Controlling A Cats Territory

If you live in an apartment block or in a busy urban environment, or your cat is frail or a valuable pedigree, it is perfectly feasible and acceptable to most cats, to keep it indoors all the time.

In some parts of the United States, vets actively recommend this for cats in urban environments. Because of the balanced pet foods now available,. Modern cats do not need to go out to supplement their diet by hunting.

Outdoor exercise is also unnecessary, as long as the owner provides toys and plays with the cat. Although cats are nocturnal by nature, it is really unwise to allow much loved pets to stay out at night.

Train them to stay in from an early age and make sure there is always a clean litter tray or pan available. This training also ensures that they are equally happy if kept indoors for long periods.

The outdoor cat’s tendency to roam and exposure to the dangers of traffic, fighting and infection from other cats can be reduced at a snip, that is, by being neutered or altered.

The sex drive of a calling queen or an active tom cat will overdrive any considerations for road safety. The unaltered male cat can hunt over an area of about 7 miles. His desexed counterparts will probably exercise territorial rights over maybe 240 yards at most.

Open fireplaces should always be guarded, even when a fire is not lit, for cats like climbing up chimneys and may become stuck or break a limb, or at the very least emerge soot covered.

Electric and gas fires can be equally dangerous. One cat owner was faces with a fire in her living room and some very frightened kittens, after the combined weight of the litter of kittens toppled a highly flammable chair against the bars of a gas fire.