Indoor dangers to be wary of.

So, we've talked about the importance of providing your cat with a platform for freedom without doing away with safety and health concerns. Free roaming outside the way cats have historically done throughout it's existence is of course a valid argument for giving your cat a stimulating life. We have however in the past few thousand years achieved domestication with cats with more emphasis on them staying indoors.

Today, we'll discuss the dangers of the home and some bits of advice to help ease the transition process with bringing a new family member home.

As we've noted several times before, there are many reasons to support keeping your cat's indoors all the time but dangers exist in the home too. Those who live in high-rise buildings should put up nets around balconies and open windows. For aesthetics, they can be camouflaged with plants. Within the house, cats should be only be allowed access to high places if they are considered safe. A specific danger area is a staircase with open work bannisters. A kitten could launch itself into space and not necessarily land on it's feet. For kittens, supervised exploration is necessary.

Machines can also be a particular draw to cats. The warmth, the smells, and the movement of the washing machine for example will attract a cat's attention to no end. Make sure that the appliance's doors are always kept shut when not in use. Before you turn the machine on, make sure there isn't a cat curled up inside the snug clothes.

The smell of food in the fridge is also very attractive to cats. Should a cat be accidentally locked up in the fridge, it could last for quite some time provided there is sufficient air. However, it wouldn't fair very well if it was locked up in a freezer. Irreversible hypothermia would result.

You can also find burns and scalds on cats where their curiosity have led them to dance across hot rings of electric cookers. Electric cables seem like a lot of fun but if you spot your cat chewing on them, then do your best to conceal the cables under the carpet or cover them with some cat proof material like plastic tubes.

Your draws and boxes packed with oddities are always enticing too. Most of the time we don't realise they can be full of danger to cats. What if they come across pins and paper clips? What about the elastic bands?

Cat's are also attracted to olives. These are very dangerous because the stones inside are just big enough to become stuck in their throats.

Fire places, especially open ones should be guarded at all times, even when there is no fire. Cats have a penchant for climbing and they can climb up chimneys only to get stuck or fall and break some bones. Electric or Gas fires can be equally dangerous as well. In one instance, a cat owner who I won't name faced a fire in their living room when their cat pushed over a highly flammable chair onto the bars of a gas fire.