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[list@ginda.us]

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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