Cats in Lockdown - COVID19 NZ

It's been a couple of weeks now in lockdown (Alert Level 4) in New Zealand and the cats are loving it.  Not just mine, who now have me at home pretty much 24 hours a day, but also many others seem to be enjoying the low vehicle activity and possibly more walkers on their streets.

There's a lovely Facebook group Cats of Auckland specifically for photos of cats people see when out and about i.e. not your own cats.  As we're only allowed local exercise now, photographing the local cats it is an extra bit of entertainment when out on a daily walk, as is seeing others' contributions.

Sadly, there are still posts about missing cats and I do hope more cat owners use their time at home to think about how they might make their cats safer.  That might be keeping them in more; spending some of that lockdown time on cat DIY projects to keep them entertained at home.  Or learning about the many, many options for catios and cat fencing; taking some time on pinterest, instagram or just using google image search to look at what commercial options are available and what others are doing to spur the imagination and look at what might be possible in their own situation.

I also hope that anyone with kittens or young cats during this time will be extra cautious before letting them roam.  If they start exploring during this time of very low traffic on the road, they may be at extra risk of being run over when things to start return to normal. Any free roaming cats still make me anxious for their safety, even though they aren't mine!