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  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] A rewarding little fruit...
  • Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 16:20:14 -0500

The two chief sources of outdoor mortality are cars and coyotes. We try to avoid the latter by keeping the cats indoors at night. The female hangs out around the house, and stays off the roads. The male may be killed by a car, but he was clearly an outdoor kitten before we got him, and he begged to go out from the day he joined us. The first day we let him out (on purpose, when he knew we woudn't try to grab him and put him in) he was ecstatic, rolling and leaping and climbing until he was out of breath, and then going back for more. (Have you ever seen a kitten pant?) Quality of life counts for something, and this cat is meant to be an outdoor cat. That the two of them seem to kill rodents is a plus, not the reason they go outdoors.

I think that 2 year figure is fake, or is driven by a lot of kitten mortality. I've know lots of outdoor cats, and ones who make it beyond a year live nearly as long as indoor cats. There's a movement to avoid all danger at any cost (see the link to the bee-ban, earlier this week) but danger is a part of life.

Ginda Fisher

On Friday, February 21, 2003, at 03:07 PM, Keith Benson wrote:

Someting to bear in mind:

Average lifespan of an outdoor cat = 2 years
Average lifespan of an indoor cat = double digit years

Keith

list@ginda.us wrote:

I have two new cats, who will be allowed out this season. (They were too young last year - outdoors cats need rabies shots around here.) They have already caught a number of small critters. I just hope I can lure them to hang out around the garden.

Snow melting here at a balmy 47 (surprised that you're warmer)

Ginda Fisher, Zone 6, Eastern MA

On Friday, February 21, 2003, at 01:54 PM, John Van Hazinga wrote:

I read somewhere that spraying strawberry plants with a kelp solution deters
chipmunks so I tried it last year (using watering can) and had minimal loss
compared to the two previous years. It could just be a cyclical population
but there seemed to be just as many in the stonewalls around. I also keep
beds a bit from stone walls giving my rodent control officer (cat) a better
chance.

basking at 50 today
--------------------------------------------------------------------- --
Vann Hall Rd. Gardens Zone 4 Southern NH


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