Open Question: My roommate/best friend wants to get an indoor/outdoor cat and I don’t want her to. What do I do?
Friday, September 3rd, 2010 at
8:23 am
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My boyfriend and I live with one of my best friends in a 2 bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. My boyfriend and I brought 2 indoor cats with us when we moved in (she knew about them and was fine with this). The cats are listed on the lease, but we do not have to pay extra fees for having them. Now, a few months into the lease, she wants to bring this indoor/outdoor cat down from Northern CA to live here. Apparently, the older woman who owns the cat can't give it the love it deserves, so she wants someone to take it... my roommate volunteered.
My roommate ran it by my boyfriend and I and I brought up my immediate concerns.. 1. fleas/ticks (I currently don't have to buy flea/tick meds for my cats because they are strictly indoors) and 2. are my cats going to accept or get along with this new cat (introducing my 2 cats was extremely rough and emotionally trying on my me, my boyfriend, and both cats).
Since then, I realized that there are a million other reasons that this concerns me..
1. I believe it's inhumane to have an outdoor cat in a city like Los Angeles... plus it's illegal
2. She has never had a pet and doesn't really know what's she's doing.
3. She doesn't know if it's been fixed or if it's up to date on it's shots.
4. Fleas/Ticks (I don't believe I should have to pay for meds since my cats stay inside)
5. She's not getting it microchipped... enough said.
6. We have coyotes that live very close to our apartment complex and we see them out every night.
7. I don't want my cats to have to share their litter box and food with the new cat and I don't want to have to train the other cat not to use theirs.
8. The cat is going to get dirty outside and bring all the dirt in with it every night onto all the furniture that my boyfriend and I own.. I also can't close my bedroom door because my cats need to be able to get to their litter box and food which is in my bedroom and I don't want the dirty cat on my bed.
9. One of my cats is scared of everything and hates change and the other is extremely territorial... It just feels like a recipe for disaster.
We spoke tonight and I brought up all these concerns with her. She basically said... "I'm sorry you feel that way, but we'll just have to see how it goes." She doesn't care that it's illegal to have an outdoor cat, doesn't think anything will happen to it, and doesn't care that I have to start buying flea/tick meds for my cats. I wouldn't have moved in with her had I known she would do this... I told her that too and it seemed to evoke some kind of emotion in her, but not enough for her to back down. Also, since the cat has been an outdoor cat for it's whole life, she doesn't want to make it an indoor cat because she thinks it's not fair to the cat (Even though in reality, indoor cats lead longer, healthier lives)
My boyfriend and I both agree that this is a terrible idea in general and we don't want her to bring the cat here, but since we have 2 cats we didn't want to outright tell her she can't have one. SO I guess here are the options that my BF and I are okay with..
1. She doesn't bring the cat here at all.
2. She brings the cat and lets it be indoor/outdoor but keeps it in her room when she brings it in at night.
3. She brings the cat and makes it an indoor only cat.
And finally..... for the question....
Please let me know which option you think is best or if you have another option in mind, tell me that too. Also, do my boyfriend and I have the right to say no to the whole thing, we are all 3 on the lease and we out number her 2 to 1. If she does bring the cat here and it can't get along with my cats, how long do we give it before we make her find a new home for the cat?
Sorry for writing a book. Thanks for reading.