Stray kitty is breaking my heart!

What did blacklab77 go? We didn't offend her in anyway did we?

I hope she knows we care...

I think we did probably scare her away.  Probably she perceived us as attacking her and her (husband's) decision.  It is too bad but I understand how that's how it may have come across.  I hope she will come back and at least get advice on reducing kitty's pain after the procedure and I hope she is not attacked if she does so. 

tulosai said:

 
I think we did probably scare her away.  Probably she perceived us as attacking her and her (husband's) decision.  It is too bad but I understand how that's how it may have come across. 

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I don't see how it could be perceived that way. All of us were pleading with her. Sure, a couple of us including myself, ratcheted it up a notch, but it was just to show how badly we wish her to reconsider. I think it's worth "offending" someone if it means they will reconsider it.

At this point we really don't know her situation enough at all. She clearly does not want to do it. But beyond that, we don't know much, if anything, else. I wish she'll come back and update us, for better or for worse. I imagine if she -did- go through with it, she'd probably feel so terrible now. She could use some comforting.

Fhi09 said:

 
I don't see how it could be perceived that way. All of us were pleading with her. Sure, a couple of us including myself, ratcheted it up a notch, but it was just to show how badly we wish her to reconsider. I think it's worth "offending" someone if it means they will reconsider it.

At this point we really don't know her situation enough at all. She clearly does not want to do it. But beyond that, we don't know much, if anything, else. I wish she'll come back and update us, for better or for worse. I imagine if she -did- go through with it, she'd probably feel so terrible now. She could use some comforting.

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I definitely see how it could be perceived that way from someone on the defensive, but I have a psych background so that influences my opinion on anything. It would also be the most likely explanation for why she hasn't come back- either that or being ashamed. I don't mean people were wrong to say what they did, she had to know how bad this was before deciding.

I don't think it was so terribly clear that she didn't want to do it, since she hasn't posted anything since her announcement that she was going to do it, but I don't think it matters either way.  Like you I hope she'll come back and post either way so we can help however we can now.

She was last online 1 day 20hours ago, that means the last message she saw was post #32 (mine). 

I was hoping maybe she had not seen our messages...

She must have seen our messages. She was telling us about how happy she was and the kitty was so at home and then told us about the declawing and our reactions and since then silence which is most worrying.
She must have felt bad and maybe angry. I hope she will know that we were thinking of the kitty. One of my doctors uses the soft covers for the claws.
Oh well. We must just hope all is okay and she'll come back. Would be very sad if she doesn't. We all need each other.

Hi everybody!

Let me start off by saying in no way has anybody upset me or my husband! We both lead a very busy life, we both work full time and some, and I am in college full time so my schedule is crazy and hectic and some weeks I am able to post quite a bit and other times I am not able to post at all. My sincere apologies to all for not replying sooner on this debate.

I received some positive feedback and also some negative feedback and I appreciate all feedback and respect all opinions from all. Please understand we choose to declaw our cats not for vanity reasons only but also reasons of safety in our home because we have parents who are elderly and come over quite often and their skin is paper thin and a scratch from a cat could be disastrous, we also have numerous little nieces and nephews that come to our house and I would hate for them to receive a scratch while in my house.

Baby Kitty did have this procedure done and was also spayed at the same time. The vet we go to now offers laser surgery for declawing and this cuts down on bleeding and pain for the cat so we opted for this choice-we did pay extra but it was worth it. Baby Kitty was also sent home with pain relievers for the next 10 days and she has received her first dose and is currently sleeping on my lap as I type this. The vet did say she did not eat or drink while at the clinic, but the minute we got home the first thing she did was eat and drink some water, so I feel this is a sign of her being happy to be home.

Now, I will share this with all of you because some will feel this is revenge to my husband and I- but when I was taking Baby to the vet for her procedure, she peed in her carrier- which leaked all over my brand new car's seats! So now my car has a great smell to it- which I could care less about, it is just a car!

I am standing by our choice of having her declawed and disagree with her life being better outside- we live in the Midwest where winter's are horrible (-20 degrees at times), we live in the country where there are numerous racoons, possums, foxes and coyotes in our back yard that could bring severe harm to this kitty and even possibly end her life- and we also live on a country road that people tend to speed on and she could run the risk of being hit on the road. So I see her as coming in the house as a huge improvement to her and she will receive all the love we can give, numerous warm spots to sleep, Iams and Fancy Feast food, clean water everyday with ice cubes in it every morning, clean litter boxes, and numerous toys to play with. I see this as a far better life than fending for herself out in the woods and foraging for food.

We have two other cats that have also been spayed/neutered and declawed and they show no signs of any problems from this - they jump up on our table, jump up to our bookcases and jump down, and race up and down are wood stairs at all times- if they did have any problems these activities might not happen because of the pain.

Thank you to everybody for the feedback-wether it be good or bad- and please know I respect all opinions and would never want to get into a verbal war on this chat site.

I will post more in the next couple of days with Baby's progress. I enjoy reading every body's comments and thank you for all the support!

Take care!

Blacklab77

Thank you for getting back to us. While I still disagree with what you had to do, I'm happy that things are working out well. 

We have cats who are declawed that come into the shelter. These kitties find good homes and we hear from their adopters of how cuddly and loving they are. So yes, some cats show no change in behavior. But it's hit-and-miss. We have cats who are declawed who ended up being returned to the shelter because they turned aggressive. We had to euthanize some of them because we couldn't place them in the barn (no natural defenses), they were aggressive even at the shelter (we have permanent residents at the shelter - these cats aren't suitable for adoptions, but they're adjusting to shelter life so we let them spend their life roaming the open areas of the shelter), or showed no signs of improvement even with medication.

The risks of declawing are very real, and it is for this reason I am strongly against declawing.

You seem to have thought this through and not doing it out of ignorance, so thank you for that. I still disagree with her being better off declawed - since we have a barn cat adoption program, and have adopted out many barn cats to homes - as you can see from my location, we're in the Midwest. But I respect your decision, and I still think you're a wonderful loving person to rescue all the cats that you did.

Please update us on Baby Kitty's progress, we'd love to see pictures too!

I'm so very sorry to hear this. I hope she heals OK.

I also am very sorry to hear this, though not surprised.  I do thank you for coming back here to tell us.

I do not wish to get in a verbal war either but I do wish to say one thing in case you are ever in this situation in the future.  That is that the safety reasons you talk about are in my opinion and experience false.   I know many cats who are declawed who have bitten a person, and that is much much worse, especially when the person is old, because it always becomes infected. Not all of these biter cats are declawed, but many are, and I believe they resorted to biting in part because they could not claw.  I also do not believe a well-trained cat who knows people are neither cats nor toys is likely to claw a person. My cats have never (like really never) clawed anyone. However, better than a claw than a bite.

That is all I will say, though.  I hope the cat continues to recover well. I don't think she was taking revenge by peeing in the car but I warn you that this may likely be a recurring problem (many cats have issues with the car and the problem repeats) so next time I'd make sure the carrier is well lined with something highly absorbent so that the car suffers minimal damage.

Ah, I wondered if the other two cats were declawed which obviously would make an impact on the decision. Bringing a clawed stray into a declawed home might be problematic. And with elderly parents - I can see the reasoning. All things being equal, I'm against declawing, but in cases such as this one (where all things are not equal) I'm neutral - as long as responsibility is taken for the outcome, then that is all one can ask for. And I think I made that clear.

So I'm not going to go into the what ifs, would rather focus on the reality of what is... rescuing a kitten from a harsh environment at a cost of "equality" with the other cats. Wishing you the best. (Love them calicos, I do.)

Hope to see pictures of your clowder sometime.

Hi Everybody!

I finally had some time to sit down and figure out how to upload some pics- please be advised that I am not a professional photographer at all!

Well, I'm sorry to hear that Baby Kitty lost her claws, but glad that she's found a good home.

One of my cats, Mia, pees every time we put her in the car too. The only time she goes in the car is when we take her to the vet and I guess she is so scared that she just can't help it. We always put some old towels in the carrier but last time she held it in until the vet picked her up.... then peed all over him. 

I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures of your cats.

It's nice to hear how happy she is in your home. Sitting on your lap and eating and drinking are good signs when a new kitty comes into your home. I'm very happy for you that she has come to love you so quickly. It sounds like you are very happy with your new furball.

When you have time you should post on the New Cats forum so we can hear about all of your cats.

Our differences of opinion don't matter here. What matters is that this kitty got a wonderful loving home with people who obviously care very much about her.

Thanks for the update and for caring for her!

It really doesn't matter now as the deed has been done. I've had 8 cats all in all and none of them ever scratched or clawed anybody.
Oh well. If she's happy. What would happen if you were to get another cat and declawing was made illegal?

Hi everybody!

Baby Kitty is doing great and has sure bounced back from her procedures rather quickly!   No signs of infections or anything since she was on antibiotics for over a week. She seems as happy as she was the day we took her into our home!

Baby has gained some weight and has a little belly on her now! I guess when you have an abundance of food after not having food all the time is so tempting to her-so we will have to monitor her closer with the food since she ate so much and so fast the other day she ended up throwing up.

We now have another kitty coming to our back door- he is an orange cat, and is HUGE! He is the definition of a tom cat but he also loves a little human affection once in awhile. Again it breaks my heart that I cannot take in another cat, but I make sure he has food and water and any leftovers go to him. I wish I was a millionaire because I would build a cat sanctuary and that would be my career!

My husband and I have not been able to think of a name for Baby Kitty--nothing seems to fit her except Baby Kitty! So any suggestions would be great- hopefully I posted the pictures correctly so everybody can see what she looks like and what a fitting name might be for her!

Take care!

Blacklab77

Ah so, about that name, BK it is! (Also for beautiful Kalico - eh, so - a unique spelling, No?)

Would love to see their photos!

Glad she has recovered.