ALL PETS NEED TAGS AND SHOTS!
A few days ago, my cat, Piggy, fell from my balcony and got lost in Tel Aviv during the night. Because she was spayed, fully vaccinated, and had a collar and tag with all relevant contacts, I was a little bit more confident that I would get her back in one piece. I DID find her 14 hours later , thank god (I will write another post on how I found her and what to do when a pet goes missing).
Even though my cats are indoor cats, I prepare them all for the possibility of escape. My dogs, too, have tags and microchips, even though I don't necessarily expect them to go missing (once, Coco did escape, and I got her back safely 15 minutes later when she wandered in to a restaurant and someone called the number on her tag). If a cat or dog gets lost, most people won't know or even care to pick them up. But if a cat or dog is clearly in trouble and has a collar and tag, there is a much higher probability that someone will be able to restrain it and will call the number on the tag. I have both my number and my veterinarian's emergency number on all my pets' tags. A cat lost in Israel is just one of millions, and will go unnoticed until it suffers a sad demise...
The importance of maintaining current vaccinations is the same. An unvaccinated cat can easily catch any number of lethal diseases within minutes of escape. I have had more than one friend whose unvaccinated house cats have escaped and either died quickly on the streets or come back home with deadly diseases.
The same goes for sterilization: an unsterilized cat or dog is desperate to escape and make babies when in heat, and will do anything to get out and search for a mate. Tons of people lose their pets this way. The ones who do come back are either pregnant or have impregnated, and the last thing the world needs is more unwanted kittens and puppies.
The point is that we never EXPECT our pets to get in to trouble, but they do. The only ways to protect them and help them return home safely are by neutering, vaccinating, and identifying (tags on a collar that never comes off and a microchip with complete, updated information.)
Prepare for the worst!!