Very irresponsible breeder

Originally Posted by maverick_kitten

he's a fool to himself. an unspayed tom can be tempted to stray to find females so when his expensive stud goes missing or catches fiv through fighting he's omly got himself to blame.

maybe your friend could warn him of the dangers of fiv? very prevailent in un-neutered toms

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Thanks Mav! I passed on your advice to her and it seems to have worked. My friend told him that she saw some local toms hissing at his male and that if he got into a fight he could get FIV. This seemed to concern the breeder and he has kept his stud inside so far. He says he plans to buy a large pen for him to keep him protected.

I'll update on whether he does do this or not. Thank you to everyone who offered helpful advice!

For your garden cat i'd install some electric wire around the top of the garden fence. It's cheap and it won't hurt the stud cat it will just deter him from coming into your garden. As far as him impregnating the strays-well it's the reponsibility of everyone who owns the cats that are straying not just the stud owner. Although the studs owner does have a special responsibility towards his cat and the people he sells kittens to. His cat can catch FIV, FELV and FIP. Especially if he's a whole male they tend to get in fights with other males. He is really doing himself a disservice and he can end up exposing all of his other breeder cats to a disease by letting his stud out ot roam.

I think it is a mistake to judge this breeder without knowing both sides of the story. While I concur that on the surface and with the information we have, it doesn't appear to be a good situation. However, this breeder is not here to defend himself or his actions and there may be a very valid reason for him to behave as he does.

I just think we should all keep in mind that there are two sides to every story - once heard, and only once heard should we formulate our own opinions.

we can only go off the info posted. If we don't comment on info posted there would be no TCs.

Originally Posted by gayef

I think it is a mistake to judge this breeder without knowing both sides of the story. While I concur that on the surface and with the information we have, it doesn't appear to be a good situation. However, this breeder is not here to defend himself or his actions and there may be a very valid reason for him to behave as he does.

I just think we should all keep in mind that there are two sides to every story - once heard, and only once heard should we formulate our own opinions.

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What possible good reason for his side of the story could there be for letting your unneutered stud cat roam the neighborhood and impregnate all the strays? He is risking so so much by doing this. There is no good reason! I am all for hearing both sides of the story before judging, but this is ridiculous, what reason could there be for his extreme irresponsibility?

Originally Posted by Jen

What possible good reason for his side of the story could there be for letting your unneutered stud cat roam the neighborhood and impregnate all the strays? He is risking so so much by doing this. There is no good reason! I am all for hearing both sides of the story before judging, but this is ridiculous, what reason could there be for his extreme irresponsibility?

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I agree. There's just no reason for letting a stud roam. I'd be beside myself with worry if my stud ever got out. I'd be really worried about what he was exposed to during the time he was out too!

A situation came up recently in my own life where someone totally misinterpreted something I did and judged me harshly in public. I was not given a chance to defend myself or my actions. I just think it is only fair to hear both sides before jumping on a bus that may just end up driving over a cliff. I did say in my post that "on the surface and with the information we have, it doesn't appear to be a good situation".

That's all. I wasn't defending the breeder.

Good news! The breeder has bought a pen for his stud cat. He now lets him out on a leash for exercise and then puts him back in. However, the stud seems to look miserable in the pen, but what other option is there? My friend is getting a fence put up in her garden.

Everyone brought up good points. Gayef, you could be right I mean none of you know her and naturally we are not getting his point of view. I am not there and I have never met this person either so maybe we should reserve judgment. Anyway he seems to have done the right thing now.

Maybe the breeder is just not informed enough to know it's a bad idea to have his stud out. Regardless, im glad to hear that he finally put his stud up. The cat will not want to be there now that he's had a taste of freedom. Your friend might want to suggest to him to keep a spayed female or a neutered male in the pen with the stud for company, that way he won't be lonely since he's probably used to being around other cats all of the time.

Originally Posted by gayef

A situation came up recently in my own life where someone totally misinterpreted something I did and judged me harshly in public. I was not given a chance to defend myself or my actions. I just think it is only fair to hear both sides before jumping on a bus that may just end up driving over a cliff. I did say in my post that "on the surface and with the information we have, it doesn't appear to be a good situation".

That's all. I wasn't defending the breeder.

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Sorry to hear that Gayef. Your right we shouldn't make a judgement on the charecter of this person based on hearsay. I think it fair that we comment on the facts of the situation only and give advice and not the charecter of the person.

I will pass the info on. Thank you! Its wonderful meeting all these responsible breeders on TCS, its quite inspiring!

Keep your cat inside. There is no reason for a cat to go outside.

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I have to agree with most of the advice you have been given, although I have to say... I might just neuter the cat. The guy has no proof you did it, and when you take it in, you could say it was just a stray. Therefore there really is no evidence, you found a stray cat running around, you caught it, you neutered it. I doubt he would even notice the cat's testicles were gone.

But that's me.

As for the statement I quoted that statement is a matter of oppinion. There is no real reason, disease aside that a cat should not live outside. Although we call them "domestic" or "domesticated" cats are quite independant and capable of caring for themselves. They like being outdoors and wandering and catching things and getting into trouble.

My cat is an indoor cat, my biggest worry [although he is microchipped] is that someone would take him "Aww what a cute cat!" or that someone because he is friendly would take him and light him on fire [I've seen photos of someone doing that ] or some other form of torture.

My sister has 6 cats, all of them she caught and altered. They are fairly friendly, but she can only handle two of them [besides petting]. One of the six does enjoy coming inside and hanging out, the rest would go crazy if locked inside. The one who comes inside is the most handleable and he's gotten an abcess or two [he's an old tom cat] and was able to be treated. The rest generally don't get into scraps and are healthy, minus one, Greta, who does have Feline Leukemia. It's also been shown indoor only cats are more prone to obesity, and that male cats are more prone to having urinary tract infections and get blocked up from lack of exercise and what not. There's pros and cons to living in door, or outdoor, but alot of the outdoor stuff virus wise can be prevented with vaccines, abcesses and cars/humans are the only real dangers.

Originally Posted by Plebayo

There's pros and cons to living in door, or outdoor, but alot of the outdoor stuff virus wise can be prevented with vaccines, abcesses and cars/humans are the only real dangers.

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I agree that both have their pros and cons, but...do you have coyotes, bears, bobcats, foxes, raccoons, possums, and packs of feral dogs where you live? Do you think that little mr kitty just frolics with them? Are they not at all a danger?

Do indoor cats lap up puddles of antifreeze, get dumped off at high-kill shelters by malicious neighbors as "strays", or get snatched up by people who need a target to make their dog fierce with? I have a few indoor cats, none are obese, and they all get tons of excercise. Granted, it is sometimes at the expense of my belongings, but I would have it no other way.

And by the way, it it not getting enough water in their diets that causes uti, not being fat. And contrary to your theory of the sleek outdoor cat, I know outdoor cats that go from house to house bumming food. Some of their bellies drag on the ground, they're so fat. They look like barrels with legs. And if they get a uti, they will most likely die, as no one will probably notice it until it is too late.

I would never take the chance of letting my cat outside.. Between stray dogs, wild animals, people, antifreeze, etc, I'm too scared. This is the first strictly indoor cat I've had. All the other ones WERE fixed, but most ended up dead (usually from coyotes, one died of old age). All of them were pretty "into themselves".

Our indoor cat is NOT fat at all. He zooms around the house making the cutest noises, wrestles with our 75 lb dog and goes on walks in pet stores. LOL He has PLENTY of entertainment in the house, and our SPCA said he had to be indoors anyways (which I agree with).

not meaning to cause offence to anyone, but i think this is going off topic. the original problem seems to have been solved and the outdor cat in question was the posters, friends, neighbours cat so these arguments are irrelevant!

IMO is really more the place for the indoor/outdoor cat discussion - just mho

First of all I would like to say that I agree with Gayef. There are so many different variables that contribute to any one thing that knowing the whole picture is impossible. It is a dangerous thing to come to damning conclusions with little evidence. I'm not saying this to condemn anyone... I've just found this to be true. My community (unfortunately) practices this frequently. On the surface it looks friendly but when you get down to it you find much back biting and feuds that (more often than not) the offending party is completly unaware of. This sort of thing seems to happen a lot and I can only see hurt and bitterness coming from it. I know that doesn't have too much to do with the main topic but I felt I had to get it off my chest. =0)

On the topic of indoor/outdoor cats... there are some cats for which an indoor only life is necessary. For instance, you might live in Alaska and own a Sphynx. That would definitely be a time you wouldn't let your cat out. Also the matter of expensive breeders you want to protect. Apart from that cats are cats; they have a spirit of freedom and independance which is why I happen to love them so much. Wild animals and vehicles do pose a threat to them although I'm not sure how much more threatening these objects are to them than to us. True they are smaller but they can be speedy! I guess what I'm trying to say is that anyone's life is full of risk. People are losing loved ones every day; are you going to deny that loved one the chance to truly live just so you can hold onto them a little longer? Again this is my opinion and I am not setting out to start arguments or offend anyone. =0)

I will refer you to Maverick's post above you. The situation has been resolved.
Please start an undoor/outdoor discussion in IMO because people will just end up getting worked up.

That's horrible! Breeders should keep their animals under control (and indoors in my eyes).