Indoor vs Outdoor – which is best for your cats?

Sasha, being my first cat was my baby!  One day, I was sitting at work when my phone rang.  It was my husband.  He told me that they found Sasha’s lifeless body in our next door neighbour’s yard.  Our neighbours, who knew our cats, knew who she belonged to, so when they found her they immediately went to call my husband.  I just remember crying out when he told me, that even one of my colleagues at the time thought that one of my human family members had passed away.  My boss at the time, who also loved cats, sent me home!  I was devastated.  I never saw Sasha’s body, my husband and my father took her to the vet, and they cremated her, I never got the ashes, I never asked for them.  I was in such shock; I could not comprehend what had just happened!  To this day I still don’t know what killed Sasha.  I always just put a story together that she died from a heart attack. One thing I know for sure, as my husband said that he had checked her over, was there was no sign of injuries. She was just stiff, lifeless, and seemed peaceful.  That being said, I just put the ideal thought in my mind that it was quick, and there was no suffering.

Three months later, Dizi was not himself.  He was moping around and would not eat.  His tummy looked bloated, and all he wanted to do was curl up in my cupboard amongst my clothes.  He would hiss at me each time I tried to go in to get him out for dinner or breakfast.  I gave it literally a day, then I rushed him off to the vet.  They did tests, and they came back positive for FIP.  No, not FIV or known as feline aids, but FIP.  In layman’s terms this is a disease they can get in their intestines; it is most likely in cats under the age of 2 years. Basically, the intestines fill up with fluid, and it is fatal. I just remember the vet explaining it to me over the phone, she said that we could put him on pills to ease the pain and prolong his life for a month or two, but eventually he was going to die from it. I was devastated. Having just lost Sasha so suddenly, now this?  I just fell down on the floor and started crying, but I knew what was best.  To keep him alive would be selfish, it would not be doing him any favours. His quality of life would no longer exist.  It was the toughest decision of my life, but it was the only logical one!  My husband and I got into the car, and off we went to the vet.  We got there, Dizi already had a needle in his leg from the tests, so the vet said at least we didn’t have to put him through that!  I took him out of the cage and put him onto my lap, and she proceeded to inject the euthanasia medication.  Within one minute or so, I heard his last breath! I was devastated!  After Dizi went to Rainbow Bridge I was adamant, my life and thought process about the care for my cats had changed forever!  Then and there!