If you think that cats have nine lives, you`re dead wrong. To appease what cat owners presume is their beloved felines` need to roam, house cats are routinely set free to chase birds and play chase. Cats, it is commonly assumed, can take care of themselves in this dog-eat-dog world and will wander home when they`re good and ready.
It is accepted as fact by some that a cat will always find its way out of trouble. But it`s that kind of thinking that creates big trouble for too many cats.
”So what if your cat wants to run loose?” says Ellen Sawyer, executive director of the Tree House Animal Foundation on the North Side that specializes in rehabilitating injured or abused cats. ”Young children might also want to run loose. Would you let a 5- or 6-year-old child out
unsupervised and assume all will be fine?”
”It`s a fact that one day the beloved pet you set free won`t return home,” says Barbara Stein, veterinarian for 17 years at the Chicago Cat Clinic on the North Side. ”And that isn`t because your cat just decided not to come home; it`s because your cat is lost and can`t find its home or because your cat was hit by a car or seriously injured in some other way.”
In June alone, 1,008 stray cats were brought to the Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago. Only three were retrieved by their owners. Anti-Cruelty Society director Jane Stern guesses that up to half of the cats found have owners.
”Some are spayed or neutered, others are declawed, some are extra chunky and obviously well taken care of,” she says.
In June, 59 scared, sick or injured kittens were taken to Tree House, and many also evidently had owners. Not a single owner retrieved a stray cat in June from Tree House.
”Sadly, cats aren`t likely to be wearing ID tags,” Stern says. ”As a result, we can`t find the owners unless they call us. For whatever reason, cat owners apparently find their pets dispensable.”
Don`t believe myths
Sawyer says that many owners are ignorant, sucked into believing what they`ve always been taught about house cats, however incorrect it is. She blames the news media and pop culture for perpetuating myths.
”In `Batman Returns` cats are seen as needing to roam, and sly enough to escape danger,” Sawyer says.
However, in real life, there are many dangers for cats that roam. For one thing, they don`t carry maps with them.
People think that cats have a built-in guidance system, Stern says.
”That`s absolutely untrue. So many make a wrong turn or two in pursuit of a bird or something else interesting, and they`re lost.”
She recalls one recent case of a lost cat that had suffered a small wound on its head that was infested with maggots. Green mucus was discharging from its eyes and ears. ”It`s so sad that one day this cat was in good shape, loved and cared for, and a week later so sick, and all for no good reason,”
Stern says.
However, the state of this cat is nothing when compared with many critical injuries that Tree House workers see daily. ”People think that cats are too quick to be hit by a car,” Sawyer says. ”And that`s absolutely untrue.”
Sawyer also says that when the weather gets cold, especially in the evening, cats often crawl under the hoods of cars with engines still warm. While the cat takes a catnap, the engine might be started again, seriously injuring or killing the trapped feline.
Fatal hungers
To cats and other animals, spilled antifreeze tastes sweet, but it`s a fatal dessert. Eating from garbage cans is no better an idea for cats than for dogs. But for some reason, cat owners sometimes don`t see it that way. Sawyer recalls one cat that ate string, which wound its way through the cat`s digestive track, eventually killing it. Eating spoiled food can make any cat seriously ill. Fights with dogs and other cats, or licking their feet after stepping in rat poison, also threaten the health of cats let out to roam.
Cats allowed out on high-rise balconies pose another risk. ”An interesting bird or bug flies by and the cat gives chase,” Sawyer says. ”We can`t help a cat that dives from 30 or 40 stories. Even cats on porches three or four flights up may not survive a fall or may suffer serious injuries. The movies are wrong about cats always landing on their feet.”
However, the greatest threat of all comes from other cats, Stein says:
”Three nearly always fatal illnesses are contracted from house cats meeting up with strays, feral cats or other house cats roaming the
neighborhood. Feline infectious peritonitis, a viral disease that creates fluids and/or high fevers and brain, liver or eye disease; feline
immunodeficiency, a viral disease that depresses the immune system not unlike the effects the HIV virus has on humans; and feline leukemia.”
Stein says that she rarely sees a 10-year-old house cat that regularly prowls outdoors. ”Ten-year-old indoor cats are very common,” she says. ”If you provide your cat the so-called freedom of being outdoors, you`re without a question taking years away from its life.”
It`s no surprise that Stern endorses keeping cats indoors. However, she acknowledges that sometimes she feels like she`s fighting a losing battle.
Sawyer admits that she, too, was once ignorant, assuming there could be no harm in allowing cats a taste of freedom.
”But the truth is that however well intentioned, this so-called freedom is really a sentence to early death.”
