Editor,
Re: Cat reunited with owner — seven years later, Oct.31
There’s a solution for preventing beloved pet cats from sadly going missing: If making your feline an indoors-only pet is simply not doable, always keep it on a chest-harness leash during walks. If you won’t do it for the vulnerable wildlife potentially killed by your roaming cat, then please do it for your also-very-vulnerable cat’s sake.
Another great benefit to this is that the average lifespan of indoor felines is about three times that of outdoor felines, not to mention the notable absence of outdoor-related injury. Of course, completely denying one's pet cat outdoors access should be compensated by giving their feline additional affection.
I grew up around cats, including feral/stray felines, and developed a lifelong appreciation and affection for cats in general. As a young boy, finding them slaughtered the first thing in the morning was quite traumatizing. They were lost to larger predators.
Domesticated, cats offer reciprocally healthy relationships — many cat lovers describe them as somewhat symbiotic — particularly for those suffering physical and/or mental illness. Yet, human apathy, the throwaway mentality/culture and even a bit of public hostility toward cats typically result in population explosions thus their inevitable neglect and suffering, including severe illness and starvation. With the mindset of feline disposability, it might be: ‘”Oh, there’s a lot more whence they came.”
Frank Sterle Jr., White Rock
