Statistics show that indoor cats generally live longer than outdoor cats, with an average lifespan of 10–20 years compared to 2–5 years for outdoor cats.
Cats let outdoors by my friends have been run over by cars, infected with parasites and diseases, killed or maimed by predators, died after having their intestines punctured by bones and both poisoned in ways that appeared to have been both accidental and intentional. An ex-cop neighbor bragged of having shot a cat that was digging in his garden. A “friend of a friend” who bills herself as a “Reiki animal communicator” and charges people for seances with their deceased pets smugly bragged of having “rescued” what appeared to be a purebred cat that was sitting on someone’s front steps because she decided the cat was unhappy and wanted to live with her because they’d been together in a past life.
Remember that kittens are curious children, and can/will get into anything/everything — will climb curtains and Christmas trees, and don’t know what’s inedible. Cat-proof the house…Two are less trouble than one, and four times the fun!
My mother used to check her favorite quilting chair and the area around it with a strong magnet to corral stray pins and needles. However, years after her passing, those sitting in the “Siege Perilous” risked getting a needle stuck in their butt.
…Reminds me of the ancient arguments that the introduction of the crossbow would demean the art of archery, so anyone could do it. And that was similar to the earlier arguments that archery was unfair, sneaky combat that would destroy chivalry and the social order upon which it was based. Why? Any filthy peasant could take out a knight and his horse from a safe distance. Probably similar things were said about using any technology, e.g., clubs (or any tools) instead of bare hands…
Just for fun, consider that being graded on school assignments in which student used AI are just rating people on their ability to use the technology they’ll be using for work, upon graduation. Of course, the counter-argument is that if/when our tech-based civilization collapses, only those who’ve somehow mastered stone-age technology (e.g., flint-knapping, brewing, hunting/gathering or agriculture/animal husbandry, spinning and weaving) will survive. (How many of us even possess the tech-savvy to create bronze-age tools?)
Statistics show that indoor cats generally live longer than outdoor cats, with an average lifespan of 10–20 years compared to 2–5 years for outdoor cats.
Cats let outdoors by my friends have been run over by cars, infected with parasites and diseases, killed or maimed by predators, died after having their intestines punctured by bones and both poisoned in ways that appeared to have been both accidental and intentional. An ex-cop neighbor bragged of having shot a cat that was digging in his garden. A “friend of a friend” who bills herself as a “Reiki animal communicator” and charges people for seances with their deceased pets smugly bragged of having “rescued” what appeared to be a purebred cat that was sitting on someone’s front steps because she decided the cat was unhappy and wanted to live with her because they’d been together in a past life.