Help! I need to save a cat

In article ,
enlightened us with...
I found out that Blossom did bite in the home, twice, post-declaw. One was
without warning on the leg.
As for the bites in the shelter, one occurred when other cats were in the
room and a loud noise startled her. The other happened when she was rubbing
up against the cage, looking for attention, and the volunteer pet her. No
other cats around and no warning. That instance is not good for her future.



Oh, I didn't see this before I posted my other replies.

FWIW, it seems she became a biter post-declaw.
I saw posts asking about possible pain -- I agree with that. Pain meds and an
x-ray on her feet to rule out botched surgery might be a good idea. All it
takes it one misstep during the declaw to cause pain for life if it isn't
taken care of.
And I agree that she quite possibly now has trust issues with people. All it
takes is one traumatic event for an animal to develop serious trust issues. A
declaw followed by someone not being nice to her would do it.

I do hope for the best for Blossom. My inner cynic fears the worst, but I
hope it is proven wrong again.

--
--
~kaeli~
A man's home is his castle..., in a manor of speaking.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

"bigbadbarry" wrote in message
oups.com...

-L. wrote:
kaeli wrote:
It doesn't bode well for anyone who might adopt her, either.
And since you know she bites, it opens up the shelter to a lawsuit.
How would you feel if she was adopted out to someone and ended up
biting a
child in the face?

If a child gets bitten by an animal, it is the fault of the parents,
period. I just hate the "blame the animal" mentality. Children
should
never be left unsupervised with an animal, ever.

-L.

get in the bed


It was only 11:30 where she lives. All the other humorless harridans were
still up watching taped soaps.

"Wendy" wrote in message
news

"Mary" wrote in message
...

"bigbadbarry" wrote in message
oups.com...

Wendy wrote:

She didn't bite before she was adopted and declawed. I wonder how
much THAT
has to do with it. It's a shame people can't be forced to live with
the
problems they create without the cat suffering too.

W

I just don't understand people, who ever thought that up? declawing.

It makes me *shiver* to think of it.

My mind does not work like that, I can't understand how someone would
consider this a solution.


I did it when I was in my late teens, and I can tell you the main reason
why. I thought it was like clipping claws. I had no idea it was major
surgery and mutilation. My cat Gnarly was a crazy and beautiful cat. I
was
clueless about training her and very busy, young and stupid. She bit
just
for fun and to the bone, and clawed everything including me. She was
volatile and unpredticable--had been a pregnant stray when I adopted her
and
I think people had abused her.

When I saw what the vet had done to her beautiful front feet I cannot
describe how I felt--except, like a Nazi. It was the worst thing I have
ever
done in my life, and I would never do it again. I did at least keep her
her
whole life and keep her inside and safe--no consolation for the
mutilation,
though.

Vets in some places just make it seem like no big deal. I really had no
idea, and I thought it was a common practice.



There are many people who know exactly what they are doing to the cat and
do
it anyway. And then when they ask where is the CHEAPEST place to get it
done
I'm about to go ballistic.



I know. Carl, the guy who came in here and announced that he had his three
beautiful
kittens all declawed and spayed at the same time, knew exactly what he was
doing, and why: for the sake of the upholstered walls he had just put in his
house. And to make his wife happy. And demanded not to hear anything
negative about what he had done. I could not comply.

"Wendy" wrote in message
news

There are many people who know exactly what they are doing to the cat and
do
it anyway. And then when they ask where is the CHEAPEST place to get it
done
I'm about to go ballistic.



That is what happened to my beautiful Amber (RB). She was two years old
when I adopted her, and *all four paws* had been declawed. She was truly a
little angel -- one of the sweetest, gentlest cats I have ever seen. These
same people permitted their 13-month-old toddler to haul her around by the
tail (it's a marvel that she never lashed out and bit him), and they
couldn't understand why she was so frightened of people. They were
expecting a second child and had decided that it would now be impossible to
live in their mobile home with a cat and two children -- so they either had
to find someone to adopt the cat (at that time named "Puffy") or they were
going to put her outdoors, even with no claws. I adopted her, changed her
name to Amber, and she soon became my little sweetheart. She lost all fear
of other people. Just as described by Wendy, these people had selected the
cheapest vet to do the dirty work. Her poor little paws were mutilated.
She compensated very well for the loss of her claws, but she never did have
the same type of balance and agility that all my other cats have had. She
did not develop the behavioral problems that often accompanies the loss of
claws, but she did develop arthritis in her paws and that led to urinating
outside the litter box, starting at age 13 -- not behavioral in her case, I
think, but a simple matter that it was painful to move litter around. I
bought the softest litter I could find, and that helped for awhile; but she
eventually urinated outside the litter box at least as often as within it.
For awhile, I tried to cover the areas she was using, but I finally decided
that it would be better just to let her use one spot and clean it as best I
could. I'm happy I did that (despite the obvious unpleasant nature of it)
because she was simply trying to avoid the discomfort that her original
"owners" caused. She lived to be age 16, and I believe she was happy for at
least 14 of those years (the years we had together).

MaryL