Last night I saw the people who adopted one of Boots' littermates. They
mentioned that they were just now making arrangements to get "Midnight"
neutered ........... and declawed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometime in the last month he started clawing the furniture, screens etc.
They said they have a large sisal scratching post or tree (I'm not sure
which), have tried the sticky backed tape and "everything else". Well I'm
not sure what everything else entails and frankly was so upset that I wasn't
thinking straight. They said they have had many cats and never contemplated
declawing before but Midnight is really causing trouble.

I've got to get my thoughts together and present them with a good argument
and alternatives. I can't let them go through with this. I didn't spend all
that time bottle feeding this sweet guy (he was the sweetest guy in the
litter) to see them risk ruining him.

Because of the timing I'm thinking that some of this behavior might have
been triggered by his getting his hormones. He's 9 months old. If Boots is
any indication Midnight has had his hormones now for a month or two. Boots
was scratching where he shouldn't right before he was neutered and has
stopped since, so I'm thinking that getting Midnight neutered ASAP might
take care of the majority of the problem. I'm also thinking that a Feliway
diffuser might help. They haven't been clipping his claws so I showed them
(on Isabelle) how to do that. I'll have to mention softpaws as well.

I've also got to make sure they understand exactly what is involved - that
it is an amputation not nail removal.

I mentioned the risk of peeing outside the box but forgot to mention the
potential for turning the cat into a biter. I'll have to take care of that
omission.

Am I forgetting anything. I want to make a good, logical (not emotional)
case and hope I can convince them to not do this.

Wendy