Name one major environmental AND pet welfare organization that supports keeping pet cats outdoors

[Divernan]

128. Fun Fact: Ginger/orange cats are usually toms.

I was adopted by a Ginger Tom about a year ago. My back yard is 300 feet deep in woods and borders a park, so all my cats (2 or 3 at any given time) are rescue cats. My other cat is a calico female who came into my yard when she was a very thin and tiny 3 months old (vet's best guess as to age). In checking out their colors, I learned that most gingers are male and most calicos female:

Most ginger (orange) tabby cats are male, in fact the ratio of males to females is around 3:1. All cats have 19 pairs of chromosomes, and all 19 pairs are found in each and every cell in the cats body. In cats, just like in people, it is these chromosomes that carry genes that are passed along from the cats parents.

Just like people, cats have a pair of sex chromosomes, which make them male or female, and these chromosomes also play a significant role in determining the cats color. In cats, females have xx and males are xy (the ‘y’ is the male determining factor). Each parent donates 1 chromosome, since the females are xx, they can only send an x, if the father sends an x, congratulations it’s a girl, if he sends the y, you guessed it, it’s a boy.

The ginger color is located in the x chromosome, and dominates all other colors (except white, since white is not a color, but rather an absence of color, white can override orange). Since the boys only have one x chromosome, they either are orange, or they are not orange (hmmm… you don’t say, they either are or they aren’t). In females, two x’s conflict, and each cell randomly ignores one of them. So with one out of the way in each cell, some cells have the orange x on, and others will turn it off, which produces Calico fur (orange, black/brown/etc).

So for a female to be all orange, BOTH x’s need to be ginger genes.

Wait a minute, does that mean there is no such thing as a male Calico? No, there could be a male Calico, but they are very rare, since the male would need to have a mutation that causes a 2nd x in some cells, or an ‘xxy’ set-up. That means the male Calico would be sterile.

http://www.askipedia.com/are-ginger-tabby-cats-usually-male-and-is-it-true-they-are-always-very-affectionate/

My cats are indoor/enclosed outdoor spaces cats. I have a deck off my bedroom which is second story,and looks out over the aforementioned 300 feet of woods. I'm at the top of a 45 degree angled lot - so there is a great vista. There are four bird feeders in view in the back yard, so the activity around those also keeps my cats entertained. Outside the side kitchen door I have an enclosed brick terrace with 7 foot high fencing around it. Both areas are very popular for long catnaps in the sun, or under the shade of an umbrella.

My daughter lives in the country and has rescued many cats there (she currently has 3 adults and 2 rambunctious and hilarious kittens). She found a kind of lightweight wire netting, supported by metal stanchions. If one of the cats attempts to climb over it, the netting curves inward. It is about 8 feet high, and nearly invisible so doesn't mar the view. She enclosed about half an acre of her one acre lot. Within the fenced in area there are trees to climb, bushes to sleep under, low stone walls to nap on, and mice, voles and chipmunks to hunt. She also has a lot of berry patches, an asparagus bed and raised 4x4 garden vegetable plots for playing hide-and-pounce. There's a cat door from the house into the fenced area, so even when she's at work, they can come and go as their desires and the weather dictate. I call it Cat Heaven.