Yea, they can live pretty long. It’s mostly the dangers out there (cars, people, poison, other animals) that shorten the lifespan drastically.
That’s why indoor cats have a longer lifespan on average.
Also, the kidneys… keep an eye on them and your cat should do pretty well for a long time
Totally not a dumb question tbh - the answer probably also highly depends on where you’re from.
In Germany (also highly depends on county/city) yes, they do normally fare pretty well and shelters often operate multiple feeding stations where there are a lot of strays. So they get to know the „local strays“ and can keep an eye on them via volunteers and cams.
When a cat is visibly sick, they catch them at this station, treat them and if the cat is alright, oftentimes release them again - shelters are notoriously full and money ist scarce for these organisations unfortunately…
However, if there are conditions that make life for this cat (or others - e.g. FIV) dangerous, they are normally kept in the shelter and then opened for adoption as a „only indoors cat“.
Also, older cats often end up in shelters because they often belonged to older people - and when they can’t care for the cats anymore, have to move or die one day, the cats have to go somewhere too.
Yes, I think that’s the consensus on how to pronounce it.
In case anyone has never heard the acronym: it stands for what you see is what you get. As opposed to what you see is what you mean (e. g. TeX)
The good reason as stated in another comment is having hairy housemates ;)
Also, I personally much prefer to get into a tidy bed, it’s just such a comfy feeling :3
Yeah… we’ve got furry little idiots that will spread hair everywhere in the bed. It’s a bit nicer to have that on top of the blankets instead of in your bed
That’s a good one! I’ll try this out tomorrow 👍
Perfect scrunge 👌