Cats
If you really care about your pet cat, KEEP IT INDOORS!
If the fact that the life span of a cat kept indoors can be upwards of 20 years, while the life span of a cat allowed to roam outdoors is only 5 years, isn’t enough to want you to keep your cat indoors, check out the list of diseases your cat can contract while outdoors. Fleas, parasites, Feline AIDS (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)) and feline Leukemia (FeLV), Distemper (feline panleukopenia), (all fatal), rabies, abscesses, ticks, and ringworm are the most common diseases contracted by outdoor cats.
In addition, your cat runs the risk of being stolen, angering your neighbors for defecating and urinating in their prize flowers, getting hit by cars, being bit by rabid wild animals, getting caught in traps set for other animals, getting captured for use as science experiments, being poisoned by drinking antifreeze or being abused by humans.
After a night of crawling in and out of garbage dumpsters, eating rotten food, and eating mice, do you really want Fluffy, sleeping in bed with you and walking all over your kitchen counter tops!
If this hasn’t convinced you to keep your cats indoors, the fact that both feral cats and domesticated cats kill hundreds of thousands of birds annually here in the U.S., including our precious Burrowing Owls should make you stop and think!
Please help our Burrowing Owls and the other birds of Cape Coral by keeping your cat indoors.
Browse more Cape Coral Wildlife
Burrowing Owl
Cape Coral, Florida: Home to Florida's largest population of Burrowing Owls, charming and tiny, these owls reside in underground burrows.
Gopher Tortoise
The Gopher Tortoise is a native, keystone species that is listed as threatened due to severe habitat loss.
Bald Eagle
The American Bald Eagle is protected by both federal and local laws. Their nests are typically found in old growth pine tree stands.
Florida Scrub Jay
The Scrub Jay is endemic to Florida, meaning it is not found anywhere else in the wild. It is another species under grave threat due to severe habitat loss.
Purple Martin
The Purple Martin is a migratory bird species that stops in Southwest Florida each year. CCFW volunteers have provided important habitat and monitoring.
Cape Coral Butterflies
Florida was named for its plethora of flowers. The pollinators they support, such as butterflies and skippers, are just as numerous and eye-catching!
Manatee
The lovable, docile manatee can be spotted relatively easily in the warm waters around Southwest Florida and Cape Coral.
Alligators
Alligators can be dangerous and should be treated with respect, but there have been no fatal encounters in Cape Coral's history.
Birds of Cape Coral
Learn more about the many species of birds that can be spotted in Cape Coral and how to identify some of them.
Brown/Green Anole
What the heck are all these lizards running around? Learn to identify the most common anoles and geckos.
Coyotes
As in many parts of the country, coyotes are extending their range into urban areas as they are driven out of their native habitats.
Bees
Bees and their pollination work are widely viewed as one the most critical building blocks in every ecosystem.