Re: Abelard Update
- From: "Granby" <spaz@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 18:34:10 -0500
With all due respect Sherry, I have seen these used around where I live.
There are a lot of roaming doge and it is either something like this or
housecats all the time. I even got up the nerve to touch one of these wires
and, am still here. I looked at two of the kities that had been zapped by
the wire and, no burns or missing hair from burns. The owner said it only
took once or twice. I know of the images from the cartoons where the cats
hair stands straight up etc. etc. you do what you have to do to give your
cats what they need, even if that is out time.
"Sherry" <sriddles@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:58eea567-f569-4f17-9769-44474a2f5801@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On May 21, 1:33 pm, Daniel Mahoney <d...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks, Christina. The good news is, I did in fact get him to eat just a
short while after making the OP. Probably posted the updated update
whilst
you were typing your reply. Aby's cold isn't that bad and seems to be
improving, it was worse yesterday. He never did get to the "green mucus"
stage, he only had a bit of watery discharge.
It just kills me to see him suffer, but I'm far from ready to give up on
him
and I know now that he does want to live, but he longs for a bit of the
free
life he had for almost 5 years before we had to move to town. I'm
determined
he will have that.
Pat, I know that others have expressed extreme displeasure for the
concept, but I would like to strongly suggest that you consider using a
small-animal electric fence.
Before everybody over-reacts - small-animal chargers put out a high-enough
voltage to get an animal's attention but at such a low current that it
won't do any harm. Yes, if you use a 100-acre cattle fencer you'd be
endangering your kitties - those things can cause serious burns and could
conceivably kill a cat or small dog that got tangled in it. But a fence
charge that is DESIGNED to corral cats and small dogs does not present
that hazard. And I know for a fact what the shocks feel like because I
have touched the fence myself, more than once (sometimes on purpose,
sometimes by accident).
When we lived in Highland we faced a dilemma - we had a back yard that was
just the right size for kitties to play in. We also had the occasional
large dog running loose, so we couldn't take a chance on letting the cats
out into the yard without constant supervision. When Sammy and Tabitha
figured out how to get to the top of the fence in under 2 seconds even
when we were supervising them, the only logical action we could see was to
never let them outside again. But when I was at Petsmart the next time, I
saw a small-animal fencer. I had either never seen one before, or seen
them but never noticed them. I looked over the specs carefully, and did
some on-line research, and decided it didn't look too dangerous.
I installed the charged wire about 6 inches below the top of our
chain-link fence. Sammy and Tabitha each tried exactly twice to climb out
of the fence. When they got to the electric wire they jerked back their
paws and stopped climbing. It took just two touches for them to learn that
the silver wire bites when you touch it. I left the charger plugged in for
another week, then unplugged it. No more kitty escapes from the back yard,
and everybody was able to enjoy the fresh air (well, the smoggy and dusty
air) to their heart's content.
When we added Ranger and Harri to the family we plugged the charger back
in again. After two weeks we again unplugged it. Still no kitty escapes.
So, after personal experience and a good deal of research, I can recommend
the use of a small-animal charger as effective, humane, and much better
than condemning cats who love open space to always living indoors. My
furkids love their outside time, and I believe any cat is smart enough to
learn after one or two touches not to go past the charged wire.
Dan
With all due respect, Dan, I think an electric fence to contain a cat
is a
horrible idea. I keep getting this mental image of an electric wire on
top of some kind of hog-wire type fence. The cat gets zapped, then
panics, and manages to get himself hung up in the fence. Or second
worse case scenario,
the cats just gets out anyway. I don't think it's a good idea, I never
thought it was a good idea. It has nothing to do with Pat personally.
I firmly believe an enclosure
is a far better solution.
As far as the other issue, Yoda was totally at the brink of death, had
stopped eating, was dragging himself by his front legs, and had gone
into the closet and wouldn't come out. He was crying and crying and
crying. I was ready to put him down. A dear friend on this very group
told me that he wasn't crying necessarily
out of pain, he was *communicating*. It was about 3 days later he
started improving. There's a definite fine line between an animal
who's starving himself
to death and suffering, and one who is "just about" to turn the
corner. It's a tough
wait. I'm so glad I did not go with my gut instinct. I've had him 8
more years!
Sherry
.
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