Declawing: glad I took the time

Wow...I just got off the phone with my neighbor. She's watched this
situation unfold ever since the cat first showed up.

She has always had her cats declawed, and she's owned many cats.
When I told her about the things I'd discovered about the procedure,
her exact words were "Who gives a ****? It's a cat."

She feels it's a small price for the cat to pay in exchange for
getting "the good life" afterwards.

I'm still floored by the attitude.

Also, kind of a rhetorical question...if your child were mentally
handicapped and never learned that it was a bad thing to destroy
furniture, would you cut off their hands?

No, but I'd sure as hell keep a water bottle handy to spray him in the
face when he screwed with my furniture. ;-) Actually I don't have
kids nor do my wife and I plan to have any, our cats are our kids. As
for the dog analogies, yes, I could get rid of a dog if it couldn't
learn to stop chewing on stuff. Dogs are easier to train, however,
those nasty little shock collars seem to do wonders.

Also, kind of a rhetorical question...if your child were mentally
handicapped and never learned that it was a bad thing to destroy
furniture, would you cut off their hands?

No, but I'd sure as hell keep a water bottle handy to spray him in the
face when he screwed with my furniture. ;-) Actually I don't have
kids nor do my wife and I plan to have any, our cats are our kids. As
for the dog analogies, yes, I could get rid of a dog if it couldn't
learn to stop chewing on stuff. Dogs are easier to train, however,
those nasty little shock collars seem to do wonders.

From: "Mary"

About your nice wood--I cannot imagine a car preferring to scratch
wood over some nice sisal/rope/carpet/cardboard post or mat that
rips and shreds in a satisfying way! Especially if you use
Lemon-scented
polish. They hate citrus.

Great idea, Mary!
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

From: "Mary"

About your nice wood--I cannot imagine a car preferring to scratch
wood over some nice sisal/rope/carpet/cardboard post or mat that
rips and shreds in a satisfying way! Especially if you use
Lemon-scented
polish. They hate citrus.

Great idea, Mary!
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

From: James Janko

She's a 6 month old KITTEN. They have a wild stage which they grow out
of,

No, she's not. I didn't say she was 6 months old, I said we've had
her for 6 months. She's actually a year and a half old, our other cat
is two years old. That's why it's so frustrating, she's no longer a
kitten. It's not just one piece of furniture she finds attractive
either, it's ALL furniture. She has shredded chairs, couches, futons,
ottomans, carpets, rugs, and for some odd reason, the closet door.
Our other cat learned very fast and won't touch anything, this one
just seems slow in the head. I'll hear her scratching the couch and
I'll spray her with the water bottle. She'll slink away but as soon
as I walk away she'll immediately go back to scratching the same couch
or whatever it was she was scratching. She knows she's doing
something wrong, I can tell by the way she crouches and slinks away
when I catch her scratching something. As soon as I'm out of the
room, though, yahoo!

Do what Megan told you to do, i.e. cover the couch while you're training her,
and as she explained, negative reinforcement does not work. Her slinking only
indicates that she is reacting to your negative reinforcement.
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

From: James Janko

She's a 6 month old KITTEN. They have a wild stage which they grow out
of,

No, she's not. I didn't say she was 6 months old, I said we've had
her for 6 months. She's actually a year and a half old, our other cat
is two years old. That's why it's so frustrating, she's no longer a
kitten. It's not just one piece of furniture she finds attractive
either, it's ALL furniture. She has shredded chairs, couches, futons,
ottomans, carpets, rugs, and for some odd reason, the closet door.
Our other cat learned very fast and won't touch anything, this one
just seems slow in the head. I'll hear her scratching the couch and
I'll spray her with the water bottle. She'll slink away but as soon
as I walk away she'll immediately go back to scratching the same couch
or whatever it was she was scratching. She knows she's doing
something wrong, I can tell by the way she crouches and slinks away
when I catch her scratching something. As soon as I'm out of the
room, though, yahoo!

Do what Megan told you to do, i.e. cover the couch while you're training her,
and as she explained, negative reinforcement does not work. Her slinking only
indicates that she is reacting to your negative reinforcement.
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

From: kaeli

Praise, catnip, toys, playing with
her near and on her things, putting treats there, etc work well to give
her positive feelings about her post and tree.

When my cats were young, I would play with them with their feather on a stick
toy on the scratching post. Worked like a charm.
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

From: kaeli

Praise, catnip, toys, playing with
her near and on her things, putting treats there, etc work well to give
her positive feelings about her post and tree.

When my cats were young, I would play with them with their feather on a stick
toy on the scratching post. Worked like a charm.
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

From: (J1Boss)


Nasty comments about being a "decent" person and valuing belonging more than
cats are going to have a reader tuning out to the real message - it can be
delivered more effectively without those criticisms.


Go away, troll!
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm