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Anthony - 12 Jan 2004 22:24 GMT

My wife saw an ad from the local humane society on TV and went "awwww", so
we went there and of course all these poor cats stuck in horrible
cages...........well you had to do something. So there's this tabby female,
about 1 1/2 years old, been there since October, owner couldn't keep her
because the owner became pregnant, (is that a crock or what?), who is now at
the vet to be spayed and declawed, (and no I don't want a declawing
argument, I basically think it's pretty barbaric, but this'll have to be an
indoor cat, so it was that or not be adopted), and we're gonna pick her up
tomorrow. Humane society said get Yesterdays News litter, so we did, and
IAMS hard food and a sleeping basket for her to ignore and a brush and a
bunch of cat toys. All advice on how to accustom the cat to us and vice
versa, and any do's and don't's are welcome. TIA.

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zuzu22@webtv.net - 12 Jan 2004 23:05 GMT

>and no I don't want a declawing
>argument, I basically think it's pretty
>barbaric, but this'll have to be an indoor
>cat, so it was that or not be adopted

Please, if there's still time, cancel the declaw before it's too late
and your new cat suffers unnecessarily, especially since she's full
grown and the pain and trauma she will suffer is even worse. People here
will be happy to teach you how to train your cat to leave the furniture
alone and only scratch where she is supposed to. Being a strictly indoor
cat does NOT mean you have to do something so cruel and barbaric as to
declaw her. The majority of us on these newsgroups have indoor cats with
all their claws and have *no* problems. OTOH, we hear time and time
again from people whose declawed cats start biting and urinating all
over the house, which is very difficult to reverse. I don't know where
you got the idea that somehow an indoor cat has to be declawed, but you
are very, very wrong.

http://www.stopdeclaw.com

Megan

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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing."

-Edmund Burke

Learn The TRUTH About Declawing
http://www.stopdeclaw.com

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providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and
material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his
way."

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XMar - 12 Jan 2004 23:14 GMT

First of all just be patient with her. Because she is in another strange
place yet again (from former home, to HS, to vets to your place) she is
going need some time to feel safe.

So you may find her instincts pop up with hissing and spitting. Dont
reprimand her. Just let her be when the intincts are triggered. That
doesnt mean that you cant establish some boundries. If you find her
doing something you dont want, hiss right back at her. Let her know you
are dominant.

Also speak kindly and softly and encouragingly to her.

As far as what kinds of behaviors to expect, time will reveal.

Another way of letting her know what is off limits (ie counters and
tables etc) is to get a squirt gun. When she does something you dont
want or goes somewhere you dont what her, squirt her. Its also a good
way of greeting her at the door since she will be an indoor cat. She
will know that outside is off limits.

One of my 3 cats I got from the HS when she was 2 (former owners said
they didnt have time for a cat )

She is sweet and very affectionate though she doesnt like to be picked up.

Right now is a time for alot of patience and kindness with some firmness
thrown in when needed.

Enjoy her :)

> My wife saw an ad from the local humane society on TV and went "awwww", so
> we went there and of course all these poor cats stuck in horrible
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> bunch of cat toys. All advice on how to accustom the cat to us and vice
> versa, and any do's and don't's are welcome. TIA.

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Mogie - 13 Jan 2004 00:22 GMT

If you can seperate the cats for the first few days that would help. She
needs to get used to her new surroundings.

After that make sure that the first encounters are always supervised. It
will take time for them to get used to each other so please be patient.

Think of it like you being taken into a new environment and not being able
to speak the language. It would take you time to get the new routine down as
well as the do's and don't's.

> First of all just be patient with her. Because she is in another strange
> place yet again (from former home, to HS, to vets to your place) she is
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
> > bunch of cat toys. All advice on how to accustom the cat to us and vice
> > versa, and any do's and don't's are welcome. TIA.

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MaryL - 13 Jan 2004 00:43 GMT

I would like to reiterate Megan's advice. I know you said you don't want a
declawing argument, but you also indicated that this is because the cat will
be an indoor cat. That is *excellent* -- that is, that she will be an
indoor cat. However, there is no reason to think that indoor cats need to
be declawed. All of my cats have been indoor-only. Only one was declawed,
and that was done before she was adopted. I have never had any trouble
training my cats to use scratching posts, and I do not have any damage to my
carpets or furniture. Declawing is a form of amputation, and it is
unnecessarily cruel. Ironically, declawed cats are much more likely to have
*other* behavioral problems that are even worse than scratching at
furniture, such as biting and urinating outside the litter box. If it is
not too late, *please reconsider* and bring your new companion home with her
claws intact. Many of us would be delighted to post information on how to
train her to use scratching posts.

Please look at these sites to learn more about declawing:
http://www.stopdeclaw.com
http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/declaw.html
http://www.cara-adopt.org/declaw.html
http://declaw.lisaviolet.com/declawvettch.html
http://www.maxshouse.com/facts_about_declawing.htm

Thank you for adopting this kitty, and thank you *very* much if you will
reconsider this decision. You have taken a wonderful first step by rescuing
your new cat, and now you have an opportunity to also protect her again.

MaryL
(take out the litter to reply)

Photos of Duffy and Holly: >'o'<
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")

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Anthony - 13 Jan 2004 01:21 GMT

(and no I don't want a declawing

> argument, I basically think it's pretty barbaric, but this'll have to be an
> indoor cat, so it was that or not be adopted)

So having said that what I got was a lot of stuff about declawing! Wrong
newsgroup! Bye.

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Rich - 13 Jan 2004 06:41 GMT

> So having said that what I got was a lot of stuff
> about declawing! Wrong newsgroup! Bye.

Just a few mentioned about declawing (for which I agree and you do not want
to hear) but there was OTHER GOOD information passed. This is a good NG but
if you do not want to stick around, then all I can say is... bye bye my
friend.

Rich
--

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Alan Sandoval - 13 Jan 2004 10:35 GMT

Anthony, declawing is going to set off a major battle here, no matter what.
I've never heard that a vet or pet protection society would require
declawing, but if you say that's how it is, that's how it is.

That isn't the major issue here. I know you told us all about it in the
original post, and it was sure to set off some responses.

If the declawing was out of your hands, so to speak, those who posted to
that aspect aren't being helpful.

I lost a loved cat, who was way too young to die, because of disease.

I've long ago given up the idea that my furniture is more important than the
happiness of my cats, or me! Spot died at the vets, and I thought I'd do
just fine without a cat around the house. Well, I work at home, and that
worked for about a week.

I went back to the vet, who also operates the local shelter, and asked if
they had any adult cats that needed a home. They had one. They called her
"Orange Mommy". She'd given birth to a litter, then they spayed her. All
the kittens were adopted, Orange Mommy was still in a cage.

I held her, she seemed fine, though a little skinny. All white with orange
spots. Funny looking cat, but I suppose she needed me as much as I needed
her.

We have what I could only call a 'relationship'.

It's taken years for us to get to this point. For the first year she was
pretty freaky. I bet she thought I was going to take her back to the vet
every day. She HATED being in a cage. The only time I put her in the
transporter was when I was going away for a few days and took her to my
girlfriends house, which was cat friendly.

Willow has been with me for around 4 years now, she still freaks out, all
the time. I NEVER do anything to intentionally frighten her. She's in a
perfectly procted environment, and she still acts frightened some of the
time. And sometimes she gets all warm and fuzzy.

I guess that's just her way.

> > So having said that what I got was a lot of stuff
> > about declawing! Wrong newsgroup! Bye.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Rich
> --

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MaryL - 13 Jan 2004 11:08 GMT

> Anthony, declawing is going to set off a major battle here, no matter what.
> I've never heard that a vet or pet protection society would require
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> If the declawing was out of your hands, so to speak, those who posted to
> that aspect aren't being helpful.

Alan,

Unless we were reading diffeent messages, Anthony did *not* say that a vet
or vet protection agency required declawing. This is what he said: "...and
no I don't want a declawing argument, I basically think it's pretty
barbaric, but this'll have to be an indoor cat, so it was that or not be
adopted." He and his wife were adopting the cat after seeing an ad from the
local humane society. I interpreted his message to mean that his wife (or
possibly he and his wife together) demanded that the cat must be declawed
(*not* the humane society) because it was going to be an indoor cat.
Therefore, I tried to make a last-minute appeal to him, even though he had
specifically said that he did not want an anti-declaw argument. I was not
trying to be argumentative or confrontational -- but this is the type of
thing that cannot be undone once it has been done, so I tried to appeal to
him to reconsider before it is too late. Some people simply are not aware
of what declawing involves; they are not aware that it is actually
amputation. Incidentally, I even considered the possibility this this could
be a well-done troll because there was no need to go into such detail about
declawing when writing to a cats group. He could easily have asked for
advice on a new cat without even mentioning declaw. However, I was not (and
am not) certain about that possibility, and I wanted to give this cat any
possibility of avoiding this barbaric procedure -- "barbaric," to use
Anthony's own description.

MaryL

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Agua Girl - 13 Jan 2004 15:28 GMT

> (and no I don't want a declawing
> > argument, I basically think it's pretty barbaric, but this'll have to be
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> So having said that what I got was a lot of stuff about declawing! Wrong
> newsgroup! Bye.

Your right..wrong news group. You actually wandered into a
group of caring INFORMED people who know indoor cats
don't need to be declawed and also know what declawing
(such a nice word for amputation) is. Too bad you missed
the good information you received. There was plenty of advice
about introducing your cat to your home besides all the request
not to declaw. As for the cat not finding a home if it didn't get
declawed...you will never know. There could have been someone
right behind you that was willing to both adopt the cat and buy
a scratching post.

AG

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M.C. Mullen - 13 Jan 2004 11:30 GMT

| My wife saw an ad from the local humane society on TV and went "awwww", so
| we went there and of course all these poor cats stuck in horrible
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
| bunch of cat toys. All advice on how to accustom the cat to us and vice
| versa, and any do's and don't's are welcome. TIA.

Do give her time.
Do let her be in a room for herself where she can hide (sofa, bed, wardrobe)
and leave the litter box there as well as food and water. (Not beside each
other, the cats like food and litter separated.)
Do leave the door open that she can come out and investigate when she's
ready.
Do talk to her gently every now and again.
Once she's come out of her room you can gradually move the litter box to the
spot where you want it to be eventually.

Don't rush things, it might take three weeks to get her confident in the new
surroundings.

And please stop the declawing if you can ASAP.

Carola

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Walsingham - 12 Feb 2004 23:25 GMT

> My wife saw an ad from the local humane society on TV and went
> "awwww", so we went there and of course all these poor cats stuck in
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> All advice on how to accustom the cat to us and vice versa, and any
> do's and don't's are welcome. TIA.

Hello all,,

First post to this group.
Read the post and was stunned that empathic people would consider
`de-clawing`, a cat, or any other animal, ( of course they do do it to
bears for ``sport`` in Afghanistan).
Read the comments from Megan to Anthony and support what she says.
Please leave her claws and maybe chuck out the furniture, as furniture
doesnt feel pain and wont miss you nor run to you to say hello when you
come home or thank you for the care you take nor do any of the million
other things that are part of the cats back-pack.

Our own little cat, who is at present severely ill (another post for
advice) whom we have shared accomodation with since not anywhere near
long enough ago, was stopped from clawing the `wrong` things simply by
saying "No" and taking him to an old bit of driftwood (which had far
more interesting smells anyway) and placing his paws on that.. He soon
got the message (he`s a cat after all) and on the extremely rare
occasion that he muffed it, a quiet "no" would stop the process - -no
shouting - no sprayguns or shock treatment and even a variation of `no`
such as `uhuh`or `hey-up`, or any word/s, as long as the inflection of,
"You know better than to do that", is in your voice.

Cats are smart, they can understand _your_ language after a while: Can
you understand theirs??

Hope that you take her, inc.claws and that she opens a passage in your
hearts that is impervious to closure.

Best wishes from us..

3meowsers

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