Okay, some people are just dumb.
Outdoor cats. I don't agree with the concept, just because of all the possible things that could go wrong that would guarantee Kitty never makes it home again, or if s/he does, could be in some pretty nasty shape.
That doesn't mean though, that I'll get on my soap-box and tell owners who do let Kitty outside not to do that. It's not a fight worth having, and I'd be hypocritical for getting into one over it because when I was younger, I did have indoor/outdoor cats. What changed my own mind was exactly the scenario mentioned above; Tass never came home one night, and it's hard to tell if he was picked up by someone else (no 'found' posters ever appeared), got hit by a car (Never saw a corpse on the side of the road that looked like him), or got eaten by a coyote or hawk (good luck finding the remains if that happened). So, no outdoor cats for me.
Since I took Foot in, I've seen two more cats outside--one gray, one white, both well fed. In fact, as of today, I've seen the gray a total of five times. He's a handsome boy, friendly as hell (he made a beeline for the door when I opened it a few minutes ago, and would have got in if I hadn't reacted quickly), sleek fur, well-muscled and groomed. No doubt whatsoever that he has an owner somewhere.
He's also intact, which means there's a good chance he was the daddy of the kittens Foot didn't have, and probably of many others that I'll never see.
I will never lecture someone on the whole indoor/outdoor issue.
But I'm ready to beat the hell out of the irresponsible human who's letting their intact Tom run around.
GRRRRR!!!!!
