Cyprus-Forum.com

[melwood]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could help put my mind at rest about taking my cats to Cyprus.
I have two black cats (brother and sister) and we live in the north east of england where they both go outside whenever they want.
We are moving to Paphos early next year, and until our house is built we will be living in a three bed, 2nd floor apartment.
I am worried about how my cats will cope as I do not want to let them out as I have concerns over traffic and other cats - Cyprus cats!!

Can anyone share their similar experiences and worries with me in order to help me decide what is the best thing to do. I couldn't imagine going and leaving them here but if that were the best thing to do then very reluctantly I would find them a new home! It would break my heart but it would also break my heart if I took them with me and something happened to them.

Thankyou - a very worried cat lover!!

[CBBB]

We have plenty of cats in Cyprus, don't really need any more.

[Tim Drayton]

It is hard to give a very definitive answer because cats differ so much. I am keeping two cats in a second-floor flat here in Limassol. Both were rescued from the street as small kittens and are most probably of feral parentage. They have now both just turned three years.

One of them is a perfect indoor cat. He has no desire whatsoever to leave the safety of his little world, and will struggle to get down if you even try to carry him over the threshold. He runs and hides if any strangers enter the house.

The other character - pictured below in one of his favourite sleeping positions - is very inquisitive and a great explorer. You only have to open the front door and he will dash out and make his break for freedom. Having brought him up as an orphan from the tender age of two weeks from a bottle, I had hoped to keep him in a sanitised, indoor world. However, it was so obvious that he was yearning for the great outdoors that I started to take him out for walks. This is something that he began to relish, even beginning to make a huge fuss when his regular walk time was approaching. Luckily there was a large area of waste ground directly opposite our block, and I used to take him out there and walk along with him, directing him away from fenced-off areas so that I could keep a firm eye on him. I began to notice that he had a lot of very sound survivial instincts, which no doubt come from the local feral behavioural gene pool, the chief of these being a fear of the sound of cars and lorries. He will always run in the opposite direction when he hears this dreaded sound. Sometimes he would interact with local feral cats in the streets. From what I have observed, the two cats will face one another off for a while, then one will run off. Sometimes my boy was the one to run, at other times he was the one who gave chase. Again, his familiarity with this kind of behaviour may have a lot to do with sharing genes with the local ferals. Nowadays, I just let him go off for his walk in the confidence that he will return in about an hour. Fortunately, this a less densely built up suburban area so there is waste ground for him to explore - although it is gradually being built on and the waste ground directly in fron of us has partly disappeared. I just keep a look out from the balcony and sooner or later he is standing below, hollering to be let back in. I would not feel comfortable advising you to do the same thing with cats that are not adapted to local conditions, though. I have become resigned to the fact that this fellow will probably not die a natural death, but on the other hand I feel that forcing him to stay within foor walls all the time would be cruel. The fact is that he has already outlived the average life expectancy of a feral cat in Cyprus, so he has not done too badly in being found by me.

Talking of balconies, this is the major bug bear when it comes to keeping cats in flats. Do not assume that they will not fall off, because they will. When both of mine were small kittens I once took them round the flat and held them off every balcony and out of every window and let them squeal with fear for a while in the hope that this would teach them that there were high drops from these places and they should not jump here. Until a month ago I was living in a fool's paradise that this technique had worked until the cat pictured below fell/jumped off one of the balconies and fell about 10 metres onto solid concrete. Unbelievably, he escaped with no more permanent damage than some cuts around the lips. It is true what they say about 9 lives! I have now had to get some expensive building work done to cat proof the balconies. This is something that requires serious thought.

Another point that you should consider in deciding whether to let cats out or not is lanate poisoning. The use of lanate to keep the cat and dog population down is widespread in Cyprus. There are many stories of people having their pets poisoned in this way, and by all accounts it is not pleasant to watch your pet die in this way. This is something you should be aware of.

All in all, I would say that it would be difficult for cats that are used to going out to adapt to indoor life in a flat. I really wonder if cats that do not have feral genes in them could safely negotiate the perils of the great outdoors in Cyprus. If they are used to going out, they must have honed their survivial instincts. It is hard to say.

I can't really give any definitive answers, but hope the above has at least given some food for thought.

[melwood]

Thankyou for your reply - it has given me a lot to think about. Poisoning is something I also have worries about and is another reason for keeping them as housecats. God - this is so difficult!!

[Tim Drayton]

Thankyou for your reply - it has given me a lot to think about. Poisoning is something I also have worries about and is another reason for keeping them as housecats. God - this is so difficult!!

I understand your dilema. This is the first time I have ever kept cats - and never again!

[Raymanoff]

how would you like your cats to die?

Lanate poisoning [Add to cart]
Beaten to death with a broom stick by a old woman neighbor [Add to cart]
Run over by Pickup Truck [Add to cart]
Tortured and hanged by kids [Add to cart]
Eaten by Fox (Only Available in Erimi Area) [Add to cart]

[Tim Drayton]

how would you like your cats to die?

Lanate poisoning [Add to cart]
Beaten to death with a broom stick by a old woman neighbor [Add to cart]
Run over by Pickup Truck [Add to cart]
Tortured and hanged by kids [Add to cart]
Eaten by Fox (Only Available in Erimi Area) [Add to cart]

Interesting one. I know somebody who lives nearby in a spacious house on the very fringes of the urban area who had a mother cat with about six kittens. The kittens and mother cat came and went as they pleased - until one night all the kittens vanished without trace, although the adult cat is still there. Could this be the explanation?

[denizaksulu]

Thankyou for your reply - it has given me a lot to think about. Poisoning is something I also have worries about and is another reason for keeping them as housecats. God - this is so difficult!!

Poisons and drivers. Two things to watch out for. They will be safer in Caledonia.

[Tim Drayton]

I don't know if you agree with the following system of categorisation:

http://www.calgaryhumane.ca/cat_types.pdf

I am convinced that it is true for my two cats. The 'outdoor' fellow pictured above is, in my mind, undoubtedly a 'triangle', and the indoor fellow is a 'circle'. 'Circle' cats can adapt well to living in a flat.

[cyprusgeoff]

For what it's worth, I know two people who brought cats to Cyprus and both these folk have told me if they had the benefit of prior knowledge they would not have done so.

The stress for the animals involved in bringing cats and having over 4 hours travel is enormous. They are usually drugged for well over 6 hours to cover check in time etc and are in a box for over that time until collected.

Perhaps my friends didn't research things very well but one of her cats died due to what she said was stress and the other friend finds that apartment living with cats that have been used to running free outside stressful for her as constant cat litter changing is quite a chore or the stench of cat urine becomes awful.

We all love our pets but you have to ask yourself, would you subject a human to that sort of ordeal.