Deadly cans - Please Read!

I had a horrible experience tonight I want to share. I'm sure by now you know I am very passionate about animals and not just horses. I was on my way to drop my daughter off at swimming, and tonight happened to be one of the few where we are having any snow. It is quite a blizzard out there at the moment. As I was getting in the car I noticed something on the driveway behind it. I could see a cat food can (the larger 14oz size) surrounded by what looked like a little pile of snow. I cursed the neighbour's dog who is constantly loose and steals cans from my recycling box to scatter them around my yard. Thinking I'd pick it up when I got back (and I would have backed up right over top of it) I suddenly have the chilling feeling that it's not snow. I slowly walked up to it and with horror realized it was a snowy white cat lieing very still with it's head lodged completely into the can. To make matters worse, we have a white cat who, although she is an indoor cat, once every couple of weeks she manages to make a break for the outdoors through a door left open just a fraction of a second too long. I put my hand on the cat's snow covered back (it must have been there for awhile as there were no tracks in the snow surrounding it) and gently pulled the can off it's head. I thought for sure it was dead but perhaps it was unconscous from lack of air. Suddenly it shook it's head (it wasn't, thank god, my Cleo) and bolted away into the snowy night.
I am sick to my stomach thinking that beautiful cat would have died had I not come along. So my message to you is if you have an open recycling box like we do, to pinch the tops of your cans together, before putting them outside. This is an awful thing to happen to an animal...any animal. Thanks so much!
Leslie