Indoors or Outdoors: What is best for Your Pet?

Before you take on the responsibility of owning a cat or dog, you need to take the time to consider the living arrangements for your new pet. Many people adopt pets with the idea that they will be raising an outdoor animal. How many people in your neighbourhood keep their dogs or cat’s outdoors at all times? The fact of the matter is, outside is not a safe place for a cat or a dog, as I will explain in a moment. When you adopt a pet, you need to make sure that you are ready to allow your pet into your home.

It is true that both cats and dogs will love being outside, it is their natural environment. Cats delight in chasing birds, climbing trees and hiding in shrubs. Dogs adore barking at the neighbours, chasing squirrels and digging. However, there are many dangers to keeping your pet outside at all times. Dogs tend to get more outside time than cats do. Owners take their dogs out for walks and in some cases allow their dogs unsupervised access to the backyard from time to time. Cats are usually either indoor pets or outdoor pets.

It is more common nowadays, for owners to keep their cats indoors as they begin to realize the dangers of allowing their cat to live outdoors at all times. I highly recommend that you keep your cats and dogs inside. For cats, you can help them practice their natural instincts inside by giving them plenty of places to run and play inside your home. Buy your cat a good scratching post with a high perch and install a window seat so they can gaze at the birds outdoors.

The number one danger to your pets when they go outside is other animals. You never know when your dog or cat will encounter a stray animal, or strange cat or dog from down the street. You know that your pet is properly vaccinated, but you do not know the health condition of other animals outside. In addition, if your dog or cat gets into a fight with another animal, your pet can be seriously injured or harmed. Unless you supervise your pet at all times when they are outside, you never know when your cat or dog will encounter a strange animal. Now-a-days, even quiet residential areas of large cities have coyotes, foxes, skunks, racoons, abandoned dogs and feral cats wandering the area after dark. Many of these animals carry parasites and diseases, which they can pass on to your pet. Coyotes usually work in packs and their favourite tactic is to send a lone coyote to bait your dog into chasing it. When your dog takes the challenge and chases the lone coyote, the rest of the pack come out of hiding and your dog, no matter how large, becomes a late lunch for these nighttime killers. Unless your cat can make it up a tree, she doesn’t stand a chance against these killers. If you have been watching the news over the last several months, you are probably aware that bears, wolves and other large predators are coming into suburban and city locations with increasing regularity. As their natural habitat and/or prey is decreased, they have no choice but to change their hunting areas to continue to exist. A dark city street, park or large backyard provides a perfect location to hide and spring out on unsuspecting pets and/or children.

In this time of bird flu, your cat should not be allowed to eat wild birds, particularly crows, starlings and others that either migrate long distances or mix with birds that migrate. I have not heard of any cases of a pet dying from eating an infected bird, but if your cat or dog did eat one and then crawled away to some secluded spot to die, no one would know anything about the cause of death because no city or town that I am aware of performs an autopsy on dead pets that are found within their limits. The only time that an autopsy is performed on a pet is when the owner insists and there is a possibility that the pet has been deliberately poisoned, or if the pet is suspected of having rabies. In most cities when a dead pet is found it is taken to the landfill and disposed of with no follow up of any kind. Usually the owner never even finds out the pet is dead. To the owner it just remains missing.

Other dangers of allowing your pet to live outside are cars and other people. A cat darting across the street late at night is a recipe for disaster. What if your dog gets loose from your yard and encounters a child? How will your dog react? You hope that your dog will be good and stay friendly. However, what happens if the child begins to taunt or tease your dog or poke a stick at him? If your dog bites or scratches another person, chances are, you will be responsible for your pet's actions. Many pet owners have found themselves in a serious situation when their dog or cat has acted aggressively when outdoors. Most times, you will face a court appearance and your pet will be destroyed.

When your cat or dog stays indoors, you can also help control fleas, ticks, and the exposure to heartworms. This is not to say that you should not treat an indoor pet for these problems. All dogs and cats, whether they spend most of their time indoors or outdoors, should be on a monthly heartworm preventative. This parasitic disease can be fatal to your pet and your pet can also pass these parasites onto you. It is important to remember that if your cat or dog lives outdoors, you will have many more problems when it comes to fleas and ticks. Fleas can jump from your pet to you and once they get into your home they are difficult to eradicate. Ticks frequently carry Lyme disease, which they can pass onto your pet. There is a lot of controversy about this disease, which is very debilitating. It is quite difficult to diagnose, and once infected with it, the pet or person suffering from the disease may never get rid of it, as treatment methods are not standardized and frequently not very successful.

As you can see, there are many reasons why you should keep your dog or cat indoors. Pets that are indoor pets live longer and healthier lives than pets that live outside. This includes all pets.

Once you make your pet an indoor animal, they will lose some of their outdoor survival instinct. As a result, you will need to protect them when you take them outside. Supervised walks or supervised trips to off leash parks are fine. You should also supervise them when they are in your own fenced in yard, as they will now depend on you to provide a home and protection for them. As mentioned above, you never know, particularly at night, what might be lurking nearby to attack your beloved pet.

Until next time,

Teia

PS. In the northern town in which I live and in the neighbouring city, wolves, bears, coyotes and cougars are frequent visitors and numerous outdoor pets become meals every year. Even the dog catcher had his dog attacked by a bear. Fortunately, the dog was able to get into a very well constructed dog house and avoid death, but he suffered some very nasty scratches and tooth marks that required veterinarian treatment. And of course, if you live in parts of Florida, you have to watch out for the thousands of Burmese Pythons which are devouring wildlife and pets at alarming rates.

Your Dog Is Part Of Your Family

People and dogs have a long and unique relationship, one that is unlike their relationship with any other animal. It's not hard to imagine some prehistoric hunter bringing home an orphaned wolf cub, only to find that it fitted surprisingly well to human society as it grew up. On top of that he would have found it had several very useful contributions to make.

The similarities between the social structures of humans and both wolves and other wild dog packs are striking. There is a hierarchy, usually dominated by an older male, who is often kept on the right track when necessary by a dominant older female. Like a prehistoric human family or tribe would have done, a wolf pack naturally lives and hunts together, surviving through its ability to communicate and cooperate as a group. Just like a human family group, the social bonds and loyalty within the group are uniting forces far stronger than any of the minor tiffs and scraps of daily life.

Now it has to be said that wolves are, by all accounts, difficult to get on with in some respects. Dogs as people know them now are more amenable. But then ancient man (who may not have been all that amenable himself by present day standards) no doubt achieved that change through selective breeding long ago - just as people still manipulate the genetic makeup of dogs in an amazing variety of ways today.

The complementary strengths of dogs, their alertness, their powerful sense of smell and their hunting prowess, no doubt made them welcome members of human hunting expeditions in ancient times. Their low cost of upkeep, as dogs will live on almost anything, including less desirable food scraps, was undoubtedly an attractive added bonus. This long-standing synergy between humans and dogs remains pretty much the same today.

Your dog, whether a guard dog, working dog, hunting dog, or merely a companion, is an intelligent, loyal and faithful friend for life. The raw primitive survival justifications for owning a dog may be less important now, but dogs are still to be found performing many useful roles. You will find dogs herding stock on farms, detecting drug smugglers in airports, guiding the blind, tracking down criminals, guarding secure installations, rescuing in emergencies and, playing to their strengths, doing many other important tasks for humans. Dogs are now being trained to detect oncoming seizures and alerting their owner to this impending medical emergency. They are also being taught how to detect cancer in humans and also impending heart attacks. There have been several instances were a dog indicated that a human had cancer when doctors and all their technical equipment could not detect it at that time, but at a later time did, in fact, determine that the individual was suffering from cancer. These illness detecting dogs are becoming quite popular in Great Britain.

Most dogs, though, are just "one of the family." Dogs will often share living space with their owners and develop a special bond with all the members of a family. You may have noticed how your dog will look concerned for younger family members if they seem to be getting into trouble - moving too far away from the main family group, for example - and everyone knows how eager the family dog is to check out whether any stranger arriving at the door is OK to have around.

Most people know dogs as wonderfully cuddly, friendly and fun companions. They are - if they are properly socialized into their family, well fed, housed and exercised and lead a predictable and stable life. But even a small dog can become unpleasant company, a formidable foe, or even dangerous, if it feels socially isolated, bored, hungry or abused. If a dog senses it does not belong, it's behaviour can become unpredictable, much as humans might behave if held captive and in danger among their enemies. Just like humans, dogs need to feel secure, wanted and part of their human’s family and to know their place in that family's hierarchy.

In view of this close relationship most people have with their canine companions, it is hard to understand why anyone would get a dog and then leave it chained in the yard 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If they do not want to socialize with the dog and make it part of their family, why do they have a dog? And why do some dog owners constantly abuse their trusted friend? It certainly makes you wonder just what kind of people they are.

The sensational arrest and guilty plea of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for dog fighting is one of the most disgusting cases of human abuse of dogs ever reported. Not only did Vick and his associates fight dogs to the death, but they inhumanly disposed of injured dogs in acts of unbelievable savagery. It is incomprehensible that supposedly intelligent humans would stoop so low as to not only watch these vicious fights, but actually treat it like a social event. When you see and hear about these types of things, it makes you wonder who the savages are, the animals fighting or the “animals” watching and betting on them. If vicious dogs are put down, shouldn’t the same penalty be paid by the vicious individuals involved in dog fighting, not only the owners and promoters of these events, but the “animals” that attend them also.

What are your feelings on this topic? Leave comments to let everyone know.

Until next time,

Teia