Overheard at the vets

This afternoon I took our sweet tortie Martha to the vet for her
annual checkup and rabies shot. In the waiting room a man came out
from the back with an adorable tabby kitten. Before he left he made an
appointment to bring it back to be declawed. I was tempted to say to
him, "Do you know what you're doing to that little darling? For the
sake of your furniture, you're going to give your kitten what would be
like having all your fingers cut off at the first joint! Think again
if you love that little dear!" But I didn't say it, and I'm not proud
of myself. Now I'm sitting in my home office on a chair that's a bit
ragged from three sets of little claws. But who cares? It's only a
chair.

On Sep 20, 3:14�pm, Bobcat wrote:
This afternoon I took our sweet tortie Martha to the vet for her
annual checkup and rabies shot. In the waiting room a man came out
from the back with an adorable tabby kitten. Before he left he made an
appointment to bring it back to be declawed. I was tempted to say to
him, "Do you know what you're doing to that little darling? For the
sake of your furniture, you're going to give your kitten what would be
like having all your fingers cut off at the first joint! Think again
if you love that little dear!" But I didn't say it, and I'm not proud
of myself. Now I'm sitting in my home office on a chair that's a bit
ragged from three sets of little claws. But who cares? It's only a
chair.

I still feel guilty about one particular cat I think I should have
ragged on the owner
more. She was an older lady, with a medical condition that made her
skin
paper-thin. She ended up getting her new cat declawed. I understood
(and still do)
the reasons she couldn't afford to get clawed, but I should have tried
harder to
talk her into waiting until a cat already-declawed showed up at the
shelter. :-(

Sherry

On Sep 20, 10:48*pm, Sherry wrote:

I still feel guilty about one particular cat I think I should have
ragged on the owner
more. She was an older lady, with a medical condition that made her
skin
paper-thin. She ended up getting her new cat declawed. I understood
(and still do)
the reasons she couldn't afford to get clawed, but I should have tried
harder to
talk her into waiting until a cat already-declawed showed up at the
shelter. :-(
Sherry

Oh well, we both have regrets that we didn't speak up but we'll have
to live with it.
BTW, one good thing that came out of Martha's visit to the vets
yesterday was that Dr. Beck gave Martha a clean bill of health. She
said that she's in excellent condition. Even her teeth are pearly
white which is unusual for a 12-year-old cat, probably because she
cleans them every time she eats her dry cat food. Martha was an angel
through the entire procedure, as she was a year ago on a previous
visit. The only problem then was that somehow she sensed that she was
going to the vets and vanished under a bed. You can read more about it
and her "extra six legs" (!) in a piece I wrote for Flippy's website,
the CatPage. Here's a link to it.
Best; Bobcat

http://www.flippyscatpage.com/marthasesp.html

On Sep 21, 4:53�am, Bobcat wrote:
On Sep 20, 10:48�pm, Sherry wrote:

I still feel guilty about one particular cat I think I should have
ragged on the owner
more. She was an older lady, with a medical condition that made her
skin
paper-thin. She ended up getting her new cat declawed. I understood
(and still do)
the reasons she couldn't afford to get clawed, but I should have tried
harder to
talk her into waiting until a cat already-declawed showed up at the
shelter. :-(
Sherry

Oh well, we both have regrets that we didn't speak up but we'll have
to live with it.
BTW, one good thing that came out of Martha's visit to the vets
yesterday was that Dr. Beck gave Martha a clean bill of health. She
said that she's in excellent condition. Even her teeth are pearly
white which is unusual for a 12-year-old cat, probably because she
cleans them every time she eats her dry cat food. Martha was an angel
through the entire procedure, as she was a year ago on a previous
visit. The only problem then was that somehow she sensed that she was
going to the vets and vanished under a bed. You can read more about it
and her "extra six legs" (!) in a piece I wrote for Flippy's website,
the CatPage. Here's a link to it.
Best; Bobcat

http://www.flippyscatpage.com/marthasesp.html

Heh. I relate. But the *easiest* thing in the world is to get the cat
BACK into the cage
*after* the exam.
I've even had to cancel an appointment once because the cat completely
and totally disappeared
30 minutes prior to Vet Appointment. Couldn't find him *anywhere*. I
suspected he astro-projected
himself somewhere once he heard the carrier being taken down from the
attic.
Yay for Martha's dental results! IMO, that's *very* unusual for a 12-
year-old. Yoda just
had his 15th birthday, which means he needs to go get a cleaning soon.
His teeth have to be cleaned
regularly, he always has a lot of plaque. He gets dry food too; with
some wet food along with it. Maybe
like people, he just has bad genetics teeth.

Sherry

Sherry wrote:
On Sep 21, 4:53�am, Bobcat wrote:
On Sep 20, 10:48�pm, Sherry wrote:

I still feel guilty about one particular cat I think I should have
ragged on the owner
more. She was an older lady, with a medical condition that made her
skin
paper-thin. She ended up getting her new cat declawed. I understood
(and still do)
the reasons she couldn't afford to get clawed, but I should have
tried harder to
talk her into waiting until a cat already-declawed showed up at the
shelter. :-(
Sherry

Oh well, we both have regrets that we didn't speak up but we'll have
to live with it.
BTW, one good thing that came out of Martha's visit to the vets
yesterday was that Dr. Beck gave Martha a clean bill of health. She
said that she's in excellent condition. Even her teeth are pearly
white which is unusual for a 12-year-old cat, probably because she
cleans them every time she eats her dry cat food. Martha was an angel
through the entire procedure, as she was a year ago on a previous
visit. The only problem then was that somehow she sensed that she was
going to the vets and vanished under a bed. You can read more about
it and her "extra six legs" (!) in a piece I wrote for Flippy's
website, the CatPage. Here's a link to it.
Best; Bobcat

http://www.flippyscatpage.com/marthasesp.html

Heh. I relate. But the *easiest* thing in the world is to get the cat
BACK into the cage
*after* the exam.

Persia won't get near the carrier when I want to take her TO the vet. Try
to keep her on the exam table once we're there... she dives off the table
and hops into the carrier, "Okay, take me home now!" LOL

Jill

Bobcat wrote:
This afternoon I took our sweet tortie Martha to the vet for her
annual checkup and rabies shot. In the waiting room a man came out
from the back with an adorable tabby kitten. Before he left he made an
appointment to bring it back to be declawed. I was tempted to say to
him, "Do you know what you're doing to that little darling? For the
sake of your furniture, you're going to give your kitten what would be
like having all your fingers cut off at the first joint! Think again
if you love that little dear!" But I didn't say it, and I'm not proud
of myself. Now I'm sitting in my home office on a chair that's a bit
ragged from three sets of little claws. But who cares? It's only a
chair.

I'm afraid I tend to be more outspoken - I wouldn't have hesitated for a
second! I stopped patronizing my long-term vet in Pasadena - even
though he'd always given my cats loving care - when I discovered he was
actually ADVERTISING that he used laser surgery to declaw. (It may have
been less painfully traumatic for cats than the "traditional" method,
but so what?)

"hopitus" wrote in message
...
On Sep 21, 8:46 pm, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:
Bobcat wrote:
This afternoon I took our sweet tortie Martha to the vet for her
annual checkup and rabies shot. In the waiting room a man came out
from the back with an adorable tabby kitten. Before he left he made an
appointment to bring it back to be declawed. I was tempted to say to
him, "Do you know what you're doing to that little darling? For the
sake of your furniture, you're going to give your kitten what would be
like having all your fingers cut off at the first joint! Think again
if you love that little dear!" But I didn't say it, and I'm not proud
of myself. Now I'm sitting in my home office on a chair that's a bit
ragged from three sets of little claws. But who cares? It's only a
chair.

I'm afraid I tend to be more outspoken - I wouldn't have hesitated for a
second! I stopped patronizing my long-term vet in Pasadena - even
though he'd always given my cats loving care - when I discovered he was
actually ADVERTISING that he used laser surgery to declaw. (It may have
been less painfully traumatic for cats than the "traditional" method,
but so what?)

Good for you, Evelyn. Hope you told him why you dropped him. At my
vet's
office, usually much to busy dodging big dogs - no separate area for
cats in
huge waiting room - to overhear anything. Even though they're always
in their
own airline-type carriers, the big dogs sniff at the doors and scare
them.

There is no separate waiting area for cats at my vets surgery either and
there are often big boisterous dogs in there that the owners seem to have no
idea how to control, they are a perfect nuisance and have been taught no
manners. I would be ashamed if they were mine. So what I do if either of
mine have to wait there in their carrier is to turn the open front of it to
the wall of the waiting room and push it right up against it as soon as I go
in. That way the cats cannot see the dogs and the dogs are not tempted to
sniff a mesh front that they can see a cat through.

I'm not going to comment too much about the declawing issue that started
this thread off. It's illegal here and in most other countries and I don't
want to start a war off again as I am preaching to the converted.
Would I have spoken up? Yes, I think I would have done, after all, that
cat owner would never have seen me again and it might have made a difference
to their decision.
The problem is not so much with the owners, per se, but with the vets that
agree to do it. They must know how unethical it is, what's the matter with
them? If every USA vet would refuse to declaw "as a matter of course" it
would soon die out.
I can imagine what would happen if I went to my vet with a new kitten and
said "will you spay her for me in a few weeks and declaw her at the same
time?" He'd strike me off his list for ever.

Tweed

On Sep 20, 4:14*pm, Bobcat wrote:
This afternoon I took our sweet tortie Martha to the vet for her
annual checkup and rabies shot. In the waiting room a man came out
from the back with an adorable tabby kitten. Before he left he made an
appointment to bring it back to be declawed. I was tempted to say to
him, "Do you know what you're doing to that little darling? For the
sake of your furniture, you're going to give your kitten what would be
like having all your fingers cut off at the first joint! Think again
if you love that little dear!" But I didn't say it, and I'm not proud
of myself. Now I'm sitting in my home office on a chair that's a bit
ragged from three sets of little claws. But who cares? It's only a
chair.

In that post I wrote that I regretted not speaking up at the vets when
the man made an appointment to declaw his kitten. But at least I've
printed up a number of your comments along with mine, and mailed them
to my vet. I hope she buys into the anti-declawing message.
Bobcat

On Sep 23, 4:59�am, Bobcat wrote:
On Sep 20, 4:14�pm, Bobcat wrote:

This afternoon I took our sweet tortie Martha to the vet for her
annual checkup and rabies shot. In the waiting room a man came out
from the back with an adorable tabby kitten. Before he left he made an
appointment to bring it back to be declawed. I was tempted to say to
him, "Do you know what you're doing to that little darling? For the
sake of your furniture, you're going to give your kitten what would be
like having all your fingers cut off at the first joint! Think again
if you love that little dear!" But I didn't say it, and I'm not proud
of myself. Now I'm sitting in my home office on a chair that's a bit
ragged from three sets of little claws. But who cares? It's only a
chair.

In that post I wrote that I regretted not speaking up at the vets when
the man made an appointment to declaw his kitten. But at least I've
printed up a number of your comments along with mine, and mailed them
to my vet. I hope she buys into the anti-declawing message.
Bobcat

Well, good for you for making a stand/ She probably won't care--declaw
is big revenue--but I think it's
great that you made your voice heard and doing so, you've "spoken for
those who cannot speak
for themselves" as they say.

Sherry

I just joined so Hi...and I agree with the no declawing scene. I've had
disagreements with people over this. My furniture has kitty marks and I
dont' mind a bit. One of my friends said...."well, I paid $1500 for my
counch"...so I said...big deal, it's no better than my $400 one. That new
micro suede isn't fazed and neither is the herculon on my love seat. I have
3 cats and would NEVER have them declawed. Although I do take them to the
groomers every 6 weeks to have their nails clipped since they don't go
outside.

Sherry wrote:
This afternoon I took our sweet tortie Martha to the vet for her
annual checkup and rabies shot. In the waiting room a man came out
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
to my vet. I hope she buys into the anti-declawing message.
Bobcat

Well, good for you for making a stand/ She probably won't care--declaw
is big revenue--but I think it's
great that you made your voice heard and doing so, you've "spoken for
those who cannot speak
for themselves" as they say.

Sherry