Opps. I’m two of the three.
Well I don’t treat them like babies, the only clothes are weather related like coats & sweaters. Pampered yes. One is sound asleep in my lap.
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Hey, I’m not some evil cat torturer. Of course I wouldn’t spray one with cold water in a cold climate. It isn’t necessary to soak them with water anyway - they take off like a shot if you blast it just next to them.
Nor am I suggesting to soak them with vinegar. Licking off a few spray droplets of vinegar won’t kill them- it will be unpleasant, which is the point. Unless they’re stupid, they will associate the unpleasantness with where it happened and will stay away.
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This has been disproven as “bad science” many times. I’ll look for the journal article that refutes this, but basically, if cats were so detrimental to the bird population, we wouldn’t have birds anymore (a bit of hyperbole, but basically true).
You’re not ignorant, cats go where they want.
Ewwwwwwwwwwww disgusting.
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Oh, I don’t care at all if it doesn’t affect anyone else. It’s when they think everything their pet does is cute, like jump up on people with muddy paws (“Aw, he really likes you”), and fail to discipline them about things that impact others (I have a friend who used to say to her ill-behaved dog when he wouldn’t stop barking at visitors, so that it was impossible to carry on a conversation, in a soft, syrupy voice you’d use with a tiny infant, “Now Barney, you know you’re not supposed to do that”, as if the dog understood a word of it), that it irritates me. Other than that, if they want to kiss the dog on the mouth, take it for a ride in the baby stroller, tie frilly pink bows in their fur or make sure they have a cashmere throw to sleep on, I couldn’t care less.
I meant I was ignorant of the reasons why I should not have an indoor/outdoor cat.
Notice I said some…think…could. I said there are two sides. I did not state it as an unrefutable fact. But what is a fact is that bird populations are in crisis. It is also a fact that cats kill birds. How many birds are killed by domestic cats that are allowed outside? Good luck figuring it out.
But sure, I’d love to see the many journal articles offering evidence that we should let our domesticated little murderers go outside because it’s what they want. Regardless, should I ever own another cat they won’t be going outside. I was simply trying to answer the question of why some people don’t put their cats outside at night or why folks have litter boxes.
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??? Predatory animals are not “murderers”. They are following the instinct that is part and parcel of being the animal they are. There’s been cats and birds for recorded history and there’s still cats and birds- it all works out as nature intended. Don’t you think other animals were killed to produce the food you feed to your domesticated cat? Not too many cats are vegetarian.
Why is it okay to slaughter a chicken to make your cat’s food but not okay for the cat to kill a bird itself and eat it?
Which leads me to a question I’ve had for a long time. Why isn’t there mouse, rat, and bird flavored cat food?
Fish and chickens aren’t exactly a cat’s natural prey.
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SorRy I FoRgot My SMileY font.
I made it clear that my personal belief on the science is that its an unresolved question and my personal approach to cat owning in the future will be that they are indoor cats only.
Not interested in arguing though.
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Between all the quoted posts and the comments, I actually kind of got confused about who said what.
Lol! Exactly. Of course it’s because they are marketing to we humans, who think our pets are human, and so it goes. My dog would definitely go for “people toes” or “dog arse” flavor if they made it. 
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Like all the cute little shapes they make dog and cat food in. That always cracks me up. As if the pet prefers little fish shapes to bone shapes.
Same with colors like red, yellow and green. Ironically, those colors are an immediate signal that the pet is not getting very good food (unless it’s colors in fresh food, not kibble).
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I agree to no litter boxes in the kitchen. I did have 2 cats for quite some time in my home - but we spent a pretty penny on a massive self cleaning litter box with carbon filters to prevent any off gassing. Everything went into a bag holding a bed of baking soda - and the net result was - you couldn’t smell that there was a litterbox in the house. You do have to give up a room / corner of the house to wherever cats use the bathroom though…
If you have a garage or basement, I would consider that more appropriate than in the house.
My daughter has one of those state of the art litter boxes. In fact, she wouldn’t let my granddaughter, who was begging for a kitten for several years, have one until she found out that that traditional litter box alternative was available.
I know they aren’t cheap, but they sure beat the open kitty litter box.
Before I got my 2 indoor cats, mine were always indoor/outdoor.
The shelter where I got them about 12 years ago highly encouraged keeping them inside. Domestic cats are not part of our “natural” environment.
As a wild bird lover, I’m trying to do my part to have less birds killed.
Predation by domestic cats is the number-one direct, human-caused threat to birds in the United States and Canada. In the United States alone, outdoor cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year .
Litter boxes are what one has to do when their cats do not go outside. The neighborhood I’m in has a lot of cats, all free roaming and lots of cat sh-t ends up in my garden.
So, if people kept their cats inside there would be a hell of a lot more birds and less cat sh-t in other people’s yards.
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I agree. I’m a crazy cat lady but also an animal lover so my cats have always been indoors. I don’t want them killings birds, squirrels, bunnies, chipmunks, etc. Plus indoors they’re safe. I know that a dog won’t kill them or get run over by a car.
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Yeah I agree too; I just think this is the weirdest place ever to have to defend it.
Sometimes just putting things out there might enlighten a few that hadn’t thought in a certain way before.
@mica555
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The concept of having a box in your house, where an animal defecates and urinates, is still alien to me. It’s a pretty disgusting practise, in my opinion.
JF
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I think it would be reasonable for you not to have one then!
No hamsters for you then, mate!
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