“They are as big as a big cat but much more vicious,” Blueberry Forest resident Lin Month explains. She lost her own tabby cat named Joey, an old barn cat accustomed to spending the night outside. To prevent her other three house cats from being harmed, Month continues to ensure they sleep inside during the night.
“If it is a fisher, it’s not his fault he’s just trying to survive just like everyone else, doing what nature tells him to do, but it’s quite sad,” she says.
Hudson Animal Hospital veterinarian Dr. Giuditta Mortola doesn’t think the threat of fishers should stop people from letting their cats outside. She lost a cat three weeks ago and doesn’t know what happened to him, but that isn’t stopping her from letting her other cat run free.
“There’s a benefit to letting them out, if it’s done safety,” she explains.
It’s important to make sure the cats are vaccinated, sterilized and chipped in case they ever do get lost and end up at a veterinary clinic or rescue organization.
“I see a lot of healthy cats that can go outside and I think it’s great they can exhibit their normal behaviour,” affirms Mortola. “You have to weight the pros and cons,” she adds.
Also for people who do lose their feline, she suggests they visit all the rescue organizations in the region to try and find them. There is also a St. Lazare website for lost cats at ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/en/chatperdu.