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Is mobile phone tower radiation a health hazard?Does radiation from cellphone towers cause cancer? Is the impact higher in children, who have smaller and thinner skulls? HT reports. Slow roastUpdated: Jul 16, 2012 00:10 ISTBy HT Correspondents, Hindustan TimesDoes radiation from cellphone towers cause cancer?Yes, said the Kasliwals, two of who have been diagnosed with brain cancer after three towers were installed next to their upscale C-scheme neighbourhood in Jaipur.Since then, illnesses, both minor and major, have become a part of their lives and the lives of the 50 other families in their neighbourhood.“Last year, both my younger brother Pramod and I were diagnosed with brain cancer. Pramod is critical,” said Sanjay Kasliwal, who belongs to a family of prominent jewellers in Jaipur. The Kasliwals have no family history of cancer.Experts agreed. “Being exposed to a mobile tower located within 50m of your home or workplace is like being in a microwave oven for 24 hours,” said Prof. Girish Kumar, department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay, who submitted a report on cell tower radiation to the department of telecommunications in December 2010.“Following that, in January 2011, a report by an inter-ministerial committee made recommendations to reduce the exposure to 450 mw/sq m. It has not been implemented yet,” said Kumar.Cancer happens in extreme cases, with almost everyone living close to mobile towers reporting disorders such as sleep disturbances, headaches, fatigue, joint pains, among others.“Even with cellphone use, benign swelling in the brain and head, hearing disorders, headaches and anxiety neurosis are well established,” said Dr Sameer Kaul, cancer surgeon, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi.The impact is higher in children, who have smaller and thinner skulls.The industry, predictably, is in denial. "We have extensive factual, scientific research and papers to show that there is no conclusive evidence that EMF, at the levels prescribed by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (an international commission for radiation protection) causes any risk to the health and well -being of individuals," said Rajan S. Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India, an apex body of telecom operators.People who have developed health problems are not buying that. "If towers are so safe, why bother to have laws and limits at all," said AK Anand, who is unsuccessfully trying to get cellphone towers moved from his Vikas Puri H block neighbourhood for five years.Towering troubleAre the radio-frequency waves emitted from cellphone towers killing us slowly? Being exposed to a mobile tower located within 50-metres is like being in a microwave oven for 24 hours, say experts, and carries the same cancer risk as living surrounded by lead, DDT, chloroform and petrol exhaust.The Kasliwals and fifty other families in the upscale C-scheme neighbourhood in Jaipur live under the shadow of death. Seven people in the neighbourhood have been diagnosed with cancer since cellphone towers were installed here in 2003. Since then, illnesses, both minor and major, have become a part of their lives.Two of the three Kasliwal brothers were recently diagnosed with cancer. "First, our dog died of cancer. Last year, both my younger brother and I were diagnosed with brain cancer. It was only when the doctor asked whether we were exposed to some kind of radiation that it occurred to us that the cell-phone towers next to our home were to blame," said Sanjay Kasliwal, who is a part of a large joint-family living in C-scheme.After treatment at the New York Presbyterian Hospital in the US, Pramod Kasliwal has been admitted to Medanta Medicity at Gurgaon. He is critical. "These towers were put up illegally and the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has no records for granting any permission for installation of cell phone towers," says Kasliwal.Killer wavesThe World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says radiation from cellphone handsets and towers is "possibly carcinogenic to humans" and may cause glioma, a type of brain cancer. Towers are more dangerous than handsets because they emit greater-intensity radiation 24X7."The area of concern is base-stations and their antennas, which provide the link to and from cellphones. This is because, in contrast to handsets, it (RF) is emitted continuously and is more powerful at close quarters...," said an inter-ministerial committee of experts on electromagnetic radiation exposure from cellphone towers in 2009.Despite that, the response from government is predictable. "There is no scientific study to prove that anyone has got any health problem due to telecom towers in India. The WHO has prescribed norms on emission of radiation by Telecom Towers. Our norms are much below the WHO norms," said R Chandrasekhar, secretary, department of telecommunications (DoT). "The government has set up a committee under the department of science and technology to look into the issues. The matter is continuously under review."But the norms adopted in India in 2009 are already outdated, say experts. "In 2009, India adopted the radiation norms specified by ICNIRP, which are now outdated as they were only intended to protect people against short-term gross heating effects and not against ‘biological’ effects such as cancers and genetic damage from long-term exposure," says Dr Girish Kumar, professor, department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay, who submitted a report on Cell Tower Radiation to the secretary, DoT, in December 2010."Also, these safety standards are based on 6 minutes/day exposure, without accounting for people who live close to cell towers 24x7. The norms allow EMF of 4,500 mw/sq2," he adds.Following the Girish Kumar report, the Inter-Ministerial Committee January 2011 report made recommendations to reduce the exposure to 450 mw/m2. "However, even that hasn’t been implemented yet," laments Kumar.By the end of 2010, India had 5.4 lakh cell phone towers, of which Delhi alone has 5, 364, including legal and illegal ones.Sickened nationThe problem is not unique to Jaipur. Sushila Shah, 57, housewife and Wadala resident in Mumbai, was surprised when told one of the possible reasons for her cancer was just 50 feet away. There are some 20 cell towers on the terrace of very next building to where she stays. She called in experts to measure radiation levels in their home and found the terrace was in the danger zone with very high radiation, while the bedroom, kitchen and hall were in the caution zone. "Every day, we are faced with a new problem: severe headaches, body ache, fatigue, skin rashes and unbearable itchiness. Towers have been there for three years, they are a menace to society," she says.In west Delhi's Vikas Puri H-block, the Anands claim even birds avoid their neighbourhood after tower was installed in their locality seven years ago. "All the five towers have been put up in and around the neighbourhood without ‘no-objection, certificates being sought from the residents," says AK Anand, who plans to move court to get them removed."It is not legal to install cellular towers in residential areas without taking formal consent. People can complain at the MCD’s office of their zone," said Mahender Nagpal, leader of the house, north Delhi Municipal Corporation. But complaining to the MCD has not worked for the Anands, who are now planning to move court with some of their neighbours.Searching for a solutionLike them, the Kasliwals approached several regulators and service providers, but nothing happened. "There is no rule in JMC specifically to regulate mobile towers. We tried to make the bylaws for the mobile towers and sent them for approval of the state government, but due to some legal tangle, we still haven’t got permission. Now the state government will reply in court and further instruct to JMC," says Jaipur Mayor Jyoti Khandelwal. Tired of the civic authorities and the regulators passing the buck, the Kasliwals filed a writ petition to remove the towers.Shifting towers is not a solution, as they invariably end up somewhere around for cell phone connectivity. "Instead of removing towers and passing on the problem to other people, the transmitted power must be reduced," says Kumar.- Himanshu Vyas with Rhythma Kaul and Manoj Gairola in New Delhi, and Sanjana Bhalerao in Mumbai.Expert speak: Dr Girish Kumar'Reduce the power or remove the tower'Disrupted sleep, headaches, dizziness, altered reflexes, depression, fatigue, joint pains, heart disorders, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson, DNA damage and cancers are just some of the health hazards of exposure to cell tower radiation, says Professor Girish Kumar, professor, department of electrical engineering, IIT Bombay, who submitted a report on Cell Tower Radiation to the Department of Telecommunications, in December 2010.Are towers destroying our health, with or without phone usage?Yes, of course. After 20 minutes of using cell phones, you feel a warm sensation near the ear. This is because the temperature of the earlobes increases by one degree Celsius. A maximum of 6 minutes of cell phone usage is recommended during the day since a cell phone transmits 1 to 2 watts of power, which are very high and dangerous.In the US, users are told this, but in India, there are no such warnings despite the fact that we adopted radiation norms specified by ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) guidelines of 1998.Do studies prove that exposure to EMF has a direct health impact?The World Health Organisation (WHO)’s INTERPHONE study in 2000 done over 10 years in 13 countries showed that heavy cellphone users (1 to 2 hours a day) have a risk of glioma (brain or spine tumour). This risk is 55% for those using it over 10 years. They found 5,117 brain tumour cases in the study.Several studies done in various countries — such as Germany, Austria, Brazil, Israel, etc — have reported increase in cancer cases in 5 to 10 years, where radiation level was more than 1 mW/m2.Cancer is the last stage and before that, people living close to mobile phone towers have reported sleep disturbances, headaches, memory loss, lack of concentration, fatigue, joint pains, vision distortion, miscarriage, heart problems, etc.In India too, there are many complaints of such health problems among people who are heavy cell phone users and stay near cell towers. Cell phone users start with feeling dizzy and even develop ear problems. This was acknowledged by the Government of India in its Jan 2011 Inter-Ministerial Committee report.What are the norms for cellphone radiation in India and what is the ideal level of exposure?Till 2009, India had no standards. India adopted the radiation norms specified by ICNIRP in 2009, which are now outdated as they were only intended to protect people against short-term gross heating effects and not 'biological' effects such as cancers and genetic damage from long-term exposure.Also, these safety standards are based on 6 minutes per day exposure, without accounting for people who live close to cell towers 24/7. The norms allow EMF of 4,500 mw/m2.In 2010, I submitted a report to the government on the health hazards from cell towers and how to curb them. In January 2011, the report by Inter-ministerial Committee mentioned several health hazards at levels thousand to ten thousand times below the ICNIRP standards and made recommendations to reduce exposure to 1/10th to 450 mw/m2. Even that has not been implemented yet.How can exposure be reduced?At first, I would recommend that the amplification of power in the cell towers be reduced by removing the power amplifier or by reducing the gain of the antenna. By reducing the power, coverage area will be reduced, which can be taken care of by using more cell towers or repeaters or in-building solutions. The height of towers should be increased. All towers in close proximity to schools and hospitals should be checked and removed, if too close.Where do towers shifted from celebrity neighbourhoods — as in Juhi Chawla's case — go?They may have shifted these towers to nearby place for cell phone connectivity, so the radiation from these high-power transmitting towers will now be affecting other people. That is why I have always recommended that instead of removing towers and passing on the problem, the transmitted power must be reduced. Reduce the power or remove the tower.- Sayli Udas MankikarTechnology is fine, but stringent measures neededUsha Suradkar, 65Radiation-shielding machine, shielding films on window, radiation blocking curtains and wallpapers are an essential part of life for theSuradkar family whose house in Dadar has 12 cell towers on their terrace. "If you have towers in your vicinity, these precautionary measures are a must," says Suradkar, who was diagnosed with brain tumour . The family got two cellphone towers outside their kitchen and bedroom removed after persistent badgering of the cellphone tower company. "We later found out that the issues like severe headache, continuous cough and itchiness that my wife was facing was possibly due to the radiation from towers," says Sudhakar Suradkar, a retired Inspector General of police (IGP)."These cell also causes structural damage to building. I urge all to not just get lured by the money paid by these companies," he says. Her husband adds: "I am not against technology advancement, but stringent measures should be taken to tap these companies."— Sanjana BhaleraoComplaints to authorities have not helped so farUma Devi Luthra, 70The residents of north Delhi’s Model Town-II have unsuccessfully requested the Municipal Council of Delhi (MCD) to get two cellphone towers moved out of their neighbourhood for four years, installed eight years back. After writing several complaint letters to the Delhi Police, MCD and other government departments, the Luthras, and neighbours, are now planning to move Court."My daughter-in-law complained of nausea and frequent headaches, my son and grandson felt irritable all the time and my immunity began going down," said Luthra. "After receiving my complaint, police commissioner YK Dadwal, called and said they would take action, but nothing’s been done," she says.—Rhythma KaulI stopped opening my windows for fresh airJavlika Shah, 58When cell phone companies placed transmitters outside her bedroom windows eight years ago, little did Shah, a resident of Girgaumin south Mumbai, know that she would face the consequences years later. "My headaches are not something ordinary. The nerves are strained and it is unbearably painful," she says. She’s also become an insomniac, and gets up in the morning feeling tired and uneasy.According to the radiation test undertaken in her house, all the rooms have high level of radiation. She says, "I stopped opening my windows for fresh air. The report shows that these areas have highest level of radiation.""The cell phone towers were put up in most residential buildings for better network. Without knowing the consequences, most society committees agreed to it. "I cannot afford to put up these window films or wallpapers. They are too expensive. I want these towers to be removed for my safety and that of the others around," says frustrated Shah.—Sanjana BhaleraoHeadaches and insomnia plague Peddar RoadSmita Agarwal , 43Many residents of Peddar Road suspect there is connection between the increasing number of cancer cases and other health problems and the cluster of cellphone towers put up on residential buildings. Agarwal is one of the victims, staying on the top floor of Maheshwari Niketan. She recently got a doctor’s certificate stating that cause of her health problems are radiations. Her children also complain of headache and sleeplessness.Peddar Road has already reported two deaths because of cancer developed by radiation. The lane has educational institutions, a well known hospital and several residential towers and bungalow. At present, Maheshwari Niketan has around 18-20 transmitters on their terrace and there are expected to be few more in the coming years. A few months back, the residents of Peddar Road marched to demand the removal of the cluster of towers from their terrace."I don’t know how to protect myself and my family. Only proper rules and regulations set up by the civic body can make a difference," says a worried Agarwal. "I don’t want people killed for few lakh," she adds.— Vaishnavi VasudevanSource: Is mobile phone tower radiation a health hazard?Edit 1: This is to show that a controversial thing is there to “mobile tower radiation isn't a health hazard”. Personally, I don't know which is right answer. If you have any objection, attack on the source.

“Please forgive me” a letter to my cat and my daughter:warning: long post, letting cats out, sad, personal.I will forever miss his soft fur, picking him up and sitting him on my chest to kiss and gently massage the side of his cat cheeks and hear him purr, the smell of his paws… I will forever miss seeing him drinking water from the glass jar in our window, seeing him wake up from a long nap in our bed and come slowly walking and stretching to the dining room after such profound and enjoyable sleep, looking at us still with his eyes “Chinese” from his eyelids adapting to the light after such a long nap… I will forever miss the feeling of Ronillo rubbing my legs whenever his plate was empty or whenever he came home from outside, purring, rubbing my legs with intensity, almost as if saying "thank you", thank you for the house, thank you for letting me in, you could tell he was happy to be home and when he was done expressing his love, he would immediately direct himself to devour a delicious bowl of cat food, I would give them wet food from time to time, Ronillo and his sister Misty loved it, Ronillo would finish with whatever Misty had left over of her wet food…. He truly was a beautiful, healthy and friendly brown and grey tabby cat with cute white paws that looked like socks and furry white chest, nose and mouth. He was not the kind that would jump into your lap and sleep curled up while you were working on your computer or studying, but he was certainly the kind that would let my 7 year old daughter pick him up and give him a thousand kisses and hugs, he was a part of our family, he never attacked anyone, he was just your most friendly and relaxed cat. I will miss my husband calling him different names on a high pitch baby voice and biting his lips, because that’s how mighty cute he was, he would call him “Ronillo” “Tornillo” “Matiyo” “Mateo” “Ronelio” “Gatoneo” “Rony macaroni”, our neighbors thought his name was “Romeo” we never told them it was actually Ronillo, a made up name in Spanish from when he was a kitten and he would “ronronear” a lot, he would purr a lot, so his name was Ronillo from “ronronear” in Spanish.If I could go back in time I would. He was hit by a car and died 4 days ago and I still couldn’t contain my tears when I woke up this morning, today is Sunday and I just realized I haven’t cooked in days, the pain is real and I feel a constant heavy weight on my chest, a heavy heart that makes me very vulnerable to crying whenever I remember everything, but I have tried to be strong for my daughter and I’m also in my last semester of pregnancy, I have to find a way to feel peace in my heart for myself and for the much awaited precious baby I’m carrying and soon to be born, now 36 weeks pregnant, maybe this is why I am writing this letter and sharing it with you… in the hopes to process, understand and accept what has happened and in the hope that it will help me find closure to my grieving and help me forgive myself, to help me with the guilt I’ve been feeling and maybe my story will help other new cat owners who are struggling deciding whether to let their cats out or not.If I could go back in time I would, I want to ask my 7-year-old precious daughter and my beautiful cat Ronillo R.I.P. to forgive me for not having known better, please forgive me. Forgive me that this accident could have been prevented, forgive me that as much as we loved Ronillo to bits and pieces I didn’t pay enough attention to what was going on with our pets in our household, please forgive me…My daughter loved kittens and cats even before she ever had one and it just happened that right before her 5th birthday a family was giving kittens away for free at St. Johns park, it was a summer event and I was doing community outreach for an organization I was working for at the time in the summer of 2017, the kittens were so adorable and I thought getting one would be a great gift for Maya’s 5th birthday, anyways she had already developed a natural love for these felines.I called my husband and he was hesitant, especially because we lived at an apartment, I have never had a cat before but I asked my partner who was working with me at that event and she knew a lot about cats, she gave me general guidance about cats and sure I felt reassured I could do it, she helped us carry the 6 weeks old kitten home and it was the best choice I have ever made, Maya had an awesome birthday and she was so happy and excited with the new kitten... Looking back, it was in fact my first pet that I was acquiring myself as an adult at 25 years old, even living with my parents we didn’t have any pets at home since we moved to Canada some ten years ago, I only knew how to take care of dogs, we had a Basset Hound and a Scottish Terrier when we lived in El Salvador. But sure I knew the basics, we took her to the vet to have “her” fixed and vaccinated with all shots and of course the litter box and the food and the playing time and the love, yes we thought we had a female kitty, that’s what that family told me at the park until they called me from the vet and asked if I wanted to change its name because it was actually a male, oh I laughed so hard, I didn’t know how to name the kitty anymore so in the mean time I called him Gato, Maya was confused and a bit upset because she wanted a kitty cat, she had imagined a girly kitty, it is amazing how our human minds make all these social constructs, what a great lesson about animals and gender, I explained to her that it was the exact same pet and sure it was the same pet and the best pet we could have ever asked for, now Maya saw him as the cat he was and a brother.So that’s the story of Ronillo, the only problem is that we lived at this brand new luxurious apartment building downtown when we were studying at U of W and pets were strictly not allowed, but we managed to have Ronillo in our apartment for a year, we hid him with no problem, he had a nice cat house with yarn poles for him to scratch and sleep into, he also had cat toys and I would play a hide and seek and a peek-a-boo chase since he was a kitten and he loved it. Maya, Ronillo and I were actually running chasing each other at the apartment, what lovely memories. He also loved playing with cardboard boxes and making confetti out of them as well as hiding in drawers.But there was another problem, not only the apartment setting but that my husband and I felt sad and guilty that he was an apartment cat and that he didn’t get to experience the outdoors like any feline should, that he would never experience what it was to be a real cat, climbing trees, chasing birds, mice and grasshoppers, we felt sad that he didn’t get to feel the grass with his paws and the breeze on his face. So we bought him a harness and leash and tried to train him, we took him to different parks a few times but he was certainly terrified of the outdoors, he stayed inside a big reusable shoppers drugmart grocery bag the first time we took him outside in the summer. We should have know then that there was no need to expose him outside, but instead we kept feeling bad that the poor cat was terrified because he was an apartment cat and somehow we were bad cat owners, I had always seen indoor/outdoor cats in Winnipeg, for instance when I lived with my parents the neighbour lady in front of the house had two outdoor/indoor cats, who up to this date are still alive and after so many years of seeing them enjoy their back yard and the small open garden they have in front of their house, to this day her cats are alive, they are looking older but healthy, but we certainly didn’t have the same luck even though they also have a busy street close to their house too (Grant Ave).One day we took Ronillo camping and he managed to get away from the harness and leash, I was so worried that he was going to get lost and that he could be injured by all the wildlife at Riding Mountain, amazingly he didn't go away too far and he came back to the yurt, he actually followed us wherever we were. We were amazed that the cat recognized wherever we were as his home, like his territory.We had planned to buy a house before Maya started grade 1 and now that we had a pet I was even more motivated, so we moved to a house in East Elmwood in the summer of 2018 and that’s when everything went wrong with our cat. First of all I wasn’t sure if to let him out or not but we tried letting him out once in our deck and he did really well, he enjoyed it, didnt go far and came back to the door, we would let him out in the backyard while we were doing the garden or my husband was working outside or I took Maya for a bike ride in the sidewalk of our street, he seemed to be enjoying it so much and he always came home, so we were convinced we could let Ronillo be an indoor/outdoor cat.I didn’t realize it was against city bylaws to let your pets out unleashed and unattended like we did with our cat until a friend told me, I also read in various sites and social media pages that you shouldn’t let your cats out and they listed all the dangers, but we still kept thinking that it was cruel to keep a cat indoors only, we thought it was selfish that we humans domesticate animals to have as pets for our own enjoyment and pleasure of having them at home and that we deprive them of being real animals, so we talked to both our next door neighbours and they were totally fine letting Ronillo wander around their houses, because I really thought he wouldn’t wander too far away... he was fixed anyways, he wasn’t looking for mating right? I thought he would stay within our block which was a pretty quiet street and because he always came back, my husband agreed too, he was even a stronger believer that animals have the right to be free and enjoy the outdoors. But how did we actually know that? How can we see and control what our pets do and go through when they go outside? We really didn't know, there is no way we can’t know. But the problem gets worse when we have busy lives, we have even less time to try and control what happens with our pets when they go outside.The summer we moved to our house we were extremely busy to say the least and overwhelmed by everything the house needed to have done and repaired, both of us being working parents and on top of that I was very involved in the community with our Folklorama pavilion for the past two years, and as if it wasn’t enough I also had a miscarriage that summer. But other than us being tired, everything seemed to be ordinary and happy in our household. Once the winter came we didn’t let Ronillo out, but when he got desperate I would take him out in the leash for short walks around the house, but he almost managed to escape every time, in less colder days I would let him go out sometimes for 15 minutes to ½ an hour maximum and he would comeback right away when called. I was looking for another cat to have home so Ronillo would be more entertained inside and would forget about going outside, I applied to adopt an orange cat at animal shelter in Gretna/Altona where they desperately need help with so many stray cats, but I wasn’t chosen because of our history in our application of already having a cat and letting him out, this made me upset, but now I understand why. Soon enough the opportunity came and by Christmas last year we had another cat in the house, she was a female cat about the same age as Ronillo given to us by a lady whos daughter had moved to BC and she couldn’t have 4 cats in her house. Misty was a smaller built gray cat, she was a bit skittish but a great companion, Ronillo didn’t like Misty at first but then they got used to each other and they would interact with each other all the time, however it didn’t last too for Ronillo to want to go outside again, something had changed in me that as soon as we moved to the house we stopped playing like we did at the apartment, I had unconsciously concluded that he was receiving enough entertainment and stimulation by going outside sometimes and watching birds through the many windows we now had wich had more of a green scenery from the front yard and side bushes to observe birds and squirrels, but we also had less spare time at the house with all the chores and the daily commuting to work and school, the commuting was a bit longer than when we lived downtown.This is hard to write because I’m exposing my mistakes here but I really hope you can understand, I hope I can forgive myself and I hope it helps someone else to take the right decisions that I have learned in a very hard way. Once the spring came we would let Ronillo and Misty out more often, if we were doing house work outside they would be outside with us and I loved seeing Ronillo sleep between the bushes that surround our house, climbing the fence or playing with grasshoppers in the backyard, I still have a very recent video where I’m doing yoga on our deck with Maya and Ronillo comes to rub our legs very affectionate. We loved him so much, he was so relaxed outside in our house, he trully loved to be outside as much as he liked inside.The problem was when we weren’t there and he would go wandering around and we didn’t know he was going so far a way, so the routine had become that he spent the day time hours indoors and when we came home from work we would let the cats out around 7pm or 8pm, after we had played with them for a little bit and given them their daily dose of love, especially from my daughter and I, if for some reason Maya and I had to do something else after school and we came home late, my husband Rey wouldn’t let the cats out until we had seen them and hugged them and kissed them, Misty always wanted to be let in after a couple hours and would meow loud until we opened the door and Ronillo would come inside too with Misty but sometimes he didn’t and if he did come inside he would eat and then beg and scratch the door to be let out again and so we did, we let him out again and I would call him before going to bed, but sometimes it was 11pm and pass 12 midnight and he wouldn't comeback and so it was becoming a problem, my husband insisted that cats were night animals and that we should let them spend the night outside in the warm moths. There was one time Rey my husband was coming home driving and he found Ronillo in the middle of a street near our block, all relaxed laying down as if he was in the beach and he wouldn’t move, he had to hunk twice for him to move, and since then he was very adamant that we wouldn't let them go out during the day time unless we were working around the house, that we would only let them out at night if only because there was less traffic and streets were less busy. But now doing more research about cats I found the opposite to be truth, letting cats out at night is more dangerous because it is harder for drivers to see them and avoid hiting them or runing over them, they should at least be wearing some kind of reflective collar if they go outside at night.So very sadly the routine became that he would be let out in the evening and if he didn’t comeback with Misty after a few hours or when called before bedtime he would sleep outside in the summer, unless it was raining, we got used to that he cameback every morning for all June and July, but now even Misty was spending the night outside, even in some rainy days. We had plenty of warnings and signs that this was dangerous for him and we didn’t see them, I always thought he was just around the house, sleeping in the neighbours bushes and under decks within the block, that somehow, he would avoid the busy street down a few houses (Nairn Ave)There was one time that he didn’t comeback home in the morning and we thought he was lost, but some people have found him and took him to the vet hospital to be returned to his owners, he had a tatoo in his ears, so they called me and we went to pick him up, the people who found it had said that they found it in the tim hortons parking lot, but I couldn’t believe it, how could the cat have crossed such a busy street, in my mind it was impossible that the cat would have gone that far, because I always saw him around our house, I thought it was someone from our block who had rescued him because they didn’t have anything else to do in their lives than to play good Samaritan rescuing cats who were from the neighborhood and had owners…. But now doing more research about cats, they can wander an average of 500 meters from their home, and especially more so males, even if they are neutered, they have a tendency to go marking their territory far away. Aside from that, there were another couple more times that he didn’t comeback home in the morning and I was worried sick about him, but he would eventually show up later in the day when my husband came home for lunch at noon, so I thought he might have another house where he was being fed and loved since he was so friendly. But how could I have known what was actually happening? how could I see what he was doing or where he was going? but I just beleived my assumptions were right and I was blind and I couldn’t see it, we weren’t able to see all the signs and warnings in front of us, that he was going away too far and that we became to relaxed letting him out, the whole night was definitely too much time to spend outside, way too much, he was probably crossing Nairn Ave in the wee hours when there was no traffic, probably around 2am or 3am in the morning. I never thought he would be part of the statistics that 1 out of 3 cats who is let outside is hit by a car, that outdoor cats live ¼ of the life their indoors-only counterparts live.We had enough warnings and signs and we didn’t see them, we became too relaxed and of course were extremely busy again in the summer of 2019 , my sister had told me just recently after he got lost and I was sick worried about but he cameback the next day “please take care of him, don’t let him out too much”, my mom would also worry that we let him out and friends would be surprised that he was going outside, although a couple more cats in our neighbourhood were let outside from time to time too. Another thing I didn’t understand is that he was going through a period of his feline cat life where he wanted to go out now more than ever before, now when we came home and wanted to pet him and would pick him up he would meow like in protest, he wanted to be let out right way, he had become impatient, but the last day of his life that he spent home he was playing with my daughter, there was an empty cardboard box that I had used for my baby shower and he had gotten inside and Maya was playing with him, pocking her finger and a cheese string through a hole the box had and Ronillo was grabing her finger with his paw or biting the cheese string through the other hole, then he started to chew the cardboard box like in the old days, it reminded me so much of when we lived in he apartment and he was and indoors only cat, I enjoyed seeing them play with the box, that was the last evening he spent home with us, he truly was the perfect cat, he would have been a great indoors only cat and I am reminded of that by the last time we saw him and he graciously played with us inside, he had only recently learned to escape when someone opened the door but most of the time he would stay back if you just shushed and hushed him away that he was not allowed to go out.The day before I had scolded Rey for calling the cats in the morning too loud, he was literally yelling his name and I told him that he was going to wake up the neighbours, now I think, WHO CARES! If no one complained who cares about what others are going to say!! so the next morning Rey didn’t call Ronillo, and this is when I burst into tears feeling guilty, he didn’t call him because of what I had told him the day before but I had assumed he had comeback with Misty as he usually did, I had assumed Rey had let him in, they would come back together and Misty would religiously meow until let in around 6am in the morning, sometime 5am, but Ronillo wasn’t there this time again and I didn't call him either, he didn’t comeback this morning when Misty started meowing to be let in and Rey let her in, and if he wasn't there I would call Ronillo and he would appear a few minutes after, he was a very quiet cat most of the time, he almost never meowed loud and when he did it was short meows, he was so cute… that morning I thought Rey had called him so I didn’t call for him, but how I wish I had stopped to look for him, who cares if I was late for work or if we missed the yellow bus to school, that's how I feel now, life is more important than anyhing.But what was I thinking all this time letting him out to the danger for so long! I had forgotten how especial he was, how much we loved him, how much we had become attached to him, how he was my daughter’s 5th birthday present and I had dreamed he would be her childhood pet and probably be around when Maya was in high school. We certainly made the biggest mistake letting the cats out and I regret it so much.On Thursday September 26, I received a call to my cellphone from the same vet hospital on Pembina where he was rescued once this summer and luckily returned to us, only that this time we were not lucky, I called from work at around 8:45am to find out what was the call about, I thought he might have been rescued again, I was transferred to Dr Duncan only to be told that he was hit by a car, that he was found in the road and that the person who found him rushed him to the hospital, that he was still alive when they got him in at around 8:30 and that they did everything they could to save him but that he was dying already….. I’m not sure if the person who took him to the vet hospital was the same one that hit or ran over him, I will never know what happened extactly, but I’m thankful that they helped him and rushed him to the emergency that we can have closure because we know what happened, unlike other instances where cat owners lose a cat and never know what happened to them.Other than the graceful play time with the cardboard box the last time we saw him, I remember he went back to sleep a little more again and that was very strange, I remember the last caressing Maya and I gave him before he started to stretch at the door and scratch it asking to go outside, but this time he got outside later than the usual 8pm, there was something not normal, it was around 7:30pm and he hadn’t waken up yet, I even called him to see if he was upstairs and sure enough he came downstairs, but this time later than usual, something had happened that he was a bit behind on his biological clock. Maybe he was getting sick or had fell ill the day before and we didn’t see it. Around the time he was hit it was the time that he was supposed to be home already. What I suspect is that he had cross Nairn Ave in the quiet early hours of the morning maybe between 2am and 4am, there are nice empty grasslands almost like wetlands behind the tim Hortons and all that industrial area of Nairn Ave, now I understand what happended and I believe that since this summer he probably had found that area attractive and he was crossing Nairn Ave all this time without us realizing about it, those people who rescued him the first time did the right thing and they were right and we didn’t realize it but now I believe them that they found him at the Tim Hortons parking lot, but that particular day he died he was for whatever reason too late to cross it, it was the rush hour already and he might have not been feeling well, it was the time he was hungry and he knew we would call him to let him in, he wanted to cross the street to come home and eat, rub our legs and sleep in the comfort of our beds throughout the day, enjoy the safety of our house and scratch the pads that still had catnip on them, he also loved the catmint I had planted for him in our backyard, but he didn’t make it, we were not lucky this time and we had ignored all the signs and warnings that were clearly put in front of our eyes so that we could have changed things with our pets in our house.Now we miss him and there is nothing we can do to bring him back, Rey regrets having imposed that routine of letting the cats outside all night and I didn’t do anything different either, all these couple of days after he died I had said things to make me feel better like “at least he died free and doing what cats are supposed to do, wandering aorund their territory and chasing things and other smaller animals, so at least he was a happy cat” or I would say “I tried to train him for the harness and leash but he would escape and get off the harness almost every time” or “he loved the outdoors too much” or “there was nothing I could have done, he was a free spirit”But the truth of the matter and the only thing that will make me feel better now is taking full responsibility of his dead that could have been prevented 100%, Ronillo should be alive and with us today and right now, but he isn’t, reading more about cats there is nothing in their evolutionary biology that would protect them to avoid and manage the dangers of traffic, unfortunately domestication where there are high populations of cats in urban areas is necessary if we want to help this species and before asking whether if it is cruel to keep a cat indoors or not, we have to ask the ultimate philosophical question about life and it is: what is it that all animals want? And I have gotten to the conclusion that what all animals want, including us human animals, is to live and to live a happy life. Even when they scratch the door so you let them out and beg you, we know better than them, we have consciousness and they don't and we know they are only following their feline instincts but ultimately they wont stand a chance in the dangers of urban life outside, and many cats need homes these days and the only way to help them have a happy life is domesticating them in the comforts of our homes, they become a member of our family and they are adaptable, like Ronillo was at the beginning.Ronillo did fantastically well when he didn’t know the outdoors too much, there is peoplewho train their cats well and they walk their cats outside on a harness and leash. If I could go back in time I would do this and I would prevent the pain and suffering I'm going through when our pet suddenly died,if I could go back in time I would have kept him inside and avoided the impact and pain our poor Ronillo probably suffered at the time of his death, I would like to think that he entered in shock and went unconscious upon impact right away to help myself cope and after reading online that this is what really happens to many cats in accidents, they enter in shock and die instantly. But the truth is that he was probably hungry and missing home when he tried to cross the street and he felt pain when he died.I’m grateful that I can learn from this accident, that this has been a lesson and a wake up call for me, this is the first encounter with death I have ever had to confront, luckily I haven't lost a close family member yet, I'm grateful that I can learn to appreciate and value what I have now more than ever after this experience, including my family and loved ones, if you really love them and appreciate them always do your best, fight for what you value, do not get comfortable and relaxed like we did with our beatiful cat, because you never know when we will depart from this world, don’t be in a rush, wake up those few minutes early so you can give a kiss and goodbye, wake up earlier so you can call your cat on time if he has gone out.But most importantly, keep your cats inside, don’t let them out, for your own sake, for their own sake and for your children, play with them, provide them with enough entertainment and stimulation and love them also secure windows so they can't jump out, build a cato., I am grateful that while my daughter cried for like a minute and a half when we had to tell her the bad news her response has been very healthy and natural, we have answered all her questions in an age appropriate way and we have supported each other in our family, her eyes would start to tear sometimes, especially the first night when she came back home and opened the door of the room where Ronillo used to sleep to find him,out of habit, only to remember Ronillo wasn’t here anymore, I had to go outside immediately and cry, she went to the little memorial we had made for him and we hugged each other, then she was fine, off to watch Netflix , I hug her when I see she might be a bit sad, Rey is sad too he loved Ronillo too, Maya told all her friends and teachers at school and they were all very empathetic, Im greatful to my family who gave her words of comfort, my sisters, my brother and parents, she stayed with them the night Ronillo died because I was too sad and crying and I didn’t want her to see me this way, my sister took her to school the next day, but she knew about what has happened already, we took her to the vet hospital that was already familiar to her, to pick up the beautiful certificate with Ronillo’s paw print on it saying that he was in heaven, and a bit of his fur the staff at the hospital had prepared in a little baggie for us to remember him, she processed it as a fact, we didnt let her see the body even though it was intact, now extertnal injuries, she had a lot of questions about dead that we took the time to explain to her carefully and she is doing better and better, but it seems the most affected has been me. It has been a learning experience for Rey and I, lessons learned in very hard ways. Maya was mostly sad that his birthday present had died, that he loved him so much and missed him and she told me he was the only one thing that she loved the most and the only thing she really wanted. I told her that her present will never die because we will forever have all the good memories and good times we spent with Ronillo when he was alive and even though we were not perfect we also loved him deeply and tried to give him the best life a cat could have (within our misconceptions and ignorace), a safe home, food, shelter and love even after all the mistakes we made, we loved him. My brother also told her the right thing after we had to break the bad news to her, that for every cat who goes to cat heaven there is a kitten born. At the vet hospital we spent some time looking at some cute kittens they had in a kennel for adoption, they were adorable and they gave us comfort at that difficult moment, we remembered when Ronillo was that little and we smiled and laughed even with heavy hearts. When we were at home we also looked at pictures and videos of the good times with Ronillo and we laughed at all the silly things Ronillo would do, that's how a child copes, remembering the good times and understanding, feeling sad but also laughing at the goofy and silly memories to over come it.Only time will help us not to feel the void Ronillo has left in our hearts and home, but we have Misty to love and protect, she is a really nice cat and her cat personality feels like a spiritual companion, we are determined to help her transition to an indoors cat only or train her to the leash, and although she can be skittish and she can bite sometimes if she is not in the mood to be touched, she still lets us pet her and love her and pick her up to caress her, but very different than Ronillo. We are also looking forward to baby Celeste to be born soon, I don’t want the grieving to affect my hormones, the hormones that make you happy for the baby and help you to generate lactation and during labour, and just have to say that this time my girls will benefit from a more experienced mom. Yesterday we went to Cirque de Soleil to watch Amaluna and we really enjoyed the show after being sad for the past few days, we need to keep going with life but we will forever bring Ronillo in our hearts R.I.P, Ronillo - July 2017 to September 2019 -He was only 2 years old, you left this world too soon.Thanks for reading me and for being such an empathetic group of people in this group, thanks to the admins too, to the good souls out there helping our fur friends, to the vet hospital and Dr Duncan who didn’t charge anything for their emergency services and to my family who gave us support and paid for the cremation fees.Peace and love out.