Keeping country cats safe

Listen to this radio show (MP3 download) or read below.

Radio interview source: Dr. Paul Maza, veterinarian, Cornell University Feline Health Center

Our cats get into trouble at night when they're hunting, so we bring them into the entryway until morning. Cars on a country road are a big killer of cats, too. The only way to stop that is to keep them inside all the time, but that's not an option for a lot of people.

Cornell University Veterinarian Dr. Paul Maza says a major cause of outdoor cat mortality is trauma.

"They wander off to the road and get hit by cars, or they crawl into warm tractor engines when they're off, or other farm implements and when they're started up again, they can be injured that way," Maza says. "Other causes of trauma include fighting amongst other outdoor cats, or other animals -- dogs or wild animals, raccoons and foxes."

Dogs consider cats fair game, and if they want to, can easily overpower them. Despite a full set of fangs and claws, cats rarely have a chance, and declawed cats are even more at risk.