And I’m not one of those who tends to watch cute cat videos(tm) online — which, lets face it, eliminates 38% of all online video footage, the remainder being comprised of porn (55%) and Anime Music Videos (20%)*
*total is more than 100% because the latter two categories overlap more than one would care to contemplate. **
** Actually, there’s probably some some instances of all three of the categories overlapping, but I don’t want to think about that, either.
Anyway, some very hot feline-on-front yard action there. Love how the stalking behavior minfested almost immediately, and the head popping up out of nowhere around the 1:15 mark was very cool (bonus points for Dr. Winnicott seeming to walk right through a solid tree-trunk right afterward due to the angle of the shot).
I wonder if you are playing with us, with the Dr. Winnicott appellation. If it’s a reference I’m missing, I’m sure someone else will come up with it. Or maybe it’s her real name, though somehow I doubt it.
She is VERY keyed into Alison. Nice to see — means a lot of trust has been established.
I don’t know why that made me so happy, but thanks for sharing. My roommate just brought home a 6-year old Doberman and I was terrified it would eat my cat, but in less than a week, Emily has tamed the dog. The dog won’t even walk past her.
I don’t think the local birds are in any danger. It looks like the good Doctor is um, well, not particularly aerodynamic. And I say that in a loving, want to bury my face in the plush, kind of way.
Seeing the snow still on the ground will make me stop complaining about the chilly night last night in CA.
We let ours out after three years of indoor life. Miss P, who had been desperate to go out, airs her ears but is not that interested. Hubble, who had shown no interest at all, transformed in weeks from an embarrassingly wobbly fence walker into a slim, mean, muscle rippling terror of the neighborhood.
Okay, there’s something weird about watching Alison Bechdel’s cat on Youtube and having all those chuckling about the cuteness of cat behaviour moments via video/website/computer screen. i’m sitting with my own two cats and i’m caught up in living this moment mediated through this electronic stuff that i’ve only connected with because of liking Alison’s comic…. and Fun Home. Am i the only person weirded out by our increasing involvement in the lives of strangers diffused by electronic media? Atleast i actually like what i know of A.B. unlike those strange MTV reality/nonsense/whocaresaboutrich20yearoldsgoingoutatnight shows.
It’s hard to see a cat outdoors, so lively, curious and active, and then hear you’re a bad kitty mom if you let yours outside. My boy, Toby, also rapidly when from clumsy — too uncoordinated to make it onto a table in just one jump — to the King of the Neighborhood and Mighty Vole Hunter once my SO allowed him outdoors.
Can someone explain the rolling around, wiggling on one’s back thing with cats? My calico quite a spectacle of her self whenever she finds herself in a sunbeam. I thought she wanted her back scratched, but that ain’t it. She’ll do it right after a good rub.
I’m guessing the name is a reference to Donald Winnicott, a mid-20th century psychologist best known for the idea of a “transitional object” (like Linus’s blanket in Peanuts) and the “good-enough mother.”
Kitty sensory overload! Is there anything better than when they walk/trot towards you, with the tail held high, and whiskers all perky? And you can just feel the happiness?
I’m a big fan of transitional objects. Ask me about my cloud blanket sometime. Or the various knickknacks I’ve nicked from therapists!
What a beautifully-done video! I felt the warmth of the sunny pavement and the brush of the spring air, and the happiness of being Dr. Winnicott.
Trouble with wearing a bell is that if you’re the cat, you have to listen to it constantly. Don’t the birds and little moles have super-senses to warn of predators?
Also loved how you inserted the caption card to clarify that Julia’s your “old cat.” Were you worried that casual viewers might think you’ve got a series of shallow graves out there in the woods?
If Fanny Price ever shows up for dinner, I hope you’ll post the video of that, too.
I want a big backyard. with a creek. I hate the city.
what a cute kitty:) I like how she was examining the creek, like it was some rodent who might be causing trouble.
The big puffy tail, always held upright was a tell-tale sign of how much she loved her excursion!!! We used to keep our kitty door available all the time for “Jack” to roam until I found Mama skunk and her 3 babies in my kitchen one morning!
AB – I think your (our?) “equivalent” of the kitty TV rendered real would be if suddenly Mo and Sydney showed up at the front door, 3-D and in living flesh!
Bells don’t work. Songbirds pay enough for Americans’ comfort–being diced up in wind turbines, losing their winter habitat to coffee plantations–without being hunted by one more invasive species.
Don’t get me wrong; I love kitties. But if you really care about local wildlife, outdoor cats are pretty hard to rationalize. Cats also carry parasites that kill otters when cat poo ends up in waterways because cats poop outdoors or cat owners flush litter.
No Alec in Mtl you are definitely not alone on this. I believe our tendency/compulsion to invest in these static (meaning: non-livetime) “interactions” reflects directly on the deep human need to connect to or capture some sense of community…the electronic revolution has given us so much but has also warped (IMHO) the condition of communication. In this environment, many seem to cohere around a mutual affinity/affection for AB; that seems to be enough to keep everyone on board.
You might be interested in the lead story in the current issue of “The Economist” (4/12-18) re: Nomadism. See I’m not exempt, either! 🙂
Anyhooo,
It seems we all want to be vested/connected…peeps use whatever means necessary and accepted as normative to do so. However odd…
brilliant! i’m envious that you have a cat who WILL go outside. on esp. nice days here in utah i’ve been trying to convince my cat ava to go outside again (she was indoor / outdoor at home in oregon) but she’s become a chicken.
I love DH Winnicott. So valid… one o’my faves.
But, I did think… is THAT the kittie’s name…?
not Piebald?
Alas, we may never know.
I did notice, Ms. G. E. Mama, that Piebald is a tad bit, uhm, shall we say, pleasingly plump. Is that just the ten pounds the camera adds?
Maybe the increased exercise, jumping in and outta the cat door ninety times a day, will help with that spread. And just so y’all know… I ain’t no fat hater… ‘kay? It’s just an observation.. that’s all.
Wow. I had no idea it was considered bad cat-parenting to let a cat go outside. And then there’s wearing a bell so she won’t eat birds. Perhaps Alison should dress her warmly, and modestly so cat molesters won’t get her. I’m sure someone is making cat chadors and burqas. We live in such a sick society!
As a matter a fact, outdoor cats are a serious concern to songbirds. I have mixed feelings about having an outdoor cat myself.
I guess you are suggesting that cats are overly controlled by society, but, in my opinion, your “joke” about cat chadors was insulting and displayed your own ignorance.
Thanks for the video. I have a set of indoor/outdoor cats myself, and I enjoy their enjoyment, watching twitching ears and noses. It really must be an intense sensory experience.
Yes, my cats are hunting .. badly. I am conflicted about the carnage they could do if they really tried ( worst thing is the baby bunnies. )
The first scene of Mike Leigh’s (excellent) new film, Happy-Go-Lucky, takes place in a London bookshop. There on a shelf, slap bang in the centre of the shot, was a little stack of (new cover version) DTWOF books! Unfortunately the main character Poppy, (played by Sally Hawkins who was Sue Trinder in the BBC adaptation of Sarah Water’s Fingersmith) didn’t pick any up and exclaim over them rapturously but she was gracious enough to stand next to them and not entirely obscure them for about 3 shots.
Entering into the bell debate, I have found that having a bell on the cat is a good compromise. My cat, Odysseus (long since having left on some mysterious voyage,) used to kill 5-6 goldfinches a day before I belled him. After belling it reduced the bird kills to one or two a week. Plus, I was able to get a very adorable yet badass bell shaped like a human skull.
Offhand, Alison, I just read “Fun Home.” Great job!
The tens of millions of years of avian evolution in no way led birds to react to the sound of a bell (a nanorecent phenomenon) as a source of danger. Ah well, maybe making your cat (and yourself) neurotic with the maddening tinkle leads to less competent hunting. In my never humble opinion, a few cats are good hunters (I once had one); most, like my current companion are laughably incompetent.
Thanks Dr Winnicott for the wonderful guided tour and for sharing with us your unique perspective on Alison’s backyard. I wish you many happy explorations and please go easy on the birds.
Our vet has also given us the bad-pet-owner lecture, including the statistic that the average life span for indoor cats is almost 10 times that of outdoor cats. Yet, when I see how incredibly happy our cat is outdoors, I could never imagine keeping him indoors. I think of how I would feel being given the option to live 700 years indoors!
For responsible pet owners, it is (or should be) an important decision as to whether or not to let a cat outside. I don’t, but I live in a city; it’s just too dangerous. So my cats sit on comfortable kitty shelves in windows, observing all and soaking up the rays.
And…I…I…bought a cat stroller. That’s it, go ahead, mock me, lauuugh! I don’t care. It’s screened in, and the cats enjoy going for walks in it. Damn thing even has cup holders.
OH MY GOD! Leda, thanks for telling me about the new Mike Leigh film.
I LOVE MIKE LEIGHHHHHHH!!!!
Or at least I love all his movies and characters.
That is so amazing. I’ll have to rush out and see Happy Go Lucky as soon as it arrives her in the provinces…maybe in 18 months.
And those vets are missing the point – it’s not quantity, it’s quality that’s important.
That said, we could never have a cat when we grew up ‘cos there was a dual carriageway outside the garden gate (I live in Britain). It would be like the freeway scene in Matrix Revolutions.
I know this has nothing to do with cats (I have 2, they are indoor except for play time on a screened in porch) but…my partner, daughter, and I went to the local human society yesterday to adopt a 4 year old dog that was brought in from a puppy mill raid. It actually took him over an hour to move from the spot we sat him in the yard, and then he just paced in the same trail for most of the afternoon. He is doing better this morning, but it is really sad.
Mine’s the blue one, first row, left hand side. Yes, I look like an idiot when using it, but I’m just beginning a physical rehab after months of illness, and I appreciate the cat company on my walks. And they like it too.
ksbel6, blessings on ya for what you’re doing re: the puppy. Keep the faith, and I think you’ll be rewarded – and so will the dog.
wow-in response to all the stuff about how outdoor kitties could harm birds and other creatures….that’s kind of their JOB. Cat’s job, I mean. Those hunting instincts weren’t evolved for nothing-in the wild, animals get killed. Other animals eat them. it’s part of the balance. I guess you could say that cats living with people are usually given food, so they shouldn’t be eating more than their share, but still….if you want to conserve wildlife (which I do) you have to remember that that’s what wildlife is like. the real problems are not being caused by outdoor cats, but by human activity, which is a separate issue. AND, it’s true, almost all animals live longer in captivity, because they don’t have the physical stress of acquiring food or the environmental stress of being rained on, etc. But again, is that natural to them? not really….I live in the city and my cats stay inside, because we live off a major major street, (and I don’t think that cars are a danger cats are evolved to deal with)-but when I move I’m going to let them outside. I think they’ll love it-and they should get to catch some birds. it’s part of their heritage!
I live in the city-of-cities (NYC), and I have been sensing that my aging cat, who used to have the regular opportunity to be an indoor/outdoor kitty elsewhere, has become somewhat depressed. I may look into a cat stroller, believe it or not, courtesy of this blog.
ksbel6, perhaps let the dog spend more time inside and less time in the yard (after all, he has probably been confined to a tight space for most of his life, and — just like us — at first finds the experience of what we call freedom confounding. Hopefully (and probably) with a growing sense of trust in you and in space in general he’ll look forward to being out-of-doors. He’s lucky to be with you now.
Alec in Mtl, I was completely with you and left this thread for awhile. As you noted – weird – go outside and play.
But now that I’m back and see we are once again exchanging useful life info (this time re: our feline companions), I say, wow, pet-strollers & a new Mike Leigh movie (we knew what you meant the first time, AB), who knew?!
Ginjoint, hope you are healing well. Ksbel6, thank you.
We’ve been going through exactly the same dilemma with our little boy, whom we suspect was allowed outside before we adopted him (talks/complains for much of the day). The same day AB shot Piebald outside (we’re also in New England), we were experimenting with letting Poli (named Napoleon, a tad difficult for us – tho later we learned he was named for Napoleon Dynamite, for whatever that’s worth…) on a small accompanied outside jaunt. We live in a city near a busy street. But he stays in our postage stamped yard mostly eating grasses. Sigh. What to do in the longterm. I may actually get a cat harness (heh) and walk him for a bit, and then he’ll be indoor/outdoor. Thoughts on those odd little cat leashy things?
I can’t help but wonder what proportion of songbirds croak because of feral, as opposed to “indoor/outdoor” cats. Hmmm. By the way, the one hunter that I have had brought in many, many more times the rodentia than avis. Since rats eat bird eggs, maybe he had a positive effect on the bird population.
Most cats hate to be on leashes/harnesses. However, there are exceptions: I saw a cat in Somerville MA that adored strolling along in front of her/his person. This kitty was happy to be outside for hours…
I also saw someone whose cat seemed to be quite content to walk on a leash on NYC’s Central Park Drive amidst all of of us bicylers, rollerbladers and the like.
If you try this, please use a harness rather than a simple cat collar. But also please observe your kitty carefully: you will be able to tell if he likes this leash/harness situation. After all, presumably if he was allowed outside before you adopted him he could roam freely. This is a different situation.
Cities, busy streets and free-roaming cats are a dangerous combination (dangerous for the cat, of course…).
FYI, here is a link to fact sheet from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service on migratory bird mortality. This sheet cites a Wisconsin study that separated out songbird lethality from domestic and feral cats. They estimate that in the state of Wisconsin alone, “domestic rural cats kill roughly 39 million birds annually”. Unfortunately no citation to track down. Here’s the link: http://www.fws.gov/birds/mortality-fact-sheet.pdf
Here is another link from the FL extension service with some good suggestions for mitigating the carnage: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_UW090
When I lived in a house near the university, the rented room came with a cat, Minx. God, I loved that cat. She was so possessive of me! When my girlfriend would come over, Minx would very intentionally lie between us and separate us from cuddling. But my landlady’s parents wanted her back, so I moved out. *sings ‘Stand By Your Cat’*
Would I be correct in thinking that Dr. Winnicott is a transitional object? (Assuming that we don’t take the concept of developmental stages seriously, so that it’s possible for an adult to have a transitional object.)
Ginjoint – whatever works for you! Basically, it’s prams for pets, right? I have actually seen one here in Britain, although I thought it was a way to give an elderly dog some fresh air and sunshine. Hope the healing process is going well, btw?
ksbel6 – well done for rescuing your puppy. One day I hope to do the same. It can be hard work but very rewarding. If those puppy mills are anything like battery hens I can well imagine he (or is it she?) would be very confused by all the space. I know you will, but just make sure you’re always there with him/her and like someone else suggested, get him used to it gradually.
Your argument is right on, and one that I common hear. The problem with it is that house cats aren’t wildlife. They’ve been bred by humans for thousands of years, most have the advantage of eating cat food daily, being treated by vets, having secure shelter at night.
I’ve heard that feral cats live an average of 5 years in the wild. Around here, house cats live two to three times that long.
On the other hand, there were cats in North and South America before there were humans. There can’t just have been sabre-tooths, there must have been smaller cats too. You just now have more of them …
Thanks all for the well-wishes. Only a little more chemotherapy to go, and taking the cats for walks once I’m walking again after each treatment does help.
ready2agitate, my late tortie would simply go completely limp when I put her in a haress, but my calico would walk while wearing one. But be forewarned, I use the term “walk” loosely – be prepared to have lots of patience. It’s not like merrilly strolling with a dog on a leash. It’s like this: 1)walk 3 paces, 2)stop and sniff (something/anything), 3)eat some grass, 4)lie down on side and look around for a few minutes, 5)scratch back on pavement, 6)take 2 more steps, 7)jump up on low garden wall and investigate what’s there, etc. You get the picture. It’s slow going, but my calico did seem to enjoy it. So I guess it depends on the cat, if it’s willing to go on a harness or not. Good luck.
Our kitty is perfectly happy going outside on a leash, a condition of adoption from her rescue group. As soon as the weather gets nice she is quite persistant about letting us know she would like to GO OUTSIDE right NOW~ Her harness is quick release for safety, though one of us stays outside with her, no hardship in the nicer weather. See has popped out of the harness a few times when she’s seen a rabbit she couldn’t resist and was off like a rocket. (the rabbits are faster though!)But most of the time she eats grass, chases bugs and sniffs things. I bring a book!
My folks had a great leash cat, they travelled all over Canada and the US with her in their camper. She would not only go for walks in the campgrounds, she would get her harness and leash and bring them to Dad.
They used to put travel stickers on her litter box (my favorite was “I dug Wall Drug”). That cat had a lot of mileage on her!
Ginjoint — My calico went limp when I put a leash on her for the first time. It was the most disturbing sight — my bossy, very opinionated girl frozen, then falling stiffly to on her side like she’d been shot with a tranquilizer dart. I took the harness off, immediately (frantically) and back to the pet store. This was shortly after she acquired me. (She had my number from the outset of our relationship….)
Cats on a leash or in a stroller? News to me; my two would never put up with either.
They’re more likely to go to the Kit-Kat Club,ride on a catamoran,join the cat on the hot tin roof,or dance at a catillion. Or they might listen to the singer Katastrophe,and start chanting “Cats unite! You have nothing to lose but your collars!”
Fantastic play therapy right there, Dr. W… what a namesake.
Years ago I was given a very sweet but skittish cat scared of the outdoors. Eventually had to give her up due to allergies but stayed in touch with her new adoptive home more out in the country. She did gradually venture out into the sunshine and even got red highlights in her fur after awhile.
Thanks for the joy of watching this most unskittish creature romp and loll. And oh yes yes your brook and crocuses.
Thx all. I was thinking a harness w/quick-release for Poli, and to be honest, I wasn’t thinking long-term, I was thinking maybe for a few months till we felt sure he was good and grounded in our little cul-de-sac? I don’t know…. (ponders, reflects) I’m guessing he’ll hate it (he’s a bit of a curmudgeon – I think he was left alone a lot by his previous person). He got us last June. His persistent crying/whining/talking was really difficult. And since Ginjoint has bared her sould by sharing her cat stroller, I’ll share that I… I… consulted an animal psychic — by phone (not too helpful tho’).
@feminista: my partner’s fave joke abt our cats & their antics is – we came home one night to find them playing Cat Stevens records on our stereo. (comic pause) They looked disappointed.
Hmm, cats outside in cities. i worry everytime Slim (she was real skinny when she was living in our courtyard after her idiot student owners abandoned her on moving day) goes outside, but she got so used to being an outdoor kitty that it seems like torture to deny her. Of course we know things that she doesn’t, like CARS BAD and so forth, but then again cats have already figured out useful things like BIG NOISE, RUN AWAY. I don’t know, and i don’t want to sound too fatalist, but i feel that a being should have the best of however much or little life it manages to get. And for a cat that includes a bit of hunting. Not so good for the victims, but it is part of life. i’m not sure that cats have the same impact that pollution and destruction of habitat are having on the wild beasts that try to call Montreal home. i remember a much wider spectrum of wild birds in my part of town just 30 years ago…
Sorry for the ramble but Slim just went out the front door for the first time since this actual winter weather finally started to wane, and her mad dash up not one but two trees, with the inevitable “oh no, how do i get down” and acrobatic descent have got me full of the joys of unfettered catness in full bloom.
p.s. I think Doctor Donald was D.W. (rather than D.H). Winnicott.
In addition to the Wikipedia link, here’s one that goes more into his way of using play in psychotherapy… perhaps also the specialization of the present and female Dr W:
Yes, Ginjoint, my thanks for “petriarchy”, too. Big smile on a cloudy Monday morning!
On holiday in Holland, we rented two big Dutch bicycles and one little trailer thingy for behind one of the bikes for our dog. What a hoot.
Everytime I take my cat outside she hissed when I take her back in. Last time, she nipped me. She apparently just doesn’t like outside. But she likes to look out the windows. Or maybe she just doesn’t like that I won’t let her go running around on the balcony (I’m on the second floor).
This brings back a painful memory. I was taking care of a 50-pount harrier hound and her pet cat, Ben, a while back. One evening, the first cold day of the winter, I was looking out the back door when Ben snuck by me and scampered off. I thought, “Well, he’ll be back”, He never was. I’ve never seen a dog cry before, and on our walks whenever we saw a black cat with yellow eyes, she thought that it was Ben.
All my cats have been indoor/outdoor & only living with others who used them brought litter boxes into my life. ugh. To say nothing of dogs regarding said box as dispenser of “kitty snickers” if you’ve got that kind of a dog.
All my cats have hunted, but one was excellent. She even took a pigeon down once & left nothing but white feathers & maybe a foot. And yes – there was also a day of high-drama bird stuff – with 2 parent robins swooping and screaming because a baby had fallen from a nest & the cat went for the meal. Given that so few cats are actually allowed to hunt, i felt no compulsion to try to rescue the bird – altho i grant you i would try to rescue my cat from pret near anything, natural preditor or not.
When i would leave town for a weekend i could put a bowl of food on the back porch (inaccessible to dogs) with a some water & know that if Hazel got hungry she could take care of herself. I liked that she had a life independent of mine -not feral, just a truly resourceful roommate.
Indoor/outdoor DOES often amount to a shorter lifetime. I just grew up with cats who got to be cats, and even my cat who went blind still loved the sun the grass, the world of smells. While others experience opening the door as exposing cats to risk, i experience closing it as taking so much away.
Kate L. you reminded me of cat tags. We have the low-tech variety for our cat. It is just a little metal thingie imprinted with our address and phone number. Our cat was lost once and we still have no idea how it happened, but he was found about a month later, as it happens by a very nice lesbian couple, 15 blocks away (some involving major traffic), hurt and very thin. The only way they could know whom to call was that he was wearing a tag. We had put up notices all over the neighborhood, but obviously not that far away.
Via the tag, we also learned that outdoor cats in cities can be quite a nuisance, not just to birds and rodents: we once got a call from a house down the street to come and remove him from their backyard – he had been hanging out in front of their patio door and their own cat (indoors) was totally freaked out by him.
iara – if you have no idea how your cat got out then it must be a Schrodinger cat. This concept was first developed by Terry Pratchett who recorded that some scientist actually tried Schrodinger’s thought experiment. The experiment (for those who don’t know) was that if you put a cat in a box and smash a vial of poison, you don’t know whether the cat’s dead or not until you open the lid.
The cat, being infinitely smarter than the scientist, decided not to hang around to find out whether he was dead or not and nipped round a corner using quantum mechanics and was found in the office next door IIRC.
Except for the cat I had as a child, all my cats have been city cats who always stayed indoors. For my first Russian Blue, Grigio, I had a harness and leash. He just loved having the harness put on, I assume because it was his only chance to go outdoors. He would purr and knead with his paws while I put it on him, and I imagined him saying, “Oh, yes, Mom! Tie me up! Put my harness on, pleeeese!” I told my mother about it, saying I ought to get him a leather harness with studs. She said, “Yes, and you can get him a little whip, too.”
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith: Arnold Edinborough: Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
ready2agitate, be prepared for the possibility that Poli will slip the harness. my Sheba did that regularly, because she wasn’t content sniffing grass, lying in the sun or rolling on the sidewalk. just can’t climb trees when on a leash!
I never walked either of our cats; we had them outside on harnesses (w/supervision) so they could wander, sniff and roll in the yard. and, on occasion, climb the mulberry tree. no problems getting down from that one!
Lydia and I have a ritual where she runs outside when I first get home. after hanging up my coat, putting down groceries, or whatever, I open the door and she runs back in; then I feed her. I don’t like her outside long, as we’re in the city.
we did that ritual, at least, until my new neighbors started chaining their Big Dog on the front porch — Lydia no longer comes out! good news is that I’ve trained the dog to stop running into our house and chasing her away from the door. and better yet, the neighbors are moving into another place in the near future; maybe June.
The basic problem is that quantum mechanics suggests that subatomic particles may simultaneously be in each of two or more different states, which we would expect to be mutually exclusive. The point of Schroedinger’s Cat is that we can find ways to link the subatomic particles to objects of ordinary, easily observable size. It would then appear that the ordinary objects have to be in mutually exclusive states simultaneously — the cat has to be both alive and dead — which seems absurd. It’s a little more interesting than just sticking a cat in a box and poisoning it.
My,this is a tough crowd. Petriarchy gets all kinds of accolades,yet only rta is amused by my cat puns. Jasmine purred: if her human doesn’t get some laughs,she’ll take off for Katmandu,singing,”Categorically CatCanDo.” Or maybe she’ll read Catnapped,take a cat nap,and let Oreo get the catnip covered with catsup while she hunts for pussywillows.
the country isn’t necessarily safer than the city. Your M may V, but my town has fishers(like a weasel but bigger and meaner) and coyotes, both known ot be cat-eaters.
We have coyotes and fishers as well.. and don’t live in a particularly rural area. As such, two of my cats used to be feral, and you couldn’t force them to go outdoors if you wanted. I tried the harness thing, assuming they were probably missing their freedom. As it turned out, neither minded being leashed, but the moment you attempted to set them down outside, they’d scream and make a beeline for the door. They weren’t having it.
Most of our neighbors have lost multiple cats (presumably to predation, as I’ve never spotted any of them in the road), and when the colony was still around, the ferals never lasted more than a few years. The cats were not particularly healthy, and I’m sure this played a part, but I’m more inclined to blame the fishers.
We’ve lived in areas where neighbors’ cats thrived into their late teens as indoor/outdoor pets.. but that’s not the case here. They’re lucky to reach three.
I live in the mountains and when I first moved up here, I let my indoor/outdoor kitty explore the meadow around my house. She never went far, but within a month she disappeared. Probably eaten by a fox, coyote or mountain lion. One minute she was there; the next she was gone.
Kitties up here last long if their owners are outside with them, or if they stay on the porch or close to the house. Even so, last summer a lion came through the neighborhood and literally cleaned out all the cats within a week. Even mountain savvy old time kitties got eaten.
What Holmes really said: Categorically,my dear Watson.
Oreo sez: Let’s play with the catapult from the window in the catbird seat. Then let’s check out old copies of the Katzenjammer Kids we got from the Katz family. And I hear our human is looking at cookbooks from Mollie Katzen.
Mike finally, after years of yearning, killed a bird today. A robin.
The door to the garden was open; she was marauding outside, and startled a bird into the house, and killed it.
One of a nesting pair. That’s a season lost.
I feel dreadful. Her savage joyous moment was not worth that.
Yes; a judgement based on values, rather than on absolutes. And on my values, not hers. But she has been an indoor cat hitherto, and she is now one again.
A woman who lives near me can regularly be seen breezing along on her bike with her Jack Russell terrier in the front basket. He has a blanket, but usually sits up with the wind in his ears…so happy.
Ah now it’s clear why Dr. Winnicott played with your computer cables etc. – he was a slightly bored indoor cat. I thought he already was an outdoor cat. Good decision to let him out!
My cat goes outdoor from the beginning (big city, but a lot of gardens behind the house). She turns 10 this July, and eats a lot of mice.
Earth day today in Britain was lovely and sunny and reminded me why we fight so fervently for this planet of ours.
I went up to my allotment (community garden) plot and with my friend who I share it with, we planted broad (fava) beans, onions and put in a raised bed and drank tea in the sunshine. Oh and we tended to seedlings in the greenhouse. Absolute heaven. There’s no better way to celebrate Earth day than to plant something.
Why the fundamentalist nutjobs aren’t more green I’ve no idea. Let’s face it, Adam and Eve’s first job was to look after the animals and plants.
Ian– There are a lot of Green Christians around, including evangelicals. Here’s something I found on a lightning-fast google-search:
“The media often gives the impression that devout Christians and Big Business are one big happy family, and this family hates environmentalists. However, it’s a different story behind all the headlines and generalizations. One recent survey showed 52% of Evangelical Christians supporting strict environmental regulations. This makes sense, since the Bible refers to Man having stewardship over the Earth. That passage is at least as prominent as the Old Testament passage condemning homosexuality.”
Some Christians call this “Creation Care” because they don’t like the word environmentalism, apparently because it is too closely associated with liberalism, feminism, and tree-hugging paganism. That’s fine by me. A long as people are doing something to prevent environmental destruction they can call it whatever they like. To cop a cliche, actions speak louder than words.
This might turn out to be an angle for Cynthia. I assume she’s anti-Darwinian, so a little natural history might throw a few more bumps into her road– as if she doesn’t have enough already.
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith WSG: Nothing is so conductive to toleration as the knowledge that one’s bread depends upon it.
With some trepidation at the thought of a theological discussion which would be neither wanted nor being particularly well-equipped for, did Adam and Eve “become as gods” in the Bible or are you commenting on their subsequent veneration, Duncan? (Wow, that was a long sentence).
They’ve always been very human to me.
Jana – thanks for the info. I agree – let ’em call it what they like as long as they do it. I’m so glad it’s a (slim) majority. The media here, particularly in relation to Israel, has the nutjobs as desperate to speed up the rapture and armageddon as much as possible and thereby embracing global weirding.
Back in 1994, my parents and I brought four pets into the house: Mindy, a shorthair, about 2 years old, very much an indoor-outdoor cat; Shadow, a year-old Ger. shepherd/wolf/husky X, who’d been abused and neglected by his previous owners (my father’s idea, since our house was really too small for Shadow, and so was our backyard — we’d had a blue-point Siamese, Misty, for 12 years, up until the summer of ’93, and my father was wanting a dog, a large one, specifically because he knew I wasn’t into them and he wanted to show me who’s boss — we don’t just have issues, but a _library_ of bound volumes); Murphy, a roughly six-week-old kitten, a redhead; and Clover, an older dog, 6 or 7 (small-to-medium).
Mindy died first, hit by a car, and I’d say that while keeping her inside might have extended her life considerably, she’d have been impossible to live with. As it was, she adored Murphy, who returned the affection, and Shadow was her buddy. She lived her life well, and all the other animals missed her when she died.
My father made it damned clear just how much of owning Shadow was an issue of ego for him when he took the dog to training sessions for only a few times before quitting (if it was just a matter of sub-standard trainers, he could have found better ones). Later on, he took him for walks, for awhile, until it got to be too much trouble for him (so did I, until I decided I wasn’t going to coddle my father’s ego any further).
Clover died next, after losing an eye first — she lasted several years after that, mind you. Some time before her death, we got a third dog, Marquis, a tiny little girl (forget the breed), previously my sister’s (when her marriage broke up, she had to move to an apt that didn’t allow dogs). It was a good several months after Clover’s death when Shadow abruptly killed Marquis, who’d taken to sleeping with him, and had to be put down. Why my father felt the need to keep him for roughly nine years in a house which was far from roomy enough to allow running around for such a large creature, I’ll never know. “Ego” seems insufficient to contain such egregious behaviour.
At any rate, my parents now live in the basement of a house they co-own with my sister and her new husband (with whom she has two sons), who live upstairs. Murphy, of course, is the mistress of the house, at 14 years of age, and remains an indoor/outdoor cat (though she refuses to let anyone but my mother pick her up — she used to allow me to do so, under the cover of pretending not to want my attention (the purring under my chin gave her away), but I guess my moving out finally sank in, and she’ll have no truck with traitors like moi — she just runs from me now), just like her hero, Mindy. I guess mileage really does vary…
Incidentally, Misty, another indoor/outdoor cat, died in our basement after ingesting broken glass from Xmas lights she’d managed to break (she liked huffing paint fumes, which I didn’t figure out until long after). She was my first cat. I still miss her.
I want to offer one more plea to not allow house cats to roam free outside, especially in natural areas. Better to let them roam in cities, where the local wildlife is already so badly impacted by people’s actions.
Cats are natural predators, and they love to hunt. If they are well fed they just are more effective hunters because they are in better shape. One cat will not cause the extinction of a migrating bird population, or a population of voles, or other forest and prairie creatures, but it is never just one cat, it is thousands and thousands of people’s cats, in combination with habitat loss, pollution, and the endless impacts that people have on the natural world.
I know people love their cats so much they want them to have the joy of being outside. But this is essentially a very selfish choice. This is exactly the same as people who drain small wetlands in their backyard, because the loss of one wetland can’t make that much difference. Small impacts to our natural world by many, many people is exactly how most environmental degradation occurs.
The huge negative impact that outside cats make on populations of wild creatures is very well documented.
I love our cat very much and want her to be happy. What I do is I let her outside when I can be with her. Otherwise she stays inside.
Thanks for taking the time to consider keeping your cat inside.
Let me add another voice to the chorus of not outside, please. Fishers, yes, coyotes, yes, can and will eat domestic cats. So, too, will Great Horned Owls, which are considerably more common. Domestic cats are easy pickings for any of our northeast predators. And, in the other direction, the killing of birds and the spreading of parasites. All in all, probably not worth it. [I am not 100 percent against the idea of a Cat Outdoors: barn cats are useful and sometimes necessary. But those are cats with a job; risks to a cat whose name you know are too great.]
107 Responses to “Dr. Winnicott Steps Out”
Nice 🙂
And I’m not one of those who tends to watch cute cat videos(tm) online — which, lets face it, eliminates 38% of all online video footage, the remainder being comprised of porn (55%) and Anime Music Videos (20%)*
*total is more than 100% because the latter two categories overlap more than one would care to contemplate. **
** Actually, there’s probably some some instances of all three of the categories overlapping, but I don’t want to think about that, either.
Anyway, some very hot feline-on-front yard action there. Love how the stalking behavior minfested almost immediately, and the head popping up out of nowhere around the 1:15 mark was very cool (bonus points for Dr. Winnicott seeming to walk right through a solid tree-trunk right afterward due to the angle of the shot).
Also, “cat recycling” for the win.
if only we lived in the country, then Pem and Minerva could be outdoor cats as well. they wish!
Waste free living taken to the max???
I wonder if you are playing with us, with the Dr. Winnicott appellation. If it’s a reference I’m missing, I’m sure someone else will come up with it. Or maybe it’s her real name, though somehow I doubt it.
She is VERY keyed into Alison. Nice to see — means a lot of trust has been established.
My favorite line: Take your tail.
I don’t know why that made me so happy, but thanks for sharing. My roommate just brought home a 6-year old Doberman and I was terrified it would eat my cat, but in less than a week, Emily has tamed the dog. The dog won’t even walk past her.
Your cat looks like she is very full of joy.
That’s such a cool back yard you have. I think I’d have fun exploring, so Dr Winnicott really must be in puss heaven 😀
I don’t think the local birds are in any danger. It looks like the good Doctor is um, well, not particularly aerodynamic. And I say that in a loving, want to bury my face in the plush, kind of way.
Seeing the snow still on the ground will make me stop complaining about the chilly night last night in CA.
We let ours out after three years of indoor life. Miss P, who had been desperate to go out, airs her ears but is not that interested. Hubble, who had shown no interest at all, transformed in weeks from an embarrassingly wobbly fence walker into a slim, mean, muscle rippling terror of the neighborhood.
Go Dr. Winnicot!
Okay, there’s something weird about watching Alison Bechdel’s cat on Youtube and having all those chuckling about the cuteness of cat behaviour moments via video/website/computer screen. i’m sitting with my own two cats and i’m caught up in living this moment mediated through this electronic stuff that i’ve only connected with because of liking Alison’s comic…. and Fun Home. Am i the only person weirded out by our increasing involvement in the lives of strangers diffused by electronic media? Atleast i actually like what i know of A.B. unlike those strange MTV reality/nonsense/whocaresaboutrich20yearoldsgoingoutatnight shows.
Crocuses!
I envy you your brook. (Rill. Streamlet. “Crick”. Whatever. I just wish that I had one.)
Let me wish you this: That the Doctor is an incompetent hunter. Phoebes are good to have, and cats are wild birds’ sworn enemies…
It’s hard to see a cat outdoors, so lively, curious and active, and then hear you’re a bad kitty mom if you let yours outside. My boy, Toby, also rapidly when from clumsy — too uncoordinated to make it onto a table in just one jump — to the King of the Neighborhood and Mighty Vole Hunter once my SO allowed him outdoors.
Can someone explain the rolling around, wiggling on one’s back thing with cats? My calico quite a spectacle of her self whenever she finds herself in a sunbeam. I thought she wanted her back scratched, but that ain’t it. She’ll do it right after a good rub.
I’m guessing the name is a reference to Donald Winnicott, a mid-20th century psychologist best known for the idea of a “transitional object” (like Linus’s blanket in Peanuts) and the “good-enough mother.”
Enjoy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Winnicott
Yes, Robin. I love DW, and he figures largely in the book I’m working on.
Kitty sensory overload! Is there anything better than when they walk/trot towards you, with the tail held high, and whiskers all perky? And you can just feel the happiness?
I’m a big fan of transitional objects. Ask me about my cloud blanket sometime. Or the various knickknacks I’ve nicked from therapists!
What a beautifully-done video! I felt the warmth of the sunny pavement and the brush of the spring air, and the happiness of being Dr. Winnicott.
Trouble with wearing a bell is that if you’re the cat, you have to listen to it constantly. Don’t the birds and little moles have super-senses to warn of predators?
Yeah, I hope you don’t do a bell. They seem very antagonizing to the cats. Plus, you’d have to listen to it all the time too.
Bliss BLISS BBBBLLLLISSSS!
A bell helps to scare birds away so D.W. won’t eat them!
Sweetest line ever: “Don’t forget your tail!”
Also loved how you inserted the caption card to clarify that Julia’s your “old cat.” Were you worried that casual viewers might think you’ve got a series of shallow graves out there in the woods?
If Fanny Price ever shows up for dinner, I hope you’ll post the video of that, too.
I want a big backyard. with a creek. I hate the city.
what a cute kitty:) I like how she was examining the creek, like it was some rodent who might be causing trouble.
The big puffy tail, always held upright was a tell-tale sign of how much she loved her excursion!!! We used to keep our kitty door available all the time for “Jack” to roam until I found Mama skunk and her 3 babies in my kitchen one morning!
AB – I think your (our?) “equivalent” of the kitty TV rendered real would be if suddenly Mo and Sydney showed up at the front door, 3-D and in living flesh!
http://library.fws.gov/Bird_Publications/songbrd.html#Cat
Bells don’t work. Songbirds pay enough for Americans’ comfort–being diced up in wind turbines, losing their winter habitat to coffee plantations–without being hunted by one more invasive species.
Don’t get me wrong; I love kitties. But if you really care about local wildlife, outdoor cats are pretty hard to rationalize. Cats also carry parasites that kill otters when cat poo ends up in waterways because cats poop outdoors or cat owners flush litter.
No Alec in Mtl you are definitely not alone on this. I believe our tendency/compulsion to invest in these static (meaning: non-livetime) “interactions” reflects directly on the deep human need to connect to or capture some sense of community…the electronic revolution has given us so much but has also warped (IMHO) the condition of communication. In this environment, many seem to cohere around a mutual affinity/affection for AB; that seems to be enough to keep everyone on board.
You might be interested in the lead story in the current issue of “The Economist” (4/12-18) re: Nomadism. See I’m not exempt, either! 🙂
Anyhooo,
It seems we all want to be vested/connected…peeps use whatever means necessary and accepted as normative to do so. However odd…
Hmmmm.
brilliant! i’m envious that you have a cat who WILL go outside. on esp. nice days here in utah i’ve been trying to convince my cat ava to go outside again (she was indoor / outdoor at home in oregon) but she’s become a chicken.
I love DH Winnicott. So valid… one o’my faves.
But, I did think… is THAT the kittie’s name…?
not Piebald?
Alas, we may never know.
I did notice, Ms. G. E. Mama, that Piebald is a tad bit, uhm, shall we say, pleasingly plump. Is that just the ten pounds the camera adds?
Maybe the increased exercise, jumping in and outta the cat door ninety times a day, will help with that spread. And just so y’all know… I ain’t no fat hater… ‘kay? It’s just an observation.. that’s all.
Wow. I had no idea it was considered bad cat-parenting to let a cat go outside. And then there’s wearing a bell so she won’t eat birds. Perhaps Alison should dress her warmly, and modestly so cat molesters won’t get her. I’m sure someone is making cat chadors and burqas. We live in such a sick society!
Duncan,
As a matter a fact, outdoor cats are a serious concern to songbirds. I have mixed feelings about having an outdoor cat myself.
I guess you are suggesting that cats are overly controlled by society, but, in my opinion, your “joke” about cat chadors was insulting and displayed your own ignorance.
Awww, “take your tail!” made me smile. I had a friend years ago who always said that when letting her or my cats out.
The through-the-cat-door perspective is great.
Thanks for the video. I have a set of indoor/outdoor cats myself, and I enjoy their enjoyment, watching twitching ears and noses. It really must be an intense sensory experience.
Yes, my cats are hunting .. badly. I am conflicted about the carnage they could do if they really tried ( worst thing is the baby bunnies. )
Completely off topic but hey..
I have just seen Dykes To Watch Out For on film!
The first scene of Mike Leigh’s (excellent) new film, Happy-Go-Lucky, takes place in a London bookshop. There on a shelf, slap bang in the centre of the shot, was a little stack of (new cover version) DTWOF books! Unfortunately the main character Poppy, (played by Sally Hawkins who was Sue Trinder in the BBC adaptation of Sarah Water’s Fingersmith) didn’t pick any up and exclaim over them rapturously but she was gracious enough to stand next to them and not entirely obscure them for about 3 shots.
Oh and it’s a great film..
Gah, my screed ended up in the mod queue and I think it’s double or triple-posted too. Sorry!
Entering into the bell debate, I have found that having a bell on the cat is a good compromise. My cat, Odysseus (long since having left on some mysterious voyage,) used to kill 5-6 goldfinches a day before I belled him. After belling it reduced the bird kills to one or two a week. Plus, I was able to get a very adorable yet badass bell shaped like a human skull.
Offhand, Alison, I just read “Fun Home.” Great job!
The tens of millions of years of avian evolution in no way led birds to react to the sound of a bell (a nanorecent phenomenon) as a source of danger. Ah well, maybe making your cat (and yourself) neurotic with the maddening tinkle leads to less competent hunting. In my never humble opinion, a few cats are good hunters (I once had one); most, like my current companion are laughably incompetent.
Thanks Dr Winnicott for the wonderful guided tour and for sharing with us your unique perspective on Alison’s backyard. I wish you many happy explorations and please go easy on the birds.
Our vet has also given us the bad-pet-owner lecture, including the statistic that the average life span for indoor cats is almost 10 times that of outdoor cats. Yet, when I see how incredibly happy our cat is outdoors, I could never imagine keeping him indoors. I think of how I would feel being given the option to live 700 years indoors!
For responsible pet owners, it is (or should be) an important decision as to whether or not to let a cat outside. I don’t, but I live in a city; it’s just too dangerous. So my cats sit on comfortable kitty shelves in windows, observing all and soaking up the rays.
And…I…I…bought a cat stroller. That’s it, go ahead, mock me, lauuugh! I don’t care. It’s screened in, and the cats enjoy going for walks in it. Damn thing even has cup holders.
OH MY GOD! Leda, thanks for telling me about the new Mike Leigh film.
I LOVE MIKE LEIGHHHHHHH!!!!
Or at least I love all his movies and characters.
That is so amazing. I’ll have to rush out and see Happy Go Lucky as soon as it arrives her in the provinces…maybe in 18 months.
I attached two bells to Dr. W’s collar yesterday. So far, no birds killed.
Who knows if she’s a good hunter? She has very fast hands, but a rather awkward, short-legged body.
A cat stroller? What on Earth is that?
And those vets are missing the point – it’s not quantity, it’s quality that’s important.
That said, we could never have a cat when we grew up ‘cos there was a dual carriageway outside the garden gate (I live in Britain). It would be like the freeway scene in Matrix Revolutions.
I know this has nothing to do with cats (I have 2, they are indoor except for play time on a screened in porch) but…my partner, daughter, and I went to the local human society yesterday to adopt a 4 year old dog that was brought in from a puppy mill raid. It actually took him over an hour to move from the spot we sat him in the yard, and then he just paced in the same trail for most of the afternoon. He is doing better this morning, but it is really sad.
Ian, you ask, I deliver:
http://justpetstrollers.com/catstroller.html
Mine’s the blue one, first row, left hand side. Yes, I look like an idiot when using it, but I’m just beginning a physical rehab after months of illness, and I appreciate the cat company on my walks. And they like it too.
ksbel6, blessings on ya for what you’re doing re: the puppy. Keep the faith, and I think you’ll be rewarded – and so will the dog.
I love the pet strollers!
BUt how come they’re called cat strollers, and all the models are dogs?
I think I know the answer to that.
I blame the petriarchy.
wow-in response to all the stuff about how outdoor kitties could harm birds and other creatures….that’s kind of their JOB. Cat’s job, I mean. Those hunting instincts weren’t evolved for nothing-in the wild, animals get killed. Other animals eat them. it’s part of the balance. I guess you could say that cats living with people are usually given food, so they shouldn’t be eating more than their share, but still….if you want to conserve wildlife (which I do) you have to remember that that’s what wildlife is like. the real problems are not being caused by outdoor cats, but by human activity, which is a separate issue. AND, it’s true, almost all animals live longer in captivity, because they don’t have the physical stress of acquiring food or the environmental stress of being rained on, etc. But again, is that natural to them? not really….I live in the city and my cats stay inside, because we live off a major major street, (and I don’t think that cars are a danger cats are evolved to deal with)-but when I move I’m going to let them outside. I think they’ll love it-and they should get to catch some birds. it’s part of their heritage!
I live in the city-of-cities (NYC), and I have been sensing that my aging cat, who used to have the regular opportunity to be an indoor/outdoor kitty elsewhere, has become somewhat depressed. I may look into a cat stroller, believe it or not, courtesy of this blog.
ksbel6, perhaps let the dog spend more time inside and less time in the yard (after all, he has probably been confined to a tight space for most of his life, and — just like us — at first finds the experience of what we call freedom confounding. Hopefully (and probably) with a growing sense of trust in you and in space in general he’ll look forward to being out-of-doors. He’s lucky to be with you now.
Alec in Mtl, I was completely with you and left this thread for awhile. As you noted – weird – go outside and play.
But now that I’m back and see we are once again exchanging useful life info (this time re: our feline companions), I say, wow, pet-strollers & a new Mike Leigh movie (we knew what you meant the first time, AB), who knew?!
Ginjoint, hope you are healing well. Ksbel6, thank you.
We’ve been going through exactly the same dilemma with our little boy, whom we suspect was allowed outside before we adopted him (talks/complains for much of the day). The same day AB shot Piebald outside (we’re also in New England), we were experimenting with letting Poli (named Napoleon, a tad difficult for us – tho later we learned he was named for Napoleon Dynamite, for whatever that’s worth…) on a small accompanied outside jaunt. We live in a city near a busy street. But he stays in our postage stamped yard mostly eating grasses. Sigh. What to do in the longterm. I may actually get a cat harness (heh) and walk him for a bit, and then he’ll be indoor/outdoor. Thoughts on those odd little cat leashy things?
I can’t help but wonder what proportion of songbirds croak because of feral, as opposed to “indoor/outdoor” cats. Hmmm. By the way, the one hunter that I have had brought in many, many more times the rodentia than avis. Since rats eat bird eggs, maybe he had a positive effect on the bird population.
Hi ready2agitate,
Most cats hate to be on leashes/harnesses. However, there are exceptions: I saw a cat in Somerville MA that adored strolling along in front of her/his person. This kitty was happy to be outside for hours…
I also saw someone whose cat seemed to be quite content to walk on a leash on NYC’s Central Park Drive amidst all of of us bicylers, rollerbladers and the like.
If you try this, please use a harness rather than a simple cat collar. But also please observe your kitty carefully: you will be able to tell if he likes this leash/harness situation. After all, presumably if he was allowed outside before you adopted him he could roam freely. This is a different situation.
Cities, busy streets and free-roaming cats are a dangerous combination (dangerous for the cat, of course…).
FYI, here is a link to fact sheet from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service on migratory bird mortality. This sheet cites a Wisconsin study that separated out songbird lethality from domestic and feral cats. They estimate that in the state of Wisconsin alone, “domestic rural cats kill roughly 39 million birds annually”. Unfortunately no citation to track down. Here’s the link:
http://www.fws.gov/birds/mortality-fact-sheet.pdf
Here is another link from the FL extension service with some good suggestions for mitigating the carnage:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_UW090
Jen
Alison, do not underestimate the fast hands. Remember Arna, aka catloaf, the giant grey cat? She was a killing MACHINE.
Shouldn’t that be “Dr. Winnicatt”?
Ginjoint, absofuckinglutely hysterical.
When I lived in a house near the university, the rented room came with a cat, Minx. God, I loved that cat. She was so possessive of me! When my girlfriend would come over, Minx would very intentionally lie between us and separate us from cuddling. But my landlady’s parents wanted her back, so I moved out. *sings ‘Stand By Your Cat’*
Would I be correct in thinking that Dr. Winnicott is a transitional object? (Assuming that we don’t take the concept of developmental stages seriously, so that it’s possible for an adult to have a transitional object.)
Ginjoint – whatever works for you! Basically, it’s prams for pets, right? I have actually seen one here in Britain, although I thought it was a way to give an elderly dog some fresh air and sunshine. Hope the healing process is going well, btw?
ksbel6 – well done for rescuing your puppy. One day I hope to do the same. It can be hard work but very rewarding. If those puppy mills are anything like battery hens I can well imagine he (or is it she?) would be very confused by all the space. I know you will, but just make sure you’re always there with him/her and like someone else suggested, get him used to it gradually.
Dear Lurker,
Your argument is right on, and one that I common hear. The problem with it is that house cats aren’t wildlife. They’ve been bred by humans for thousands of years, most have the advantage of eating cat food daily, being treated by vets, having secure shelter at night.
I’ve heard that feral cats live an average of 5 years in the wild. Around here, house cats live two to three times that long.
On the other hand, there were cats in North and South America before there were humans. There can’t just have been sabre-tooths, there must have been smaller cats too. You just now have more of them …
Ginjoint~From pet strollers to “petriarchy”, you never cease to
be be utterly, completely, irrefutably hysterical! Thank you.
Thanks all for the well-wishes. Only a little more chemotherapy to go, and taking the cats for walks once I’m walking again after each treatment does help.
ready2agitate, my late tortie would simply go completely limp when I put her in a haress, but my calico would walk while wearing one. But be forewarned, I use the term “walk” loosely – be prepared to have lots of patience. It’s not like merrilly strolling with a dog on a leash. It’s like this: 1)walk 3 paces, 2)stop and sniff (something/anything), 3)eat some grass, 4)lie down on side and look around for a few minutes, 5)scratch back on pavement, 6)take 2 more steps, 7)jump up on low garden wall and investigate what’s there, etc. You get the picture. It’s slow going, but my calico did seem to enjoy it. So I guess it depends on the cat, if it’s willing to go on a harness or not. Good luck.
Our kitty is perfectly happy going outside on a leash, a condition of adoption from her rescue group. As soon as the weather gets nice she is quite persistant about letting us know she would like to GO OUTSIDE right NOW~ Her harness is quick release for safety, though one of us stays outside with her, no hardship in the nicer weather. See has popped out of the harness a few times when she’s seen a rabbit she couldn’t resist and was off like a rocket. (the rabbits are faster though!)But most of the time she eats grass, chases bugs and sniffs things. I bring a book!
My folks had a great leash cat, they travelled all over Canada and the US with her in their camper. She would not only go for walks in the campgrounds, she would get her harness and leash and bring them to Dad.
They used to put travel stickers on her litter box (my favorite was “I dug Wall Drug”). That cat had a lot of mileage on her!
Ginjoint — My calico went limp when I put a leash on her for the first time. It was the most disturbing sight — my bossy, very opinionated girl frozen, then falling stiffly to on her side like she’d been shot with a tranquilizer dart. I took the harness off, immediately (frantically) and back to the pet store. This was shortly after she acquired me. (She had my number from the outset of our relationship….)
Kitties are a gift from the Goddess, you bet!
Cats on a leash or in a stroller? News to me; my two would never put up with either.
They’re more likely to go to the Kit-Kat Club,ride on a catamoran,join the cat on the hot tin roof,or dance at a catillion. Or they might listen to the singer Katastrophe,and start chanting “Cats unite! You have nothing to lose but your collars!”
Fantastic play therapy right there, Dr. W… what a namesake.
Years ago I was given a very sweet but skittish cat scared of the outdoors. Eventually had to give her up due to allergies but stayed in touch with her new adoptive home more out in the country. She did gradually venture out into the sunshine and even got red highlights in her fur after awhile.
Thanks for the joy of watching this most unskittish creature romp and loll. And oh yes yes your brook and crocuses.
Thx all. I was thinking a harness w/quick-release for Poli, and to be honest, I wasn’t thinking long-term, I was thinking maybe for a few months till we felt sure he was good and grounded in our little cul-de-sac? I don’t know…. (ponders, reflects) I’m guessing he’ll hate it (he’s a bit of a curmudgeon – I think he was left alone a lot by his previous person). He got us last June. His persistent crying/whining/talking was really difficult. And since Ginjoint has bared her sould by sharing her cat stroller, I’ll share that I… I… consulted an animal psychic — by phone (not too helpful tho’).
@feminista: my partner’s fave joke abt our cats & their antics is – we came home one night to find them playing Cat Stevens records on our stereo. (comic pause) They looked disappointed.
Hmm, cats outside in cities. i worry everytime Slim (she was real skinny when she was living in our courtyard after her idiot student owners abandoned her on moving day) goes outside, but she got so used to being an outdoor kitty that it seems like torture to deny her. Of course we know things that she doesn’t, like CARS BAD and so forth, but then again cats have already figured out useful things like BIG NOISE, RUN AWAY. I don’t know, and i don’t want to sound too fatalist, but i feel that a being should have the best of however much or little life it manages to get. And for a cat that includes a bit of hunting. Not so good for the victims, but it is part of life. i’m not sure that cats have the same impact that pollution and destruction of habitat are having on the wild beasts that try to call Montreal home. i remember a much wider spectrum of wild birds in my part of town just 30 years ago…
Sorry for the ramble but Slim just went out the front door for the first time since this actual winter weather finally started to wane, and her mad dash up not one but two trees, with the inevitable “oh no, how do i get down” and acrobatic descent have got me full of the joys of unfettered catness in full bloom.
alec
p.s. I think Doctor Donald was D.W. (rather than D.H). Winnicott.
In addition to the Wikipedia link, here’s one that goes more into his way of using play in psychotherapy… perhaps also the specialization of the present and female Dr W:
http://www.mythosandlogos.com/Winnicott.html
Ginjoint, thank you, thank you for “petriarchy.”
bad-dumm boom! – Gjoint was right on the beat with that one!
Yes, Ginjoint, my thanks for “petriarchy”, too. Big smile on a cloudy Monday morning!
On holiday in Holland, we rented two big Dutch bicycles and one little trailer thingy for behind one of the bikes for our dog. What a hoot.
Everytime I take my cat outside she hissed when I take her back in. Last time, she nipped me. She apparently just doesn’t like outside. But she likes to look out the windows. Or maybe she just doesn’t like that I won’t let her go running around on the balcony (I’m on the second floor).
This brings back a painful memory. I was taking care of a 50-pount harrier hound and her pet cat, Ben, a while back. One evening, the first cold day of the winter, I was looking out the back door when Ben snuck by me and scampered off. I thought, “Well, he’ll be back”, He never was. I’ve never seen a dog cry before, and on our walks whenever we saw a black cat with yellow eyes, she thought that it was Ben.
All my cats have been indoor/outdoor & only living with others who used them brought litter boxes into my life. ugh. To say nothing of dogs regarding said box as dispenser of “kitty snickers” if you’ve got that kind of a dog.
All my cats have hunted, but one was excellent. She even took a pigeon down once & left nothing but white feathers & maybe a foot. And yes – there was also a day of high-drama bird stuff – with 2 parent robins swooping and screaming because a baby had fallen from a nest & the cat went for the meal. Given that so few cats are actually allowed to hunt, i felt no compulsion to try to rescue the bird – altho i grant you i would try to rescue my cat from pret near anything, natural preditor or not.
When i would leave town for a weekend i could put a bowl of food on the back porch (inaccessible to dogs) with a some water & know that if Hazel got hungry she could take care of herself. I liked that she had a life independent of mine -not feral, just a truly resourceful roommate.
Indoor/outdoor DOES often amount to a shorter lifetime. I just grew up with cats who got to be cats, and even my cat who went blind still loved the sun the grass, the world of smells. While others experience opening the door as exposing cats to risk, i experience closing it as taking so much away.
Kate L. you reminded me of cat tags. We have the low-tech variety for our cat. It is just a little metal thingie imprinted with our address and phone number. Our cat was lost once and we still have no idea how it happened, but he was found about a month later, as it happens by a very nice lesbian couple, 15 blocks away (some involving major traffic), hurt and very thin. The only way they could know whom to call was that he was wearing a tag. We had put up notices all over the neighborhood, but obviously not that far away.
Via the tag, we also learned that outdoor cats in cities can be quite a nuisance, not just to birds and rodents: we once got a call from a house down the street to come and remove him from their backyard – he had been hanging out in front of their patio door and their own cat (indoors) was totally freaked out by him.
OK, one more thing: Check out the Cat-cam:
http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/pe_catcam1.htm
To give us mere hoomans a glimpse of kitteh eggsploytz.
iara – if you have no idea how your cat got out then it must be a Schrodinger cat. This concept was first developed by Terry Pratchett who recorded that some scientist actually tried Schrodinger’s thought experiment. The experiment (for those who don’t know) was that if you put a cat in a box and smash a vial of poison, you don’t know whether the cat’s dead or not until you open the lid.
The cat, being infinitely smarter than the scientist, decided not to hang around to find out whether he was dead or not and nipped round a corner using quantum mechanics and was found in the office next door IIRC.
Except for the cat I had as a child, all my cats have been city cats who always stayed indoors. For my first Russian Blue, Grigio, I had a harness and leash. He just loved having the harness put on, I assume because it was his only chance to go outdoors. He would purr and knead with his paws while I put it on him, and I imagined him saying, “Oh, yes, Mom! Tie me up! Put my harness on, pleeeese!” I told my mother about it, saying I ought to get him a leather harness with studs. She said, “Yes, and you can get him a little whip, too.”
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith: Arnold Edinborough: Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
Jana,
I like your mom. 🙂
ready2agitate, be prepared for the possibility that Poli will slip the harness. my Sheba did that regularly, because she wasn’t content sniffing grass, lying in the sun or rolling on the sidewalk. just can’t climb trees when on a leash!
I never walked either of our cats; we had them outside on harnesses (w/supervision) so they could wander, sniff and roll in the yard. and, on occasion, climb the mulberry tree. no problems getting down from that one!
Lydia and I have a ritual where she runs outside when I first get home. after hanging up my coat, putting down groceries, or whatever, I open the door and she runs back in; then I feed her. I don’t like her outside long, as we’re in the city.
we did that ritual, at least, until my new neighbors started chaining their Big Dog on the front porch — Lydia no longer comes out! good news is that I’ve trained the dog to stop running into our house and chasing her away from the door. and better yet, the neighbors are moving into another place in the near future; maybe June.
Ian, that’s not quite what Schroedinger’s Cat is about. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schroedinger%27s_cat
The basic problem is that quantum mechanics suggests that subatomic particles may simultaneously be in each of two or more different states, which we would expect to be mutually exclusive. The point of Schroedinger’s Cat is that we can find ways to link the subatomic particles to objects of ordinary, easily observable size. It would then appear that the ordinary objects have to be in mutually exclusive states simultaneously — the cat has to be both alive and dead — which seems absurd. It’s a little more interesting than just sticking a cat in a box and poisoning it.
Thanks,ready,for your antecdote.
My,this is a tough crowd. Petriarchy gets all kinds of accolades,yet only rta is amused by my cat puns. Jasmine purred: if her human doesn’t get some laughs,she’ll take off for Katmandu,singing,”Categorically CatCanDo.” Or maybe she’ll read Catnapped,take a cat nap,and let Oreo get the catnip covered with catsup while she hunts for pussywillows.
finally got to see the film. what a gift! what a CAT!!!!!!
Andrew B – I sincerely apologise for missing some of the finer points of quantum mechanical theory or not quite explaining it properly.
I will publicly flog myself in front of the offices of the relevant publications and the Royal Academy of Sciences to show my contrition.
Have you read the Pratchett publication in question?
the country isn’t necessarily safer than the city. Your M may V, but my town has fishers(like a weasel but bigger and meaner) and coyotes, both known ot be cat-eaters.
Outdoor cats don’t last long in my neighborhood.
mlk-my Lydia is a Tattoed Lady. Is yours?
We have coyotes and fishers as well.. and don’t live in a particularly rural area. As such, two of my cats used to be feral, and you couldn’t force them to go outdoors if you wanted. I tried the harness thing, assuming they were probably missing their freedom. As it turned out, neither minded being leashed, but the moment you attempted to set them down outside, they’d scream and make a beeline for the door. They weren’t having it.
Most of our neighbors have lost multiple cats (presumably to predation, as I’ve never spotted any of them in the road), and when the colony was still around, the ferals never lasted more than a few years. The cats were not particularly healthy, and I’m sure this played a part, but I’m more inclined to blame the fishers.
We’ve lived in areas where neighbors’ cats thrived into their late teens as indoor/outdoor pets.. but that’s not the case here. They’re lucky to reach three.
I live in the mountains and when I first moved up here, I let my indoor/outdoor kitty explore the meadow around my house. She never went far, but within a month she disappeared. Probably eaten by a fox, coyote or mountain lion. One minute she was there; the next she was gone.
Kitties up here last long if their owners are outside with them, or if they stay on the porch or close to the house. Even so, last summer a lion came through the neighborhood and literally cleaned out all the cats within a week. Even mountain savvy old time kitties got eaten.
Now I have dogs.
zounds – catastrophic!
Indeed. A full catastrophe,as Zorba the Greek proclaimed.
What Holmes really said: Categorically,my dear Watson.
Oreo sez: Let’s play with the catapult from the window in the catbird seat. Then let’s check out old copies of the Katzenjammer Kids we got from the Katz family. And I hear our human is looking at cookbooks from Mollie Katzen.
Yes ES… it’s Donald Woods… typo… sorry.
Mike finally, after years of yearning, killed a bird today. A robin.
The door to the garden was open; she was marauding outside, and startled a bird into the house, and killed it.
One of a nesting pair. That’s a season lost.
I feel dreadful. Her savage joyous moment was not worth that.
Yes; a judgement based on values, rather than on absolutes. And on my values, not hers. But she has been an indoor cat hitherto, and she is now one again.
A woman who lives near me can regularly be seen breezing along on her bike with her Jack Russell terrier in the front basket. He has a blanket, but usually sits up with the wind in his ears…so happy.
Ah now it’s clear why Dr. Winnicott played with your computer cables etc. – he was a slightly bored indoor cat. I thought he already was an outdoor cat. Good decision to let him out!
My cat goes outdoor from the beginning (big city, but a lot of gardens behind the house). She turns 10 this July, and eats a lot of mice.
My Madeline hunts outdoors as well, but only spiders. And hobo spiders at that, which I’m glad to be rid of.
Happy Earth Day, everyone!
Alex K – ouch. Such is life, I guess – your tender soul is palpable. 🙁
Feminista – keep at it, girl, eventually they will see the light and sing your praises!.
Everyone else, yes, happy earth day – permission to go outside and play.
And also: Chag Sameach! (“happy feast”) (for those celebrating Pesach/Passover this week)
Earth day today in Britain was lovely and sunny and reminded me why we fight so fervently for this planet of ours.
I went up to my allotment (community garden) plot and with my friend who I share it with, we planted broad (fava) beans, onions and put in a raised bed and drank tea in the sunshine. Oh and we tended to seedlings in the greenhouse. Absolute heaven. There’s no better way to celebrate Earth day than to plant something.
Why the fundamentalist nutjobs aren’t more green I’ve no idea. Let’s face it, Adam and Eve’s first job was to look after the animals and plants.
Hey Lea, I heard mice are full of vitamin C!
Ian– There are a lot of Green Christians around, including evangelicals. Here’s something I found on a lightning-fast google-search:
“The media often gives the impression that devout Christians and Big Business are one big happy family, and this family hates environmentalists. However, it’s a different story behind all the headlines and generalizations. One recent survey showed 52% of Evangelical Christians supporting strict environmental regulations. This makes sense, since the Bible refers to Man having stewardship over the Earth. That passage is at least as prominent as the Old Testament passage condemning homosexuality.”
For the rest of the article see:
http://whohijackedourcountry.blogspot.com/2005/02/green-christians.html
It is from one Tom Harper, who lives on the Olympic Peninsula, where I grew up. For a swift peek at the Olympic Peninsula see:
http://www.insideout.com/areawebcams/
Some Christians call this “Creation Care” because they don’t like the word environmentalism, apparently because it is too closely associated with liberalism, feminism, and tree-hugging paganism. That’s fine by me. A long as people are doing something to prevent environmental destruction they can call it whatever they like. To cop a cliche, actions speak louder than words.
This might turn out to be an angle for Cynthia. I assume she’s anti-Darwinian, so a little natural history might throw a few more bumps into her road– as if she doesn’t have enough already.
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith WSG: Nothing is so conductive to toleration as the knowledge that one’s bread depends upon it.
Ian: “Let’s face it, Adam and Eve’s first job was to look after the animals and plants.”
That was before they became as gods, though.
Hi Lori,
😉
Lea
With some trepidation at the thought of a theological discussion which would be neither wanted nor being particularly well-equipped for, did Adam and Eve “become as gods” in the Bible or are you commenting on their subsequent veneration, Duncan? (Wow, that was a long sentence).
They’ve always been very human to me.
Jana – thanks for the info. I agree – let ’em call it what they like as long as they do it. I’m so glad it’s a (slim) majority. The media here, particularly in relation to Israel, has the nutjobs as desperate to speed up the rapture and armageddon as much as possible and thereby embracing global weirding.
In a funny – cat music video cross over kind of way, this was one of the other suggested links by youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ali-NaqyBNY&NR=1
Song: Doctor Cat. Not bad, actually…
Hail Eris!
Back in 1994, my parents and I brought four pets into the house: Mindy, a shorthair, about 2 years old, very much an indoor-outdoor cat; Shadow, a year-old Ger. shepherd/wolf/husky X, who’d been abused and neglected by his previous owners (my father’s idea, since our house was really too small for Shadow, and so was our backyard — we’d had a blue-point Siamese, Misty, for 12 years, up until the summer of ’93, and my father was wanting a dog, a large one, specifically because he knew I wasn’t into them and he wanted to show me who’s boss — we don’t just have issues, but a _library_ of bound volumes); Murphy, a roughly six-week-old kitten, a redhead; and Clover, an older dog, 6 or 7 (small-to-medium).
Mindy died first, hit by a car, and I’d say that while keeping her inside might have extended her life considerably, she’d have been impossible to live with. As it was, she adored Murphy, who returned the affection, and Shadow was her buddy. She lived her life well, and all the other animals missed her when she died.
My father made it damned clear just how much of owning Shadow was an issue of ego for him when he took the dog to training sessions for only a few times before quitting (if it was just a matter of sub-standard trainers, he could have found better ones). Later on, he took him for walks, for awhile, until it got to be too much trouble for him (so did I, until I decided I wasn’t going to coddle my father’s ego any further).
Clover died next, after losing an eye first — she lasted several years after that, mind you. Some time before her death, we got a third dog, Marquis, a tiny little girl (forget the breed), previously my sister’s (when her marriage broke up, she had to move to an apt that didn’t allow dogs). It was a good several months after Clover’s death when Shadow abruptly killed Marquis, who’d taken to sleeping with him, and had to be put down. Why my father felt the need to keep him for roughly nine years in a house which was far from roomy enough to allow running around for such a large creature, I’ll never know. “Ego” seems insufficient to contain such egregious behaviour.
At any rate, my parents now live in the basement of a house they co-own with my sister and her new husband (with whom she has two sons), who live upstairs. Murphy, of course, is the mistress of the house, at 14 years of age, and remains an indoor/outdoor cat (though she refuses to let anyone but my mother pick her up — she used to allow me to do so, under the cover of pretending not to want my attention (the purring under my chin gave her away), but I guess my moving out finally sank in, and she’ll have no truck with traitors like moi — she just runs from me now), just like her hero, Mindy. I guess mileage really does vary…
Snarky
Hail Eris!
Incidentally, Misty, another indoor/outdoor cat, died in our basement after ingesting broken glass from Xmas lights she’d managed to break (she liked huffing paint fumes, which I didn’t figure out until long after). She was my first cat. I still miss her.
Snarky
I want to offer one more plea to not allow house cats to roam free outside, especially in natural areas. Better to let them roam in cities, where the local wildlife is already so badly impacted by people’s actions.
Cats are natural predators, and they love to hunt. If they are well fed they just are more effective hunters because they are in better shape. One cat will not cause the extinction of a migrating bird population, or a population of voles, or other forest and prairie creatures, but it is never just one cat, it is thousands and thousands of people’s cats, in combination with habitat loss, pollution, and the endless impacts that people have on the natural world.
I know people love their cats so much they want them to have the joy of being outside. But this is essentially a very selfish choice. This is exactly the same as people who drain small wetlands in their backyard, because the loss of one wetland can’t make that much difference. Small impacts to our natural world by many, many people is exactly how most environmental degradation occurs.
The huge negative impact that outside cats make on populations of wild creatures is very well documented.
I love our cat very much and want her to be happy. What I do is I let her outside when I can be with her. Otherwise she stays inside.
Thanks for taking the time to consider keeping your cat inside.
Let me add another voice to the chorus of not outside, please. Fishers, yes, coyotes, yes, can and will eat domestic cats. So, too, will Great Horned Owls, which are considerably more common. Domestic cats are easy pickings for any of our northeast predators. And, in the other direction, the killing of birds and the spreading of parasites. All in all, probably not worth it. [I am not 100 percent against the idea of a Cat Outdoors: barn cats are useful and sometimes necessary. But those are cats with a job; risks to a cat whose name you know are too great.]
My cat absolutely loves her pet strollers from http://www.petstrollers-4less.com.