even very catchable unless they are sick, so no one could define them as "pets."
The "inside" cats are a different matter. The "inside" cats don't go outside and the "outside" cats don't come in.
Like Margaret Thatcher said about warships in a harbor- sure, they are safe, but that isn't what warships are for. Yes, 'indoor only' animals live longer, but so what? An indoor-only cat isn't a cat anymore, it is a self-propelled plush toy. If an indoor cat tries to slip out through open doors or windows, I'd say that is a pretty clear statement about how it feels about things. A gilded cage is still a cage.
I don't keep house pets. Aside from my allergies, it wouldn't be fair to them. I'm gone around ten hours a day most days, and asleep another 7 or
And if anything is gonna jump in my lap or rub my ankles the other six hours, it better be able to talk. I make do with watching the birds and squirrels and turkeys and deer and raccoons and such in the back yard. And if my bird feeder also feeds the occasional cat or raptor, well, I didn't make the rules of the game. I don't know what hard science the bird lovers have to offer, but I would wager the increase in predation from housecats (and their feral offspring and escapees) helps offset the reduced die-off and increased population from all the backyard feeders. They can't have it both ways- if adding predators isn't allowed, feeding stations should also be banned as interfering with nature. (Note that many condo communities with ponds, and public parks with water, already ban duck feeding, just to reduce the amount of crap they have to clean up. Ducks are lazy- a reliable source of food, and they will hang around big-time, sometimes all winter in areas that are well north of where you would expect to find them.)
Agreed but if some other exotic like the afore mentioned Rottweiller, decides a feral cat is a chew toy you should allow nature to take it's course.
How much ever you sleep, I guarantee the cat will sleep more. Having a cat as a house partner a symbiotic relationship; in return for food, water, and a litter box, the cat will (usually) keep your house free of pests like mice and roaches.
Further, countless studies show that people who have an indoor cat or dog have fewer health problems, live longer, and have a rosier outlook on life. Moreover, the chicks really dig a guy who has a cat.
Cats can save you money, too. A couple of kittens and a big box of packing peanuts (a kitty swimming pool) is good for hours and hours of entertainment (for both of you).
And don't worry that you're interfering with the balance of nature. A feral cat has a life-expectancy of three to four years. An indoor cat can easily live into a third decade.
One more insistent observation: de-clawing. The downside of declawing a cat is that you rob the cat of its primary weapon of offense and its primary method of defense (it can't climb). The reason people de-claw their cats is to protect their furniture. But the furniture is only furniture whereas the cat is a member of the family.
I strongly agree. If you want to domesticate a small animal it should be in a humans care and control. Dog, Cat, Mouse, Rat, Raccoon, Birds what ever once you domesticate it you are responsible for it's care. Never again should it become someone else's pest. Love it, or find it another loving home, or put it down mercifully.
Towser, the mouser-in-chief at the Glennturrent distillery lived to be 23. And she was catching mice up to the very end. All told, she caught 28,989 mice during her tenure and earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
Like I need an excuse? Eff up my body chemistry with expen$ive shots, just for the opportunity to spend even more money providing a home for an ungrateful animal I may see a few hours a week? I think not. And I say that is somebody who LIKES cats, and grew up in house with them. The allergies didn't come along until late teenage years, when I somehow got sensitized to cats. Scratch tests, which they often insist on before the shots, sometimes make you allergic to stuff you were not allergic to before. Not an urban legend- I've know people that it happened to. One of the things that made me decide avoiding the source was the simplest cure.
Litter boxes are disgusting, and one of the best arguments against 'inside only' cats. Yes, people, they DO stink to high heaven. Your nose is just numb from overexposure. Basic sanitation keeps the vermin under control with no problem, thank you. I sublet an apartment once from someone who had cats. A month later, I realized the place was infested with fleas. Had to do some nasty chemical warfare to clear that up, not to mention a lot of tedious cleaning of my stuff before I could move elsewhere.
Companionship and 'needing to be needed' does have therapeutic value, agreed. But a cat or dog as a surrogate child or spouse is just sad. I assume you have read the studies that claim house animals suffer from arrested social development, and are stuck at the dog or cat equivalent of about a fifth-grader?
Dream on. There is little more expensive than a 'free' kitten or puppy. Although, as a kid, we sometimes built multi-level kitten mazes out of the scrap wood pile, and tried to guess what hole they would come out of.
I've seen some of those old, crippled-by-age indoor cats. They sure don't look like they are having much fun. My sister has one that tries to crawl into the fireplace every time they build a fire. They think he just wants to get warm. I think he wants to end it all. Like I said before, yes, inside-only cats live longer. As to feral cats, infant mortality skews the numbers low- if they survive to adulthood, they can easily last a lot longer. I think there is a happy medium, where you let a cat have some outside time, and make it crap outside, but make it want to come back inside by treating it nice and feeding it. Basically, unless you have a large-enough yard, and don't live near heavy traffic, you really aren't set up to have a cat. People in apartments or on tiny urban lots really can't provide a proper range for a cat, much less a dog.
As far as I am concerned, declawing should be considered animal cruelty, and it should be a breach of professional ethics for vets to offer that as a service. Would you like having your fingers and toes lopped off at the first joint?
Like I said, I LIKE cats and dogs. I like them too much to impose my world on them.
Unless a dog blunders into a den of kittens when the mother isn't around, or a pack of dogs gangs up on a cat caught away from a tree to climb, the odds are the cat will do just fine. Most dogs, once their nose has been clawed once, learn real fast not to attack cats.
No, but I have seen a ten-pound tomcat embarrass big dogs on numerous occasions. Unless the Big Dog utterly blindsides them, most adult cats have the agility and speed to quickly land a telling blow. And of course, if the dog and cat in question share the same roof, the cat usually establishes the pecking order early on. (Hey dog? I know where you sleep, dog. Be nice to me, or wake up with a shredded nose....)
Agreed. Further, cats DO have some defensive capabilities. A cat, for short distances, can hit 30 mph. Cats can also climb to avoid a fight.
Still, there are some dogs who are impervious to pain, devious to a fault, and belive their mission in life is to kill or maim any living thing they can find (i.e., pit bulls) that's not a member of their pack. Dogs are pack animals and genetically programmed to attack (the pack has the best chance of survival if all its members attack the prey).
This latter attribute is why hungry alligators in Florida need only come up out of the drainage ditch near a retirement condo to get a free meal. Presently some lap dog will get in the 'gator's face, barking ferociously!
If the doc insists on a scratch test, tell him "no" and ask him for a referral to a doctor that takes into account the patient's desires.
I used to put all manner of strange - and possibly hurtful - concoctions into my body for the unrequited pleasure of being with my wife; she insisted I eat what she prepared. Part of the deal was that I spend enormous sums to provide a home for an ungrateful animal I only saw a few hours a week.
I can appreciate your evaluation of the stupidity of the arrangement.
There are alternatives for the fastidious. One is "LitterRobot." I've got one and it works swell. Another is to train the kitty to use the commode.
"HeyBub" wrote in news:P-6dnSJr84XXG8DUnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:
The indoor/outdoor ones I have usually avg about 15yrs. Not sure how long one of my two I/O's will fare. He's always been FIV positive. Couldn't tell by looking at him. One of the most of the most happy-go-lucky people oriented critters I've had. Just have to get him to the vet even with minor stuff since he has a weaker immune system.
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