Quote:
Originally posted by Elspode
The cat in question (whom I've had for seven years) has always come and gone at will, spending various lengths of time away from the house. It was not, despite your contention, unusual for his absence to go unnoticed because not all of our family members are at home at all times except when sleeping, and therefore some would see him when he would come in, often briefly, and some would not. Or are you suggesting that I need to do roll-call on my pets each day?
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As a matter of fact, that is a rather good suggestion.
If you choose to let your pet run wild much of the time, that's your choice. I'm not saying that pets have to be treated like acute agoraphobics and locked in the basement until it's feeding time.
But you've been entrusted with that animal's welfare and care, and it has a brain the size of a golf ball. You're letting it out unattended into an environment where it could easily get hurt, attacked by other animals, flattened by a truck or otherwise put into dangerous situations. When the end of the day comes, if your pet is out there somewhere and your reaction is "Oh, well, he'll come back," as far as I'm concerned you're not much of a responsible pet owner, no matter what brand of expensive cat food you put out for it.
And if you get a knock on your door some night and someone's holding out the remains of your beloved cat and saying "I'm sorry, he just darted out in front of my car," please refrain from getting angry, much less looking surprised.