Guest Guest Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 My Mom has a male Siamese cat that absolutely will not be an indoor cat. He likes to roam all night, then sleep in the house all day. Yesterday, she told me that she is seriously thinking about euthanizing him because he won't be happy as an indoor cat, and she doesn't want to risk him bringing home bird flu. We live on a lake, and he loves to chase the numerous water fowl that stop here on the twice annual migration. Link to comment
ricardo Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 I have cats. Love cats. Two are indoor. Three are indoor/outdoor. How do I keep the indoor/outdoor ones stay inside? Sometimes when I open the door they will shoot from no where and run outside. How will I stop this? It's going to be a pain to gather them all up and put them in a room just so one of us can go outside. Any suggestions? Link to comment
5th graders mama Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 To be honest, I can't even think about going there... right now we have 14 rescue cats. I have to place them in the Lord's hands on this one, we won't turn more cats away, but I sure won't bring them inside full time. I truly believe most of them would be so unhappy that they would go beyond emotionally diminished. Link to comment
HapyGirl Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 I'm really struggling on this one. Either they become 100% indoor, or 100% outdoor and I just put food and water out. Right now they come in and out. We had to keep them outside the first year we lived in OR because we were renting and they did o.k. I think the one who likes to be out 100% except to eat would have to be outdoor only, but the other 2 I think would be o.k. inside only. So I guess that is my plan for now. My kids love their cats and I couldn't put them to sleep my kids would be traumatized! Link to comment
MoonGoddess Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 DOGS TOO APPARENTLY Your Dog And Bird Flu (Excerpt from K9 Magazine) Contrary to assurances from DEFRA, an unpublished study undertaken last year by the National Institute of Animal Health in Bangkok, in which 629 village dogs and 111 cats in the Suphan Buri district of Thailand were tested, it was allegedly found that the H5N1 virus has crossed the species barrier. 160 dogs and 8 cats were found to have antibodies to H5N1. Instances of dogs being destroyed in Croatia and Nigeria have further heightened speculation that the virus has mutated sufficiently to infect dogs. http://www.k9magazine.com/viewarticle.ph...mp;amp;aid=1107 Link to comment
bee1425 Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 It's a sad situation, very tough call. Mare, I wonder if someone could adopt your mom's cat. My cat is mostly indoor but, does go outside occasionally. This is my cat, Mouser. I found him in a field, just mewling his little heart out, about 17 years ago. That makes him somewhere around 100 yrs. old in "cat years." This is my dog, Jasper. We adopted him from the Humane Society about six years ago. I take him to work with me everyday. Link to comment
Mother Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 PoGo, Jasper is absolutely gorgeous. I love his markings Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Pogo, you dog is so beautiful. I don't think we could find a home for this cat because he sprays all over the house if he can't get outside. My Mom has a female Siamese too, and she is perfectly happy to be an indoor cat. I don't think she's ever been outside beyond the garage. It would be difficult to put the male down, but much kinder than making him live outdoors in cold weather, and having no human contact. Here's an article about the Germans dumping their pets. It's a sad situation. Germans ditch their cats after bird flu death March 02 2006 at 08:40PM Berlin - Hundreds of German cat-owners have dumped their pets at shelters since the country recorded the first case of a cat dying of bird flu in the European Union, the German animal welfare society said on Thursday. "Nationwide, several hundred cats have been left with us. People are scared their cats have bird flu," a spokesperson for the group, Jan Pfeifer, told AFP. "We do not want to give more exact figures because we do not want people to think that there is good reason for this and spread more panic." Pfeifer said the animal welfare group was examining the abandoned cats for any form of illness, including bird flu, before trying to find suitable homes for them. The society said it had also received phone calls from people who wanted to have their cats put down for fear that they could catch the strain of the H5N1 virus from their pets that can be fatal to humans. "We have had endless phone calls from people wanting to give away their cats immediately. Some are even ready to have them put to sleep," spokeswoman Alexandra Diezermann said. "It is particularly bad in Bavaria," she added, referring to the southern state which is one of five in which bird flu has been detected since mid-February. Germany's national veterinary laboratory confirmed on Thursday that a dead cat found on the Baltic island of Ruegen had been infected with the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 bird flu that can prove fatal to humans. The disease killed domestic and wild cats, including dozens of tigers, in Asia in 2004 but the cat found on the island was the first case of an infected mammal in the European Union. As a result, German authorities have ordered pet owners in all bird flu-hit regions to keep cats indoors and dogs on leashes. According to the World Health Organisation it remains unclear however whether the EU's first feline case of bird flu was cause for concern that people could contract the virus from cats. The head of Germany's national veterinary laboratory, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, told reporters it was known that the virus could be passed on from one cat to another but it was unsure "which viral load one could catch from a cat". - Sapa-AFP http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_i...22401 789B216 Link to comment
bee1425 Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Thanks, Spider and Mare. Mare, this is for you and your mom - That article makes me wonder how many people didn't bother with a shelter and, just dumped their pet wherever. Link to comment
Roseofsharon Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 WOW! I love my cats! We have 2. One would be happy inside and one lives to prowel outside/ sleep -eat inside. I think I would keep him inside on valerian (herb that sedates) or something before I would put him down though! WOW! sorry- I have not been here in a while and had not heard about the cats -let alone dogs. so easy to puy head in sand.... Link to comment
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