1. Jack - Jack was a young, un-neutered, long-haired, orange tabby that was presented here by a police officer looking like something out of a horror movie. Being an outdoor boy with no family to care for or about him he was hit by a car and suffered significant injuries to his head. He was bleeding from his mouth and nose, his left eye had popped out of the socket, his lower jaw was fractured, his lower lip was ripped off the bone, and he had 2 fractured teeth. Not to mention the fleas and ear mites that were calling his body home. It took multiple surgeries to repair the damage. My servants also had to surgically place a feeding tube in the side of his neck to allow him to eat. The severe trauma to his head caused significant swelling in his throat making it difficult and painful to swallow. It was amazing that he survived this much trauma. Most cats that are hit by cars are killed. After 49 days in the hospital and no one to claim him he was adopted out to a wonderful family that do NOT let their cats go outside. His is doing fabulously to this day.

2. Simon - Simon was a young, un-neutered, short-haired, black cat that was presented here by his owner after he was found in the street hit by a car. He had a huge wound on the side of his body that was all the way through his skin, muscle and into his abdomen. His right rear leg was almost non-functional and his left rear leg was fractured in multiple locations. The owner refused to take responsibility for this poor baby and discussed euthanasia with the doctor. Seeing a light at the end of a very long tunnel the doctor requested that the owner sign ownership over to the hospital and at least let us try to save him. The owner agreed and my servants got to work trying to patch him up. After his initial surgery he became very unstable and close to death. He suddenly and without cause he began to improve. Several surgeries and after 62 days in the hospital he too was adopted out to an indoor home, and is now a very happy indoor cat.

3. Schilling - Schilling was a young, neutered, short-haired, black cat that was presented to us by his owner after the owner watched him get hit by a car. He, too, suffered significant trauma to his head. He had boken both upper and lower jaws, his lower lip was torn from the bone, his right eye had popped out of the socket, and his right front leg was fractured. His owners chose to take him to an Emergency/Surgical Referral Center for the surgeries he needed to repair the damage. He also had to have a feeding tube placed through the side of his neck due to severe swelling in his throat. In order to repair his fractured leg he had to have external hardware. This is a metal halo placed around the leg and screwed into the bone pieces to keep them together. 158 days later he was finally recovered from his ordeal. The difference between him and the previous two stories is that his owners loved him so much they did anything and everything to repair the damage done by the car. He even had to have a blood transfusion to survive. His owners learned the hard way that it is better to clean litter boxes than to let cats outside.

These are just a few of the survivors. There are many others that were not so lucky. Cats are frequently mauled by larger animals, posioned by antifreeze and other toxins, and contract diseases such as Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline Leukemia, Feline Infectious Peritonitis, Hemobartonella, and even Heartworm Diasease. Aside from the health risks of having an outdoor cat, it is more expensive to own an outdoor cat. There are more required vaccinations, yearly blood tests, twice yearly stool tests and parasite prevention than an indoor cat would require. For example, I have listed below the required protocol for both indoor cats and outdoor cats between the ages of 1 and 6. Please note that every cat is different and only your veterinarian can advise you as to what is best for your pet.

Indoor Cat

Outdoor Cat

These are some websites that are designed to inform, educate and promote keeping cats indoors. Please take their warnings to heart but always refer to your cat's own veterinarian for any and all medical recommendations. If you have a cat that currently goes outdoors and you wish to keep them in but don't know how to go about it please call my servants at 603-624-4378 for information and help keeping your cat indoors and happy. We all know if the cat in the house isn't happy no one is. There are ways to take lifelong outdoor cats and make them happy indoor cats. You just need the knowledge to do it. So without further adiou, here are the websites that we think might be helpful for you.