Keep Your Cat Indoors

Traffic, traps, poisoning and cruel people are just a few of the dangers that can kill or injure outdoor cats. Disease and parasites are much easier to avoid when a cat stays indoors. Cats that are not spayed and neutered and are allowed to roam will mate and create MORE cats that will either die agonizing deaths on the street or be killed in shelters because there are not enough homes for them. Outside dangers are so prevalent that the average lifespan for a free-roaming cat is just a little more than one year, whereas an indoor cat's average lifespan is fourteen to twenty years.

More reasons to keep Tabby inside:

• Animal control personnel pick up stray animals don’t allow your pet to become an added burden to this agency.
• Your cat may come in contact with a rabid animal.
• Free-roaming cats are natural predators to certain wildlife.

Cats are quite content and happy indoors. To help them adjust, provide them with these items, and you will find that you have easily created a built-in kitty playroom!

• a scratching post or cat tree
• a few safe toys
• a window perch
• an empty paper grocery bag or empty cardboard box
• a radio tuned to a classical music station volume low

You may also want to try one or more of the following sprouts in a pet garden to provide some greenery for your feline:

• oat grass
• wheat grass
• rye grass
• parsley
• plain grass
• catnip
• leaf lettuce 

Nibbling on leaves and grass helps remove hairballs and aids in the digestive process. Remember, however, to keep all other houseplants out of reach--click here for a list of plants known to be toxic to cats.

Finally, screened porches make excellent play areas for cats. Some people even build large, screened enclosures for their cats, but you don’t need to go to that extent to make your feline a happy indoor inhabitant. Cats can learn to enjoy a safe, indoor life with a little encouragement from their friends.

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