My Disciples,
I’ve received a lot of inquiries recently about the various Limbo kitties that used to visit Me in My Outdoor Domain. Many of those kitties are no longer around as their guardians have moved away. Two of those kitties are no longer in Limbo as one was re-homed and one now lives with Me. But there are still many kitties out there in Limbo, and one of them is Stanley. Stanley stopped by recently and, although I was excited to know that he is still alive and kicking, I was sad to see that he is still in Limbo.
Stanley stopped by. I was happy that he is still alive, but sad that he is still in Limbo.
I meowed to the Guardians to tell them that they should give “The Mighty Stanley“, as I call him, some catnip. They obediently complied and Stanley seemed to appreciate it.
I commanded the Guardians to give Stanley some catnip. They wisely obeyed.
Stanley is a total nip addict. He not only enjoyed rolling in the nip, he eagerly lapped it up with his tongue.
Stanley was crazy for the nip. He rolled in it and ate it.
It was nice to see Stanley enjoying his herbal treat. Not only did I know that he was finding a little joy in life, I also knew that as long as he was in My backyard he was not getting run over by a car, attacked by a dog, or running into one of the myriad other dangers that exist for a cat in Limbo.
As long as Stanley stayed and enjoyed the nip, I knew he was relatively safe.
Once he was done enjoying himself, Stanley seemed truly grateful for the care and attention the Guardians had given him. I wondered what his own guardians thought when they opened the door and let him walk outside into the unprotected world at large. Did they ever worry about him? Did the danger even cross their minds?
Stanley seemed to truly appreciate the care and attention given to him by the Guardians.
I really don’t know what Stanley’s guardians, or any other guardians, think when they let their cats roam free and unprotected in the world. Do they not believe that there is a risk that the kitty will never come home? If they are aware of the risk, why do they think it is worth it? Perhaps I will never understand, but that doesn’t mean I will quit trying to convince people that keeping their kitties safely confined is one of the most loving things they can do.
I came from a group of 23 stray and feral cats, many of whom died horrible, agonizing deaths in the world without walls. My sister was among them. Please, please, please do all that you can to prevent the kitties in your care from being placed unnecessarily in harm’s way. And please do all that you can to convince others to do the same for their cats.
So Sayeth Otis
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Me and my mom-person really don’t know what Stanley’s guardians, or any other guardians, think when they let their cats roam free and unprotected in the world either !!
My mom-person would NEVER let me go outside by myself and I´m very happy to be an indoor cat who takes walk´s in a harnesh with my mom-person when it´s nice weather 🙂
I’m so glad your mom-person keeps you safe and sound Kjelle Bus! 🙂
Way to go Otis. You keep up the work of telling the world that cats are better indoors. I once rescued an outdoor cat in a cold Alberta winter. He turned out to be the “best cat ever” according to my daughter. I now have another rescue cat that I got from the shelter, who had been found wandering down a busy road. From day one he has never wanted to go outside and that makes it so much easier to talk to people at the door. I think he must have been truly frightened. It’s a scary world out there for cats, and claws and teeth can’t always defend them.
Thanks so much for being a true cat Guardian, Ena! 🙂
we agree – they put a collar and a tag on him, but don’t keep him inside and safe…..we are glad you are keeping on eye out for him.
Thanks Random Felines. We do our best to watch out for the neighborhood Limbo kitties. I worry about them all the time though. 😦
A Limbo Kitty has been calling to me, and I am searching the local pet rescue centers for the voice. I was particularly disturbed to find that one local shelter will not allow adoptions unless the cats can go outside. They also require that the cats not be vaccinated, and a few other things…I think they are misguided, and hope they will someday understand.
http://www.beeholisticcatrescueandcare.com/
Wish me luck in finding my kitty!
Oh my gosh. I am a little bit horrified by this Stephanie’s Mom. The first line in their adoption agreement says that well-cared for cats should live to be 20 or older, and then they write in that you must let the cat go outside… something that cuts many cats’ lives tragically short. If they stipulated that the cats should be contained by a safe enclosure or a harness and leash it might make more sense, but instead it just says you should have a cat door. I am shaking My head.
Best of luck finding the kitty that is calling to you! Don’t be surprised if it actually ends up being two or three kitties that are calling. 😉
I am shaking my head, too. Sometimes people are just weird. Many kitties are calling, but my husband doesn’t hear them. One will have to do. Perhaps the kitty that my daughter told me about – the one that doesn’t want to go outside – could come live here! I am a BSH fan!
Thank you for all your efforts to help Limbo kitties. Keep up the good work – there are more catnip bananas in your future!
Yay! More catnip bananas. Hmmm… Brother Oliver was rolling his eyes when I wrote that. 😉
Dear Leader Otis,
Thank you for keeping the Limbo kitties in the forefront of our minds. Yesterday Hitch frightened our HuMom by slipping out the door while she handed a large box to the mail carrier. If the mail carrier hadn’t ask “is she allowed out?” HuMom would have been unaware of Hitch’s escape. Luckily she was able to get ahold of him before he got off the porch but it was a close call that left her shaken. Anyway we are now wondering about collars on cats. While micro chipping is great, it doesn’t give a neighbor the immediate ability to look and realize “that’s Dot’s cat, he shouldn’t be out”. But the collars we have tried on Hitch so far always end up hanging from a doorstop or basket or something else that has made it break away. A collar that doesn’t breakaway might leave Hitch hung up, unable to escape some unforeseen danger. The idea if him out in the world without walls makes HuMom feel sick but in the WWW with no identification? That’s truly horrifying. We other 3 have no problem in this area due to the fact we have no desire to go outdoors and don’t get caught in unexpected places for our cat collars to “break away”. Hitch has stopped trying to venture outside very often. When he first came to live indoors he attempted to get out whenever the door opened and everyone was on guard and there was a sign of warning for any newcomers. Anyway, we thought you or your followers might have some advice on keeping him safe beyond what we already employ. He gets extended playtime and access to several large to medium windows, many overlooking bird and squirrel habitats. HuMom try’s very hard to keep boredom at bay. Once again we’ve taken up too much space on your blog. Our apologies and thanks are sincerely offered.
Purrs to you,
Mistletoe and Hitch(hiker)
RWB
We have the same problem with RC Cat. She will bolt out the door – and I have made a couple tail grabs out of desperation (she was most offended). We do have a Crazy K cat harness that she allows us to put on her in the spring so she can walk around the backyard – but you have to be careful to fit it snuggly – experiment and find one Hitch will tolerate but can’t slip out of (we tried many – and still worry about this one – best to be alert).
An outside enclosed porch/area sounds heavenly.
Right now windows opened enough to let her sniff – but not so much she could get her head through – seems to keep her happy (if the window is wide open, she rips screens and hops out).
Olde Tiger who would rip and claw sheetrock, chew door facings, shred wall paper in attempts to escape finally appreciated a dry warm sunny spot indoors when he got older….age is the only thing that changed his mind.
Hmmmm… none of us has ever been screen rippers, except for Brother Henry one time when he was trying to catch a fly. I’ve heard that there are cat proof window screens though, Phil, so maybe those could be an option. As for the door dashing, see the link in My reply to Mistletoe and Hitch. 🙂
No need to apologize M and H(h)! You may not know this, but Brother Oliver used to be a terrible door dasher. The Guardians used a “tough love” technique to cure him. You can read about it in the post titled, “The Dilemma of the Door Dasthers“. As far as the collars go, The Brothers and I have breakaway style collars that we used to wear in My large Outdoor Domain at our old house. We would actually line up at the door to allow the Guardians to put the collars on before we went outside. They haven’t made us wear them since we moved to our current house though, I think just because none of us ever attempts to get out of the house or enclosure. Even Thomas runs upstairs to his safey safe when faced with an open door. Every cat is different, of course, but that’s the way we roll. 😉 I’m pretty sure that if the Guardians thought there was a good chance of us bolting, we would have to wear the collars all the time. They would definitely opt for the breakaways still though. If we did get out, it would be better to lose the collar than to get hung up on something and injured… or worse.
Adverse behavior modification does work with door dashers. The water idea is great. Actually the panic tail grabbed seemed to stop her for a couple of years – until recently, so the water splash may be in the works…if it ever stops raining…right now warm naps seem to be the rule.
Window screen need to be monitored in this climate as the material gets weak from sun damage and age…
Actually RC leaned hard against the screen examining some birds on a bush and fell right through – these screens have a little coiled ridge that holds the screen material in (until that piece get old also). RC rolled out and was shocked…giving me time to get out and round the corner and call her…she actually responded as the territory was totally unfamiliar…but she’s not forgotten and will test lean window screens now to see if it will repeat.
The harness and long lead lets her wander a bit outdoors until she’s hot and ready to go back inside.
Do appreciate the water idea!
The Guardians actually built a custom, wire window insert in Kitty Valhalla to make sure we didn’t bust out. You can see it here. It has its own wooden frame that is secured in the window space. They had to reinforce it once when a Raccoon tried to come inside through it! 🙂
What a handsome boy and so sad he’s a Limbo kitty! This past week we helped rescue a neighbors cat who is allowed to wander “because he’s 6 years old and I can’t bear to keep him cooped up!” He had been missing for 3 days. The temperatures here had gotten below freezing and it appears he wandered into a neighbors garage and attic prior to their departure for a couple of days. We came home New Years day evening and heard his cries of distress. With some coordination, the owners were able to work with the homeowners and get him out. I keep telling his owners to build him an outdoor pen to no avail. His momma guardian thinks it would be cruel to pen him in….sigh. I think it’s more cruel to get trapped in a neighbors attic for 3 days but that’s just me!
That is a perfect example of the strange “logic” people use when it comes to confining, or I should say, not confining their cats. It’s cruel to give him safe boundaries, but it’s a loving act to put him in a situation where he can get trapped in an attic? I know some four year old humans that would love to go and run around in the street. Are their parents cruel for not letting them? Yikes. Thanks so much, Saymber, for watching out for kitties whose guardians do not.
Sigh….and she gets so emotional every time one goes missing and every time I tell her the same thing – build them a nice outdoor enclosure! I need to introduce you to them lol.
It’s very puzzling. If she won’t keep the kitties contained for their own safety, why not at least do it for her own emotional well being? Humans can be so strange. 🙂
We ‘greez that kitties are best kept indoors. We may have been mighty roamers and hunters back in the day, but now the world is more dangerous and we are pretty small and vulnerable. We live smack-dab in the middle of San Francisco where there are no yards or anything anyway–only sidewalks and scary busy streets. I like to LOOK outdoors and watch all the action, but deep inside I know it would be Very Bad to be out there! XOXOXOXO Stanley’s a verreh Handsome Boy. We’ll purray he stays safe.
I’m so glad you are kept safe Spitty! Your humans are true Guardians. 🙂
My Jen wouldn’t go outside. (Not that we’ve encouraged her to.) On of us humans tried to walk outside while she was sitting on the human’s shoulder (just for a min. to talk to another of her humans). She meowed and tried to jump back in the house as soon as she crossed the threashold. Precious is completely different. She would love to go outside like she was before she came to us, but we can’t let her. It’s too dangerous, and we don’t want to loose either of our girls. We’ve thought about harnesses, but I think it would be tough to get Precious into one. As for Jen, I think she is content to sit by an open window and smell the breeze.
Just like human kids, some of us fur kids will try to push our boundaries. And just like responsible parents, responsible kitty Guardians will set and enforce safe boundaries for their fur kids. Thank you for being a true kitty Guardian, My Camera, My Friend! 🙂
We are indoor kitties and only Wally goes out when the weather is nice…and only supervised and on a leash. We don’t like when the humans let their animals out unattended. Most of the time the cats come and visit us and, although we’re nice cats, we’re not big on visitors coming to our windows. We yell and scream at the visitors telling them to go home. The mom wishes the other humans would keep their cats indoors.
There are quite often cat fights in our yard, Island Cats. None of us are involved though because we are watching safely from our windows or enclosure. The Guardians always rush out to break up the fights when they hear them. I’m glad your mom is a true kitty Guardian! 🙂
My parents and even husband still express surprise that Pebble seems quite happy to stay inside. The husband even occasionally asks if we should let her out! I respond vociferously and vehemently, but I think it’s an old fashioned view which is quite hard to shift in some silly humans. I’d love to let her in the garden as old Cinnamon used to love it, but she couldn’t jump out over 5 foot fences, while Pebble is young and fit and could easily do it in pursuit of a crunchy little bird and curiosity. Fitting some kind of netting or other device would be great, but I’m disabled and not rich plus the neighbours might object if it was unsightly. (They already have to put up with my weeds… I like the ‘natural’ approach!)
Thanks for being as true kitty Guardian, Knotrune! Perhaps Pebble could be trained to tolerate a leash and harness? Some kitties take to these quite well, but The Brothers and I never got the hang of it. 🙂
I plan to try it. I bought one, but it has fiddly buckles and she wriggles out before I can get it fixed in place! It might be better to find one with clips 🙂
Beautiful moggie 🙂
🙂