Jasmine – The Queen of All She Sees

These questions and more are answered in this article.

This is our Jasmine, aka Jazzie, Jazziemoto, Jazzie Maria, Jazzie Louise, and Baby Girl. She was about 13 years old in this picture.

Over the past 36 years I have had various experiences with cats being indoor or outdoor. None of my cats were officially outdoor cats but that doesn’t mean they didn’t go out. But I have never ever allowed my cats to be out after dark. I would scrounge the neighborhood for hours if need be, my cats would always be in before we locked up for the night.

Rex was purebred Cornish Rex that I was terrified of losing to a car or a thief so I was fairly paranoid about him getting out. We used to tie a rope to his collar but found out years later that the damage he did to his throat whenever he chased a bird and came to the end of the rope would contribute greatly to his death. And I nearly died the day Rex got out and we couldn’t find him for a long time. Finally he was found safe but he was 4 blocks over. The thought of a car hitting him nearly made me faint.

Stella was a tabby who I mistakenly had declawed and so was never able to let her out. Later after Jazz came along and we had no choice with her, she was going out whether we liked it or not, I became easier about Stella being out but never without me knowing where she was all the time. In North Vancouver we lived in apartment complex that was very cat friendly and there were a lot of cats. She may have been declawed but Stella made up her defenses by her sheer bulk and a very loud offense. She intimidated every cat she encountered and soon none would challenge her authority.

Jazz would actually jump off the 2nd floor balcony so there was no keeping her in. She was so tiny that she squeezed right through the slats on the balcony and jumped down to the lawn below us. Up over their fence and off she went. When we moved to a house with a big fenced yard, she was regularly outside. There were fences around all the yards and she would walk along them getting farther away and closer to busy streets. I would call her back. After a few months and a couple of real heart to heart talks, she never left the perimeter of the yard. Never. If I couldn’t see her it was usually because she was sleeping on the fence under tree branches. And she learned to always come or let me see her when I called her.

Now that we’re in a complex again on the 2nd floor we have a huge deck and another balcony off the back. The cats go out there all the time and sleep all day on the deck furniture or in the flower pots. Their initial curiosity when we first moved here took them onto the roof of the building we live in but there’s no place to really go from there except other people’s decks and everybody else in this complex has dogs. Jazz HATES dogs so keeping her home is easy. And Chico is just too fat and lazy to try to go past the nearest deck chair.

So far all my cats have lived to be 15 years or older with the exception of Sam who was 12 when he sadly died of liver cancer. The main reason I attribute their longevity is that we don’t allow them outside at night or in situations where I am not supervising them all the time.

Every place we’ve lived in Vancouver is known for coyotes and raccoons and these are a cat’s worst enemies besides idiots who like to poison or torture cats. It doesn’t harm a cat to be outside and I believe it actually enhances their life but I would strongly recommend you don’t allow your cat outside either after dusk or unsupervised.

 Reasons Why Every Cat Should be an Indoor Cat

 

Indoor cats are not in danger of becoming hit by cars. 

Indoor cats are not in danger of becoming dinner
for dangerous predators. 

Indoor cats are not in danger of becoming the
victim of sick and twisted humans. 

Indoor cats are not in danger of becoming injured
and sick from other cats, either through communicable diseases or cat
fights. 

Indoor cats are not in danger of becoming injured
and sick from dog attacks. 

Indoor cats are not in danger of causing problems
with neighbours. 

Indoor cats are not in danger of becoming killers
of birds, squirrels or rabbits. 

Indoor cats are not in danger of becoming lost or
stolen.

Indoor cats are not in danger of ingesting a
deadly poison like antifreeze or a pesticide.