Nine Week Photos
In case you haven’t already looked, nine week photos of the Winter Gifts are on the website. The home page has a litter shot of them and their litter page also has a new litter shot of them. What can I say? They were willing to be cute this week. In fact, they were all quite happy to pose and I was able to get several shots of each of them that I could send to prospective homes so they could get a good look at the babies.
Brenda is pretty certain that Keona is her baby — her foundation female for the RedCanyon cattery. Ohanna and Natane are being evaluated for show homes, too. Izzy has a wonderful home waiting for her where she’ll be a loved and spoiled pet. I can’t believe they will be leaving me in about five weeks. Time goes by way too fast!
Rangashrii asked about declawing and if all vets here in the U.S. perform the procedure. I think the answer is pretty much yes. It used to be when an appointment was made to have a cat spayed or neutered, some vet clinics would ask if the owner wanted the cat declawed at the same time. I think most have moved away from that, but they don’t refuse to declaw if the owner requests it.
First of all, let me say that I am opposed to declawing. My contract for kittens has a requirement that they won’t be declawed. There are a number of steps an owner can take to discourage inappropriate scratching and in nearly every case, you can train your cat to scratch where he or she is supposed to. You can’t train a cat not to scratch at all. And even the most well behaved cat will scratch if startled or frightened.
All that said, I’ll also go on record as being opposed to any legislation that would completely prohibit a vet from declawing a cat. I have two reasons for that. First, I have a strong belief that we as individuals, along with our animals’ veterinarians, have the right to make decisions about our animals. It is a part of the whole animal welfare versus animal rights issue. I am the animal’s owner, not it’s guardian. Fine line, but very important.
My second reason is that some people will have legitimate reasons for needing to have a cat declawed. As I mentioned, cats will scratch at times, no matter how sweet and well behaved they are. If I have placed a kitten with a loving family and someone in that family becomes ill — immune compromised — and a cat scratch could be a serious health issue, they might face the extremely difficult choice of giving up a beloved companion or having the cat declawed. In a case like that I’d far rather see my kitten remain in a loving home and be declawed, than be sent to a shelter. At the same time, if someone tells me upfront that they will declaw a cat for some reason — no matter how legitimate — I’ll not place a kitten with them. I’ll suggest they adopt a cat from a shelter who has already been declawed. I don’t want my babies declawed if there is any possible way to avoid it.
Some years ago a man contacted me about a kitten for his wife. They apparently had plenty of money, as he offered to pay whatever I wanted for the “best” kitten I had. But… he wanted me to have my vet declaw the kitten before it went to them, because their home had many antique and expensive rugs and pieces of furniture. He emphatically told me the kitten MUST be declawed to prevent her from damaging these priceless possessions. I declined even his offer to pay me several times my normal price for a breeding cat (they didn’t want to breed her — just wanted a show/breeding quality cat) because I would not allow her to be declawed. I don’t know if this man ever found a NFC kitten for his wife, but he sure didn’t get one from me!
For anyone reading this who is wondering what the fuss is about declawing, I’ll close with a suggestion to spend some time at this website: www.stopdeclaw.com It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s full of useful information.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Thank you. I did find a couple of vets nearby but they both offered declawing and that kind of scared me. I was wondering if I had to look elsewhere . My current vet has been very good and I hate to move only because I shall have to look for someone local there.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
As Lisa knows, I have Brasen and Keiran and neither will be declawed because of the contract BUT all my previous cats including a purebred Burmese and Siamese were declawed. They lived long lives, ran, played, jumped and Softee (the Siamese) would occasionally regrow a claw! Their paws healed well, no limps, etc. Brasen is fine but I would get Keiran in yesterday if not for the contract. He is a climber! Back of sofa over the top, up the books on the bookcase to the top! Doesn’t scatch the rug but also won’t scratch a cardboard post/box/flat/circle whatever shape. Lisa has seen pictures where he will pull of the sticky no scratch strips with his teeth! to get to the sofa underneath. A terrorist kitty/cutest thing ever rolled into one! Anyway, I am definitely for declawing - but don’t worry Lisa these two guys are safe!
April 11th, 2008 at 12:17 am
You do NOT have to declaw cats. EVER.
in August 2007 we got 2 of Lisa Vasa’s kittens (Garion and Belgarath). They have NEVER clawed ANY of our furniture. We have one 3-foot scratching post the same color as our carpet in a corner of the living room right in their path where they stop and scratch before they enter the room. It has carpet on it, but we also have a tall floor to ceiling scratching post in our downstairs tv room that has rope and carpet surfaces, from Dr Foster & Smith website.
We also have a big 20-lb Maine Coon who is 5 years old. He never claws the furniture either. We never used sticky strips - we just make sure there is a cat post directly in their path. When the 3-foot post starts to look bad, we go to Petco and buy a new one. They just want to stretch and mark the entry to the room as they come in. So put a scratching post where they walk by, and it will get used.
Belgarath and Garion (now named Max and Pie) do like to climb high on their cat tree, but they have never shown any interest at all in scratching our furniture. They prefer the cat posts.
By the way, both our kittens we got from Lisa Vasa are very sweet-natured, affectionate pets - she did a good job raising them.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:15 am
Every cat like every person is different. Brasen and Keiran are uncle and nephew but they are complete opposites. They have a cat tree - they claw the cat tree - they love to claw the cat tree. They do not claw rugs, they do not claw any cardboard scratcher in any shape or location. Brasen has never clawed the furniture ever - ever. But Keiran thinks scratching and climbing my sofa, chair, side of bed, dining room chairs are the only way up - its his nature. Sticky strips he eats - literally, we’ve pulled them off his fur, his lips, his teeth. I will not, but I would declaw him in a minute - it has absolutely never effected my previous cats, purebred or shelter. Lisa’s cats are wonderful cats and I love the terrorist kitty he is absolutely the cutest thing ever but he’s like the little girl with the curl in the center of her forehead - when he is good he is very, very good - but when he is bad he is horrid. His latest is finding out if he is big enough to swing from my dining room chandelier light fixture. Any day now he will make like Errol Flynn and jump from the bookcases to the chandelier like some swashbuckler of old - I just hope the builder put in really good ceiling anchors!
April 11th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Has anyone tried the Soft Paws claw caps? I haven’t but I always see them in pet catalogs and on websites.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Is declawing only prevalent in the US? I didn’t know about it until my ragdoll’s breeder , educated me before we signed the contract stating no declawing.Back home, people think neutering a cat or dog is making the animal suffer. But until I had my cat( back home) neutered, I didn’t have single peaceful moment. It took me several months to convince my mom to let me have him neutered. While she agrees, she has been feeling relieved that Chechu hasn’t been trying run out of the door or picking up fights with strays for mating territory, she still thinks I am cruel for neutering my wegie and my ragdoll.
I wish they will have the trap,neuter and release program there too. It could save many lives.
April 11th, 2008 at 11:16 am
When are the Winter gifts writing a letter? Please tell them to make time between the jumping sessions:)))
April 17th, 2008 at 7:31 am
I find the variety of comments interesting so I thought I’d add this and see if anyone has an opinion on this:
I lived in an apt complex in Seattle when I got my cats Martina (left behind when someone moved away) & Oscar (a 7 week old saved from going to the shelter & actually I now suspect he is a NFC). Due to a lease agreement with the landlord, I had them declawed on the front only. I thought this was better than giving them up.
They never had any problems or complications from this. In fact later when I brought my 3rd cat Mickey home after his surgery, the vet advised me that he would need a few days to recover and be careful to not let him have to jump down from anything like the bed or couch. Yeah right - he tore out of the carrier and started running around playing with Oscar as if nothing had happened. He also had a bad tendancy to get on the kitchen counters & in the sink constantly & I hoped it would deter him from jumping up if he couldn’t jump down but no, he never figured that out and remained a skilled counter jumper all of his days.
I agree with Beth that some cats are just more active & adventurous. They have that sweetnatured affectionate wildcat inside, and for them to not have claws would help minimize their tracks as they are tearing around the house - literally. Maybe Keiran should be called Tarzan.=)
I also like Pat’s sratching post idea - it makes sense to work with their instincts and behavior. Also, I think clipping their nails is a simple option. If you start when they are kittens, it’s easy to get them used to having their nails trimmed. We tried this with our kitten Zippy and she only would scratch if her claws got too long. If I saw her start to scratch on the chair or anything, it was time to trim & she was fine until they grew out again.
If they are hyper or really dislike it, do 1 or 2 at a time or when they are sleepy, cuddle them and clip away. Make it a positive thing - lots of loves ect. & I think they actually like it. In fact to this day, if Martina’s get too long, she will sit there & chew on her back claws as if they annoy her.
Oscar will go to the leg of the coffee table or a chair & wrap his front paws around it and alternate pulling his paws kind of like he is packing but faster as if it massages his feet which I don’t think he would like to do if he had claws. Is this a typical NFC thing? - because I’ve never seen any other cat do this. I don’t have a scratch post currently and they don’t seem to act like they miss it or want one.
Personally, I wouldn’t choose to declaw a cat again but I think in rare circumstances declawing is O.K. especially if it lessens the number of cats going to a shelter or increases the adoptions from the shelter - most of these are older cats that probably have scratching habits and would be harder to work with. Also, if a hyper-playful cat is wrecking your home and damaging your stuff which can be expensive, it might make sense to consider it. If it makes it possible to keep the cat in a home, it could be the best option.
Overall, people love their pets and don’t want to cause any pain or harm to them but need to do what’s best for the situation. If you ever decide to do it, make sure you have an excellent vet who really cares. This could make all the difference.