Think About Keeping Your Cat Indoors

Video Transcript

" Hi, this is Dr.Greg McDonald, and I’m coming to you from Expert Village.com. We are talking a little bit about safety in your cat and first aid. One of the things that I am a big proponent of is keeping your cat indoors. Whenever your cat comes to see me in my hospital, that is the first question I ask if the animal is sick. I say is your cat an inside cat or outside cat? Cats that go outside are exposed to all different kinds of problems, and some of these problems are more readily apparent. Some of them are not quite as apparent. Cats can get into cat fights with other cats, and they can start running a fever from a bite wound. Cats can also get infected by another cat and have diseases such as feline aids or leukemia virus or infectious peritonitis. Some of these diseases are transmitted from other cats to your cat and would not happen if the cat was kept indoors. Other things that I have seen are cats can get shut in a garage door opener and get hung up jumping off of a fence. All different kinds of problems happen to them when they are outside that would not happen on the inside. Statistics show us that a cat that has been kept inside lives twice as long as a cat that lives outside. Once a cat has gone outside, it really wants to get outside, and it is hard to convert them to being an inside cat. Veterinarian medicine is getting much more expensive for everyone. A fractured leg could cause up to $2,000 to repair, so I am telling owners to go to the store and buy your cat a new toy every week and keep them entertained indoors, where it is much safer and you spend that $2,000 over the life of the cat instead of during one fracture. And again, keeping your cat inside eliminates about a hundred different diseases that we have to think about when your cat is brought to us. So I’m a good proponament for the inside cat. Cats live longer and healthier lives if they are kept inside. "