The following letter is copied here with the permission of the sender. He also allows that this letter may be re-posted, copied or linked by any of you who would find it helpful to educate your kitten buyers. I will give his email address to anyone who wishes to post him privately. Get your box of Kleenex by your side before proceeding.

--Lynne Thomas

Dear Lynne:

I read your explanation for why cats should not be allowed outside.
I only wish somebody had told us that, for we learned it the hard way
just yesterday. Mika, our cat was everything to us. He was the happiest
 cat in the world, but we only were able to have him for three and a half
years--the life expectancy of an indoor/outdoor cat, just like you wrote.

Mika was I think a traditional Siamese, advertised as a seal point when we
bought him. He was sickly after we brought him home, but after a number of
trips to the vet, a special diet, and great amounts of love, he grew up to
be a strong, healthy, mellow and very contented cat. With no dogs running
loose in our neighborhood, it never occurred to us what could go wrong. But
yesterday and today have been the worse days of my life, I wont write
anymore about that, there is enough sadness in me to grieve for every cat
that ever died too young. I can barely see my monitor through the tears as
I type this.

To your page about keeping cats inside, add the threat of a random act of
violence. Cars and dogs were never a threat in our neighborhood, and this
marauding dog was loosed far from here. He was vicious and mean, and bred
to be that way--and whereever this dog is now it has no idea what it did
to our lives, for I am mainly to blame, I never thought there was any
danger.

I hope people thinking about raising a kitten first read your internet
page. I would not wish this feeling on anyone, we do not have children,
so you can imagine what Mika meant to us.

Keep up the good work, I hope it saves some cats, and some broken hearts.


Sincerely, _______________________