www.ditl.org

They do if you keep them in, they have no way of doing otherwise. Much like you if you are in a locked room.

We have a litter tray in the house and it never gets used.

I've never seen a dog that could be trained to use a litter tray?

Mikey wrote:So, no cats use litter? OK.

I've never known a cat that would use a litter tray if it had access to the outside.

IanKennedy wrote:I've never seen a dog that could be trained to use a litter tray?

Every domestic dog in the history of ever. Well, I guess technically it's not litter as such, because paper or pads are used in the house-training process; it is just continued to encompass the idea that shit doesn't belong in the house. That is, an equivalent of a tray is first used to train the puppy that excretory functions are to be confined to a defined, particular place... then that place's definition is moved to the outdoors.

Graham Kennedy wrote:I've never known a cat that would use a litter tray if it had access to the outside.

Huh. In the U.S., cat litter is a hugely and widely sold product, and it seems that most if not all domestic cats use litter boxes.

Cat litter is huge here too. As Ian mentioned, he has a litter box himself - the cats just barely ever use it since they can go out. Mostly it used to be used when his kitties would come stay with me when he was on holiday, since you don't let cats go outside in an area they don't know. Lately I go to his to cat-sit, so that isn't necessary any more.

I gather there's a difference of opinion on indoor vs outdoor cats between our countries - I've heard many US folks opine that cats should stay indoors and not be allowed out at all, ever. Even many vets. Some say it's because they live in areas with wild beasties that can and do eat cats, some because of the hazards of dogs, cars, and people who don't like cats.

In the UK that's a very minority opinion. The large majority of cat owners let their cats roam, and many (including me) think it would be cruel not to.

Don't know if that explains all of the difference or not. Just something I've noticed.

Certainly urban areas present their own dangers to pets, and things like coyotes and raccoons can endanger pet cats and will inhabit human environs. I think the American mindset considers the nuisance that an unsupervised pet can present to people other than its owner, and also has a soft spot for the small animals upon which a loose-roaming cat would prey. To be fair, my late dog viciously and lethally defended my back yard from insidious incursions of frogs, toads, an apparently slower-than-normal rabbit, and one opossum that failed to fool him; but he wasn't allowed to wander the neighborhood hunting, either.

I think my biggest question, aside from the safety of the pet, would be why one would have a pet that doesn't reside with the owner.

Cats do okay outside in the UK for the most part, since there aren't any predators that would take one on. Dogs might, but cats are generally fast and nimble enough to avoid dogs. They really don't cause that much of a nuisance either - you might get a cat wander through your back garden occasionally, but most people don't really mind that much. The worst they'll do is crap in your flowerbed, but they'll typically bury it so most people won't even know it's happened.

As for why you would have a pet that doesn't reside with you - they do! They'll go out, sure, but they do come home again. Ian's moggies are fairly typical, going out for anything from half an hour or so to a few hours at a time. But they'll come home for food, drink, sleep, etc and probably spend more time home than they do outside. Much more if it's cold and snowy or raining outside. It's been much the same with any cat we've had.

Mikey wrote:I think my biggest question, aside from the safety of the pet, would be why one would have a pet that doesn't reside with the owner.

So the world is all or nothing for you is it? If a cat can go out and does when it wants to then it doesn't reside with the owner? Odd view, certainly to me. Our cats are free to roam where and when they want. They have their own door, which is keyed to them, and they use it as they wish.

If we are in they tend to stay in and typically will stay in the same room as us. If we move around they follow us from one room to the other and sit / lie somewhere in that room. When we leave they do their own thing. Sometime they stay in sometimes they go out, often depending upon the weather. When we go to bed they will almost always go out within minutes. We know this because we can hear them leave, the flap makes a small noise.

I can understand the need to keep them in if there are wild animals to kill them. We don't have any such things here so that need does not arise. Dogs aren't really a threat to a cat. Cats are typically much faster than dogs over short distances and can climb far better than any dog. I've seen ours run 12 foot straight up a tree without slowing down.

http://www.thisisnotporn.net/2017/03/26 ... e-nichols/ They have some related photos on the bottom.

cop in brazil stands by graffiti that says: R$20,000 rewarded to whoever kills mustached cop from the local police

http://imgur.com/gallery/a1EbZ

Edit: This is LeVar Burton, polishing his Emmys I guess, I don't know, I never won nothing for being exemplary in anything.

Who is that?

Graham Kennedy wrote:Who is that?

LeVar Burton.

Wow, I SO didn't recognise him!

That's a whole lot of emmys!

I thought it was obvious.

He more than deserves them!