[alinnell]

The kitty came home this morning at about 3:30, so he was out for almost 24 hours. In the rain, too! They said he was dirty and smelly. I'll get more info later.

So while my dad was here, he said he couldn't read his watch. He wanted to go to the street fair to buy a cheap watch with a large dial that he could read. Well, his nose bleed was too bad to be able to do that (and besides, no way could he have walked through the street fair!) so I pulled up watches for the visually impaired on Amazon. I showed him a model with a large, easy to read dial that also had a button to push to have the watch tell you the time out loud. He approved of it and I ordered it. He got it when he got home and my sister-in-law helped to show him how it worked.

And then he called my sister to thank her for the watch.

I just can't win.

[traveling michele]

Originally Posted by alinnell

The kitty came home this morning at about 3:30, so he was out for almost 24 hours. In the rain, too! They said he was dirty and smelly. I'll get more info later.

So while my dad was here, he said he couldn't read his watch. He wanted to go to the street fair to buy a cheap watch with a large dial that he could read. Well, his nose bleed was too bad to be able to do that (and besides, no way could he have walked through the street fair!) so I pulled up watches for the visually impaired on Amazon. I showed him a model with a large, easy to read dial that also had a button to push to have the watch tell you the time out loud. He approved of it and I ordered it. He got it when he got home and my sister-in-law helped to show him how it worked.

And then he called my sister to thank her for the watch.

I just can't win.

Thank goodness on the kitty! My worst fear is that one of my kitties will get out. It's only happened once when we were in Africa. I may have shared this story before-- we had a maid and she must have left the door open momentarily. I wasn't even missing the kitty when we had a knock on the door. I answered and a man was holding a wet, growling, screaming, kitty and asking if he was mine. I was so confused because I didn't know Wilbur was missing and it sure didn't look like my sweet kitty. I said I didn't think so. He said-- the cat's collar has this address on it. Um.... ok... maybe he's mine? He's like maybe? But he obviously wanted to get rid of this mad kitty. He said Wilbur got in his backyard and their dog chased him into their pool and the man rescued him! We had huge walls around our houses and I had never even met/seen the neighbor before. Quite funny and awkward! Of course, Wilbur still tries to go outside at every opportunity!

Sorry about the watch. You have to laugh right?

[Shannon in ATL]

I posted three things here and in other threads on the forum yesterday and none of them are here today.

Allison - sigh about the watch.

[Mudpie]

All my cats have always gone out - for several hours at a stretch. I never turf them out for the full day.They learn quite quickly to come home if I call when I use food rewards. They never come immediately, like dogs do, but they return within 5 minutes of my calling and shaking the food container.

I believe animals should have access to the outdoors. That's not necessarily based in any science or anything but is only my personal belief. I have looked after many cats who never get outside and they all have some pretty severe behavioural problems. And they all sit in the windows all the time.

I'm pretty sure Nat would be crazy by now if we didn't let her out. She has a collar that stays on and a tag and we take our chances. It would be terrible to lose her or have her killed but I think it's necessary for her physical and mental health to go out.

Same thing for Trixie. She's quite bonkers right now because, although she's going for 4 (!) small walks per day, she's still not getting the exercise and stimulation she is used to and the boredom is starting to get to her.

Everyone has to do what they think is right for their animals. Mine go outside. Others may be fine with not doing so - depends on the animals right?

Dagmar

[alinnell]

I let my cats out for supervised yard time. But my in-laws live in an RV park with pet restrictions--all animals outdoors have to be on leashes. They instead have a large cat tent and put the cats in there for their daily outdoor time. They got out yesterday by accident.

My cats, since they're content to be in the back yard, have stayed in the back yard when they've gotten out by accident. I'm thankful for that as we have a huge coyote population here.

[Sheila53]

I'm totally opposite regarding cats having unsupervised access to the outside. Perhaps it's because of my longtime volunteer work at an animal shelter where I saw cats that had been tortured by humans, cats that had been attacked by dogs or other animals, and cats that had been run over by cars. In fact, we ran over a cat that had darted out in front of our car--it was horrible. I don't want to have to go through that ever again.

If I could have the best of both worlds, I'd create a backyard area where the cats could roam around freely. I've seen photos online of backyards that are accessible by the cats, but not by other animals, and the cats can't get out. My last set of cats (my last one died this spring) had never been outside in their lives so they didn't know anything different and were very well-adjusted. The two cats I had before them, however, had been outside, and I have to say it was tough turning the younger one into an inside kitty. The older one actually loved being inside all the time.

[JayEll]

Here in Florida it is against the law to let cats just roam around outdoors. Of course, plenty of people don't think it means their cat, just all those other people's cats.

Cats are the main reason that some wild bird populations are on the decline.

Oscar was pretty content to stay indoors. But sometimes I would put him in his harness and take him out for a walk around the perimeter of our house. He liked that. He love to take a whizz outdoors! He had a beautiful purple harness that showed off his silver color.

We had a cat long ago who could not be kept in. This was in a different state. She had been living outdoors a long time, and that was what she thought was her home. Trying to keep her in just didn't work. We built her a set of stairs and a window exit/entrance in a room that could be closed off from the rest of the house, because the other two cats were indoor cats and we didn't want them out.

[saef]

In this urban area where I live, where even people aren't safe crossing the street ;-), letting a cat outdoors is a death sentence, if not immediate, then over time, from parasites and malnutrition. My apartment complex permits cats, but not dogs. Other buildings do allow dogs. I am surprised at the size of some of the dogs that apartment-dwellers own. I understand a Shih-Tzu or a pug, a Yorkie or a Westie, a King Charles or Lhasa Apso, as they seem scaled down to a two-bedroom. But Labs? And what about the pair of Afghans?

Again, I wanted to thank everyone for their good wishes. Today I am feeling that at last, I've made headway against all the insurance-related paperwork. I've got a pile of thick envelopes heading out to the P.O., which my mother will bravely visit for the first time on my behalf. I am not learning a language, after all -- but I just ordered a slew of books with the long-dormant credits that I earned through PaperbackSwap.com.

[traveling michele]

Adding my two cents to the cat debate-- I'm with Sheila on this one. I worked for vets for 15 years and outside cats almost always had much shorter life spans-- they were in fights, hit by cars, disappeared, and died from disease (Feline Aids, Feline Leukemia). My cats have always been indoor cats and are no more neurotic than I am!

I've had multiple cats for all of my adult life and the only exceptions I've ever made to my own rules were Oscar, who insisted on using the house as a personal litter box. It was outside or euthanasia so he chose outside. We were worried because he was declawed in the front and he weighed 25 pounds. He never left the backyard and amazed us by catching and killing birds!! We still don't know how but we speculate he sat on them and squashed them to death.

In Africa, our house was built around our pool so the pool was in the middle in an atrium like area (small pool). The cats were free to go there and explore as they were "outside" but couldn't ever get anywhere.

In other weight related news, my Thanksgiving weight is leaving me slowly, hopefully not to return with friends at Christmas. Now that I've booked a cruise, albeit 4 months away, I am (at least at this point), motivated to get swimsuit ready!

[Mudpie]

Mudpie was a feral cat who came to live with us when she was about 1 1/2 years old and Mishi was a 6 month old feral. They both went outside every day (after a winter of staying in to become domesticated) for the rest of their lives. Mud was 18 + when she died, Mishi 16.

Of course I have always rented houses with access to fairly safe yards for my pets. The cats were able to leave the yards, the dog not unless we let her out of the locked gate. We do live in the largest city in Canada but we live close to downtown, not in it. So my cats are not braving mid-town traffic in Manhattan.

And G-Nat did have her two day adventure away from us. But she's here, safe and sound, and begs to go out twice a day every day. I let her go, despite being heartsick when she went missing. You only have to watch Natalie outside once to see how much being there means to her and how much she benefits.

Again this is my opinion and I will shut up now.

Dagmar

[traveling michele]

You know how you know when you're spending too much time alone? You start having personal jokes with yourself!! Maybe TMI, but yesterday I wore a push up and padded bra and I was in the best mood-- I have girls! Then, at yoga, my back started screaming again and it's still killing me. I blame it on the girls! They give you back problems, right?!

I'll miss yoga tonight because I have a massage scheduled-- I sure hope it helps my back!

I'm super excited about tomorrow though. One of our yoga instructors just opened a brand new studio and the pictures look incredible! It's about 30 minutes away, so a few of us are going to go surprise her on Saturday. Even if my back is acting up, I'm going!! I'm just mad because I thought my back was improving, and I was debating going for spin Saturday morning, but now I'm thinking that won't be wise...

Then, dh comes home Sunday for less than 24 hours so we'll make the most of it-- including sushi of course....

What are you all doing this weekend!?

[alinnell]

DH and I are having a garage sale Saturday and Sunday mornings. We had the kids clear out their rooms over Thanksgiving and we're selling what they didn't want. We took out DS's bed and all his furniture and are selling those. We've already installed a queen-sized sofa bed for him and tables and desk are on order. I'm hoping his room is ready for him for Christmas break (but DH needs to get our painter to come and paint the kids' rooms first.

We're also golfing Saturday afternoon. The weather is supposed to be nice.

And I need to grocery shop. I haven't shopped since the weekend before Thanksgiving! I'm out of practically everything.

I had a worker's comp audit yesterday. It was supposed to be Wednesday but there was a mixup and she asked if she could come yesterday afternoon. I want it over with so I can refile all the crap I need to get out for the audit so I agreed. That meant I had to stay at work until she was done--at 6:30 PM. That's late for me. I usually leave before 4 PM. DH asked if he should order a pizza for dinner. I said no as I already had leftovers planned. I got home, started heating it up, and we were eating within 10 minutes of my arrival. Glad I had leftovers!

[JayEll]

I have no plans to wear a pushup bra.

I'm finishing up a shower stall project that I thought would take 2 days and it's taken a week. It's just refurbishing of the existing stall--cleaning, recaulking, etc.--but I really can't do physical work the way I used to. I've been getting down on my knees and up again for days. You'd think I was devoutly religious. Ha!

Anyway, tomorrow morning I have Tai Chi class, and then Sunday we go to our spiritual living group meeting.

Lots of empty time in the house with Oscar gone. We are now aware of just how often we interacted with him, petted him, talked to him, and so on.

The weather is beautiful, so maybe we'll get an outing or two in there.

[traveling michele]

Any plans to add a new furry family member, JayEll? I would be too sad without my animals around....

[JayEll]

No, not now. We are still missing Oscar, and another cat wouldn't replace him. I don't think it would be fair to a new animal given our mental state.

Also, we would like to experience life without pets for awhile. All our trip plans had to be made around Oscar's needs (pet sitter, etc.), and for the last year or so he required a lot of expensive vet care, food, and so on.

And, I'm allergic to cats--might be nice to give that a rest.