In our former house we had outdoor cats

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

And life was a constant struggle with fleas, ticks, etc. As in your case, I actually came down with Lyme disease. Also, we had one cat killed by a neighborhood dog. One died of old age, but had FIV, probably contracted in a fight with another outdoor cat.

So after we moved and it was time to cattify the new house, we adopted from a rescue who made us agree to raise our cat indoor only. I really didn't mind. This area has laws that treat cats just like dogs, they can't be loose off your property, etc. plus people have no compunction about shooting cats that are loose because of those laws. You almost never see a loose cat in my neighborhood. Anyway, we have 2 cats now, healthy, happy, loving, who basically have never been out their entire lives. I have never seen a flea or tick on either one of them or in our house. MUCH nicer than the old days of flea bombs, half dead bunnies being brought into the house, etc.

I have read that cats are the only animal known to have domesticated themselves. They originally hung around grain storages because they figured out the humans with the grain were where the varmints were and then the smarter ones moved themselves right into the households.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. oops! I meant to reply to to the thread asking about this. nt