Bentley is doing fine now, he still seems a little lethargic but that is probably normal since he spent all day at the vets yesterday. I went and picked him up from the vet after work. When I got there they were really busy so I decided to go give the cats that are up for adoption some attention. ( I use banfield, so it was the Petsmart adoption center). When I went in there, there was a man looking at the cats in the room. He started telling me about the two new kittens that he rescued because someone was going to leave them outside. These are his first two cats ever so he had a lot of questions once he found out I have four. I showed him some of my cats favorite toys and answered a lot of general questions for him. He brought up that they were going to be declawed when they get fixed. I am against declawing so I talked to him for a while about all the ways you can get them not to scratch up stuff without declawing. Obviously I am not sure if he will stick with it, but he did buy his kittens a good cardboard scratcher and a vertical scratching post, I'm crossing my fingers that those work for him. You guys don't think it is bad to educate a stranger on the downfalls of declawing do you? What is the best way to approach it if you do talk about it? This time I basically gave him lots of ways to keep them from destroying the house. I also did tell him about what declawing actually entails to, I think that is what made him decide to try the scratchers.
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Bentley update, and an interesting night
- Thread starter calicoprincess
- Start Date
I agree, I think you did a wonderful thing Re the declawing issue.
If someone asks me why my cats aren't declawed I always say the same thing.
That to the best of my knowledge it's illegal in most Countries as well it should be, and that IMO it's mutilation.
Then I tell them that it's not just the claws that are removed, it's the whole first joint of the toes...you'd be surprised how many people don't realize that.
A lot of people I've talked to seemed to think it was just the claws that are removed.
Then I tell them that a lot of declawed cats have litter box issues and may become biters simply because that's their only means of defense since their claws are gone.
I also tell them that some cats develop arthritis simply because they can no longer walk properly.
I tell them to buy scratching posts and how easy it was for me to teach all of my cats that they scratch the post and nothing else.
I tell them to handle the cat or kittens feet as much as possible, because that way it makes trimming their nails much easier.
So anyway, good for you and I hope he takes your advice.
ETA: I'm happy to hear that your Bentley is doing better.
If someone asks me why my cats aren't declawed I always say the same thing.
That to the best of my knowledge it's illegal in most Countries as well it should be, and that IMO it's mutilation.
Then I tell them that it's not just the claws that are removed, it's the whole first joint of the toes...you'd be surprised how many people don't realize that.
A lot of people I've talked to seemed to think it was just the claws that are removed.
Then I tell them that a lot of declawed cats have litter box issues and may become biters simply because that's their only means of defense since their claws are gone.
I also tell them that some cats develop arthritis simply because they can no longer walk properly.
I tell them to buy scratching posts and how easy it was for me to teach all of my cats that they scratch the post and nothing else.
I tell them to handle the cat or kittens feet as much as possible, because that way it makes trimming their nails much easier.
So anyway, good for you and I hope he takes your advice.
ETA: I'm happy to hear that your Bentley is doing better.
