And, thank you. This wasn't a message to Jill because I read that
her cat was already declawed when she adopted him. That's another
thing that I hope people learn, that if they really feel they need
to have a declawed cat, there are plenty in the shelters to adopt.
The problem then is that they will learn *why* they are in the
shelters. Too many behavioral issues that come along post-surgery.  
And many times, *years* post-surgery.  I hope that people can learn
that cats need to be able to stretch, and they do it by hooking
their claws into something. When they have something that is
totally theirs, they learn quickly (the cat; not us stoopid hoomins
LOL) that it is theirs and continue to exercise this way. Ugh,
don't get me started.  LOL

quote taken from the first posting by jill:

"He's been declawed and
neutered since I've owned him"

how does this NOT imply that he was declawed after she got hold of him?
I know you yanks voted bush in again and all that but you can't
possibly be that stupid not to see this glaring error

Bookie, I do have "even the most basic grasp of english".  English is
my first language and I graduated at the top of my class with
honors....Anyway, yes, I can see where you could come to the conclusion
that I personally had my cat declawed, but my comment could have gone
either way.  It would have been polite to ask (as someone else did) why
I would declaw my cat and then if I said "I did it because of blah,
blah, blah reasons", voice your opinion.  You have the right to be
passionate about not having cats declawed and others may feel
differently.  Wishing me harm, wishing for my cat to urinate all over
my house, and your other comments were very inappropriate and I took
offense to them; whether you felt I wasn't clear or not with my
statement, it is no excuse to say horrible things to someone who is new
to this group and was looking for advice from fellow cat lovers.

First, if you look when I posted, it was just after 6 am.  This is
after having about three hours sleep as my cat had started at 3am with
pawing the doors and about 5 hours sleep the day before that and I
could go back even farther with how little sleep I have gotten!
Personally, most people don't really function well on that little of
sleep.  After reading your extremely rude post and the question from
the other person about why and when I had him declawed, I realized that
I wasn't very clear and that is why I posted my follow up.  Obviously,
other people have taken my post as I intended it.  If I had him
declawed and neutered personally, I would have said, "Since I owned him
I have had him declawed and neutered".

Now, whether I PERSONALLY had the cat declawed or not, was not the
point of my post.  I had a legitimate question.  Even so, I live in an
apartment complex and I chose this cat because of two reasons:

1) He was a stray and because THE HUMANE SOCIETY found him as already
being neutered and declawed, he was probably abandoned by his previous
owner.

2) If I want a cat, while living here, I am required to own one that is
spayed/neutered and declawed and am required to provide documentation
from the Humane Society or a Vet on top of paying a very hefty deposit
for having a cat.  This is normal for most complexes here. I don't know
about where you live.

I am a cat lover who has grown up around cats (my mother always had
cats) and I personally had owned a previous cat for 17 years.  I had to
put to him sleep due to suffering in his old age as he couldn't get up
without being in pain and had no control of his bowels/bladder and
before you jump me for putting the cat to sleep, the vet who had
treated him since he was a kitten, had said that it was for the best as
my cat was in pain and was suffering....This was heartbreaking for me!

I really missed and wanted another cat, but my trip to the Humane
Society was to help my brother pick out a dog for his house and I just
was looking at the cats while my brother was waiting for one of the
dogs to be brought to the "Meet & Greet" room; not planning on getting
one....

Since this cat was already declawed and already neutered and was half
price as the humane society had an extremely large number of cats, I
felt for this cat, wanted to give him a loving home and so he was
perfect for my situation.

I don't personally agree with declawing and could care less about my
furniture.  Even if he still had his claws, he's never bothered any of
my furniture...At least he doesn't paw at it...My cat knows he's well
loved and he is well treated, even if he can be a pain in the rear at
times.

Thanks -- your check is in the mail... :)

Rhonda

no but i did used to play as scrum half when i was at uni, not keen on
a forward position

Or is that just Barry ;-)

that's ok, alot of people are

have you tried doing a mind job on the cat yet?

crawl around on your hands and knees and bark like a dog

keep barking till the cat goes away

Jill,

Get yourself a laser pointer and see if he will chase it around.  I used to
have problems with Spot keeping me up at night playing and I found the
solution was to tire her out so she was ready to sleep.  For months about 20
minutes before I was ready for bed I would dart it all around the room and
she'd go nuts chasing after it.  To really play her out I would run it up
and down the stair way and about a dozen times.  My other two cats could
care less and didn't mess with it but she loved it.  I still get it out once
in a while and play with her.

Good Luck
Celeste