We at the Tree House Animal Foundation spend a lot of time educating the public on the dangers of allowing domesticated animals, particularly their cats, to roam freely outdoors.
As an animal shelter that accepts for admission injured, abused, sick or pregnant stray cats only, we live the daily consequences of allowing domesticated animals to roam freely outdoors. Consequently, we take exception to Roger Tabor’s position as expressed in Charles Madigan’s Aug. 20 article (Tempo).
A typical day at Tree House requires staff to administer 253 medical treatments to our residents twice a day due to the illnesses and injuries they’ve suffered from outdoor life. Daily, we admit outdoor cats that have been set on fire; that are so sick with the Calici virus that they can neither stand nor hold up their heads; that have broken limbs as a result of traffic accidents; that have open, raw wounds as a result of encounters with fan belts when the animal seeks warmth and crawls inside the hood of a car; that have eyes so infected they need to be surgically removed; that have flea and mite bites so severe the cat’s life is threatened.
Most of our residents come to us malnourished and dehydrated and have been exposed to feline leukemia, feline HIV and other equally deadly, contagious diseases.
Not all of these cats were born on the street; many were house pets whose owners allowed them to go out just for “fresh air” under the misconception that outdoor life is safe. Once outside, the animals can get lost and be forced to survive on the streets or are injured. We advocate keeping your pets inside–not because we ourselves are afraid, as Tabor suggests, but because outdoor life is not safe for domesticated animals.
Remember also that animals that are allowed outdoors reproduce if they are not spayed or neutered. A female cat and just her female offspring will produce 4,372 cats in seven years. A female cat and both her male and female offspring will produce 42,000 animals in seven years.
Please don’t allow your valued animal companions to roam freely outside–even if you intend them to be out for just a “little while.” And please do not mistakenly think that the pet you no longer want will survive happily on the street.
